My last letter on my Mission – July 12, 2012

I just want you all to know how grateful I am for having this wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord and to give just a portion of my time back to Him. What a blessing it has been to have grown so much in my own testimony as I help others gain their own personal testimonies. I cannot say even a portion of what I really am feeling right now, especially since I am in denial that I am really leaving next week haha. I will truly miss being out on a mission, representing our Savior, Jesus Christ, and feeling the spirit ALL the time. I have gained a strong testimony of the power of prayer, with many challenges in my own life or praying for the challenges our investigators had, prayer was always the first step to helping find a solution. Although the solution sometimes wasn’t what I expected, I know that He answered my prayers in ways that I could never imagine. One of my favorite things that I have gained a testimony of has been of the Book of Mormon. I knew it was true before my mission and that it would help me every now and then when I would give myself time to read it. But since being on my mission, I have seen the stories come alive and every chapter I would read in the morning would apply to someone or me that very same day. I would make sure to pray every morning to apply it or remember what I studied because I knew that Heavenly Father would provide a way. The prophets in those times truly had so much faith, much like the pioneers. Faith is one of my favorite principles because it is a POWER, a motivator, a comforter, a test, and the only way to know our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

I love our Savior so very much and am grateful that he taught his gospel to the people before he died. What a blessing it is to know how to live our lives and apply the atonement than to just know he died on the cross and let that be all we do with understanding what Christ did for us. This past week, we met with a man names Tim who called us to meet and talk more about the gospel/religion. He is a writer and talked to sis Crystal for 15 min with her last companion about 2 weeks ago but it wasn’t anything in depth really. This week, he came to us expressing how he loved in the LDS faith, that we believe that God loves us so much and that Christ's teachings never stopped when he died or when his apostles died, it didn’t make sense to him...he expressed a concern about how things he believed from a Baptist background, didn’t line up with what he felt was right but a lot of the beliefs in the LDS religion did. He blew us away, right from the beginning! We expected to teach the restoration but this man had a clear desire to follow the teachings of Christ and has been the most prepared person I have met my whole mission...it was so awesome! He eventually got to the main concern about what to do about his family; since he led them into the Baptist church he is worried they won’t want to join the LDS church. He asked us to find someone with a similar situation where they joined the church first but their families were a little hesitant but then joined...my mind was racing with TONS of stories in the Book of Mormon. My comp told him she would ask around but I couldn’t hold back my thoughts. I told him we could look around for him, but in reality, he could open the Book of Mormon and find families who were primarily lead by the husband/dad into the church and they had a lot more struggles back then than we do today. It was such an amazing feeling, testifying of the power of the Book of Mormon because it was so true! I found so many people in the Book of Mormon who have helped me gain strength or understanding and how to remain faithful to what the Lord wants me to do.

I also had the same opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon when we were teaching this very intelligent 20 year old. He said it just didn’t seem right that the Book of Mormon people had Christ visit them but that He didn’t come to the America's and do some incredible thing like he did in Jerusalem with dying on the cross. Well, my heart sunk as I recalled what I have been reading in the Book of Mormon. I am trying to finish before I go home and this past week I have read through 3 Nephi when Christ visits the people. I testified to him how incredible the stories are of Christ visiting the people. In 3 Nephi 17 alone, Christ goes to leave the people but sees that they are sad and don’t want him to leave. So he asks for those who are sick or afflicted to come forth and he heals them. Then he has all the children be brought to him and they all circle around him, while the people stand around him and he has everyone kneel in prayer. He prays for the children and the people, then we weeps or cries with them. He prayed cried with the people more than once. After reading this chapter, I have gained such a DEEP appreciation for Christ and I can truly see how much he LOVES us more than we will ever know. I am so grateful for the love of our Savior. He has helped me and blessed me in more ways than I can ever recount. He has given me my life, this opportunity to serve others, to love others, to share the light of Christ and bring that into their homes. I love this gospel with all of my heart and I love my Heavenly Father immensely. May we all remember Jesus Christ in all that we do and be helping hand to all around us, even if we aren’t on missions :) I will miss my mission more than I can ever say, in fact I would be totally okay if I could just stay for another month or two but I know the Lord has something different planned for me and I must keep that Faith in Him.

I love you all and am sooo grateful for all you have done for me my whole mission. I wouldn’t have gotten through some times in my life if it weren’t for many of your letters and encouraging words. I look forward to seeing your faces soon :)
Love,

Sistaa Larson

July 5, 2012            Transferred to the Inde Visitors Center

Hello everyone! I know it has only be like 3 days since I last wrote but apparently in the Visitor Center, we have weird pdays...like on a Thursday! As you have read, I am officially in the VC and I am in a trio with 2 amazing sisters that I am so excited to be with but so sad that its going to be a short lived time. Sister Barnum got transferred out to ODESSA though and I was totally pumped for her!! She is excited to head out there and I will really miss serving with her...we were together for almost 6 months! She is going to be awesome out there though.

Tuesday was a day of goodbyes as was Wednesday. I totally went against my eating restrictions on Tuesday to eat lunch with the investigator family we were teaching. The grandpa made us Donut Bacon Cheeseburgers....sound like a heart attack waiting to happen?? Well it was! But it really was so good!! Haha. Do not worry, I didn't die from it. I may have been very tired afterwards but it wasn't too bad :) The girls we were teaching in that family were so sad to say bye, as were the grandparents who at first didn't really want to sit in to listen. They will progress and come around to coming to church one day when they are ready.

Saying goodbye to the Sheltons was not very fun, Mary Lou started crying before we left as she talked about how grateful she was for our weekly visits and how it was because of us that she was able to pick herself back up during those rough times. Her and Mike have truly changed SO much in the past 5 months, it is incredible. Her husband Mike was so sweet, he really is a man of few words but he wanted to make sure we knew that he was grateful for us and he would miss us. As we were walking away, he shouted out in his raspy voice "LOVE YOU!" It was so sweet!! They are so amazing, I will miss them.

We had our last dinner with the Hamilton family on Tuesday night, Neal wasn't able to make it even though he worked double time on his projects to get them finished so his boss gave him another project so he wasn't able to come home. But we still had a really fun time just visiting with Catherine and Kenzie. Since Wed was the 4th of July, Neal was off work so we got to go back to see them again! We really couldn't say bye to them...so hard. After visiting for awhile, making random jokes and having some good spiritual conversations, we gave our hugs and went on our way. I thought I left my shades at their house so we turned around to get them, we walked in and Catherine had told us that Neal was in the bedroom crying. Neal walked out with red eyes, asking us what we were doing back! It was such an amazing thing so see him cry. He is the kind of guy that told his kids to stop crying and if they got hurt to rub some dirt on it...so it was a lil tender mercy to have gone back to see that :) Even though it is sad, it will still be a precious memory forever. I will REALLY miss them....sooooo much.

Of course Wednesday was crazy packing day, getting everything ready to go and seeing all the others that we wanted to say bye too. There are some really awesome families here that are just so down to earth and real, I'm so grateful for their examples and the impact they have had on my life. We did get to say bye to Shawna and her daughter Shanda which was fun, they wanted to make sure to get our info to keep in touch and to make sure the elders come by too! Ha. Love them. We went to a BBQ at the Eyrings house and they invited a bunch of members in the branch so it was nice to be there with everyone. Sister Barnum and I's favorite family, the Sorensen's were able to come and it was so fun. Near the end we had all the adults sitting around in a circle telling jokes/stories...it was awesome. I felt like I was home around my family. It was no fun saying bye to the Sorensen's, they're such an amazing family, they became like brothers and sisters to us. That night I was so sad to not see fireworks again, but when I came upstairs to get some water Momma Sperry was watching some fireworks show in Boston and it was awesome!! A lil present to me :) I seriously LOVE fireworks....4th of July is the 2nd best holiday ever. It was hard saying bye to the Sperry's this morning, although I think I was running on about 3 hours of sleep so I didn't really have any emotions haha. I will really miss them though. They have been amazing.

I got to see some good friends this morning at transfers and it was so fun! I am really excited to be serving in the Lee Summit 2nd ward. I am serving in Sister Dodd's old area, with one of her recent companions Sister Satterthwaite (who is hilarious) and Sister Crystal (who is the Bomb). It should be a really fun time here! I am excited for the fun and spiritual adventures to come :) I'll give you more on our area and companionship next week! :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love

Sistaaaa Larson

July 2, 2012   Last Full week in Chilli

This past week has been full of really amazing things, the Lord has blessed us so much and it is so hard to say that we are leaving Chillicothe. A lot of people have made some big steps in progression and we have seen a lot of changes here. Needless to say, I love Chilli and it has been hard to say goodbye already.

One of my favorite experiences this week has been with our investigator Shawna. She came to church a few weeks ago and we got to teach her 2 times this week. On Monday last week, Momma Sperry came with us to teach Shawna at her house and it was a very spiritual lesson. Shawna opened up to Sis Sperry, shared some of her life struggles with losing her son 4 years ago, being kicked out of her house when she was a teenager and still holding strong with her faith in God. We continued talking about what she has learned from us and from her reading, and the spirit was incredible as she talked about how she understood what she had been reading and praying about. I was trying to keep little Zoey entertained so she wouldn't disrupt the lesson so I didn't get to hear the whole conversation but I did chime in at the most perfect time. Sis Barnum asked Shawna whether she felt like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was Christs' church on the earth today, to which Shawna looked at her with a strong conviction and said "oh yes, absolutely." I was speechless, while Sis Sperry put her hand on her heart and said "oh wow"...the spirit was so strong as she continued telling us how she knew it was true. It was amazing. She knows she wants to be baptized and knows that she has to pray about what to do because she lives with her boyfriend right now. She came to church again on Sunday with her older daughter Shanda, age 16, her daughters boyfriend, and lil Zoey (who is Shawna's boyfriends little girl) but no Rusty again this week. They all stayed for 2 hours again and had to leave but said that they really enjoyed it! We went by after church to visit with them and it was another incredible experience. Her daughter Shanda just moved in with her and we were asking her if she could see a difference in her mom which she responded real quickly saying she could definitely see a difference! Shawna told us how she realized that she needed to actually pray and read like we told her too. Then once she did, things started falling into place that she had been working on for over 6 months. She got a full time job, she started feeling healthy so shes been loosing weight, and she got her daughter to move in with her again. She testified to us and her daughter about how easier it is to trust in God to let him take control while she does the little things of simply reading, praying and going to church. Shanda then said that she wanted to learn what her mom has been learning, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and gave her an overview of the Restoration. Both Shanda and Shawna want to make sure they keep learning because they are working towards baptism! Shawna has been such a tender mercy for us because we have seen one of our seeds grow and harvest! She is truly converted in her heart and we couldn't have asked for anything more amazing.

Sunday was the best Sunday ever. With it being fast Sunday, even during the opening song, I could feel a strong spirit in the room. We saw our used to be Less active couple, the Sheltons come in and it was so good to see them there. Mike joined the church in Nov, his wife joined awhile ago but they went inactive before he was baptized and even afterwards. We would have weekly visits with the Shelton's to help them get on track and eventually tried to get Mike to receive the priesthood. The challenge for us, is Mike had a stroke and went through chemo for cancer a little while ago and doesn't like to talk a lot because he lost his short term memory so his wife Mary Lou talks for him. We tried for almost 2 months to get Mike to go in to get the priesthood. We told them on Saturday to make that final appointment with Pres Coleman since he stopped drinking coffee which was the last step. Both Mike and Mary Lou weren't too pumped about setting another appointment, just wanted to set it when they saw him at church. The branch President got up to do announcements like usual and we were looking around to see if the other families we committed to come to church were there. He made an announcement for Mike Shelton to stand to be sustained for the Aaronic priesthood and we were blown away!! We couldn't help but get teary eyed, we had NO idea that it was going to happen that Sunday, our last Sunday too! Pres Coleman had another young man stand to be sustained and he made eye contact with me and he got choked up. He explained that he was doing fine till he looked at the sister missionaries and what a blessing it is to have a member of the branch receive the priesthood, especially a recent convert of the church. It was such an amazing moment. Mike was beaming too. He was ordained after church and even then he was still beaming with an amazing glow all around him. So excited for both of them.

Testimony meeting was another amazing time, especially for Sister Barnum and I. The little Weed girls got up to bear their testimonies which of course where so good. Little Mayanna bore her testimony and said that she hopes that the missionaries enjoy their mission and wherever they go. Then Mary Lou bore her testimony which was incredible, she has changed SO much and I just love her. She also said how grateful she was for the sister missionaries, which was so special. Another little boy got up and said how he loves sister Barnum and sister Larson and that he will miss us. Haha. It was a really special Sunday for us, we felt so very loved. I got up to bear my testimony for the last time and I looked out and saw Neal, the dad for the Tuesday night family, along with his wife Catherine in tears. I had never seen Neal cry before and that will be a moment that I will never forget.

I cannot say the smallest part of how I feel inside or how much I truly have grown in Chillicothe or learned since being here. I have seen how the Lord places people in our path almost every single day who seem to have blessed my life more than we have blessed theirs. Heavenly Father truly is aware of all of us and we all have a spiritual connection. I love being a servant of the Lord and being able to help see people be changed in their own journeys. Even though this area was hard, I absolutely love this branch so much. Every soul truly is precious in the eyes of God. I have seen it with my own eyes and have felt it every day. I know that serving others around us helps us feel of that love and helps us know of the Saviors love for us. I love the mercy of our Father, the peace and freedom it brings to my heart. I hope to continue on till the end of my mission with sharing His love and truth to all I can.

I love you all and am soooo grateful for your prayers and support.

Love

Sista Larson

June 25, 2012      When Life Hands you STONES   don't sink!

This past week was a rough one as far as pain went, it seems as if no matter what I eat that I have sharp shooting pains. But the wonderful thing is that I take about a 2 hour break everyday and we just keep moving forward! :) Despite the pain, this past week was a really wonderful week with teaching.

Our investigator Shawna that came to church last week is truly progressing and has a burning testimony. She told us she really enjoyed church, learning from others and she loved how much her boyfriends little girl LOVED church. Someone brought up how they sacrifice not drinking coffee even though they love everything about it and Shawna asked us about it when we visited with her. We explained a little about how important it is to treat this wonderful gift, our physical bodies, with care and to make sure we keep it pure with no addictions. It was so cool because she agreed, she stopped drinking awhile ago, doesn't drink coffee either and had this great understanding about why we live the word of wisdom. Somehow baptism got tied into our conversation about the Plan of Salvation and she told us that she really wants to be baptized but wants to do it the right way. Her boyfriend is Rusty, who we originally started teaching and they live together but aren't married. She opened up a lot and later after we left her house, she text us saying how grateful she was for us coming to visit with her and teach her! I love those text messages :) She is such an incredible person and I hope that a miracle happens so she can get baptized asap!

Our Hamilton Tuesday night family kind of stopped wanting to learn or talk about religious things and it became almost uncomfortable to share with them anything we planned. Well after dinner, we played a short Mormon message clip on "knowing enough" and no one wanted to really share what their thoughts were on the clip. I opened my mouth, shared my testimony of feeling like I knew enough so no one needed to tell me how to live or teach me anything which led to some hard times until I hit a point in my life where I needed to learn more because I didn't know enough. Before I realized it, I felt good learning and what I did know, was enough to keep me going through challenges and I keep learning which helps me know that I know enough for each day. As I continued to share my unplanned testimony, I noticed their daughter Kenzie was teary eyed and I felt the spirit so strongly burning inside. It was an incredible feeling because I knew that Heavenly Father was allowing me to use that Spirit to fill my mouth with the words to say that would help them all feel the spirit and remind them that they can make those changes in their life as they keep learning. Although no big changes happened after our lesson, no miracle of them all saying they wanted to be baptized, I knew that they felt the spirit that night and they could see that I was just delivering a message from God, as His servant. The dad, Neal, had some changes when we came to teach him on Wednesday which was incredible! He read other things that we never told him to read and he even asked some good questions. I love the power of the Spirit. So much easier to listen to it ha ;-)

On of my favorite events this week was discovering that a mom we found back in Feb or March, that moved away to Brookfield with her Fiance last month just moved back to Chilli!! We were driving along and we saw her son sitting in a driveway in town, so drove back by because we wanted to make sure it was him...yep it was...he waved and definitely knew we were stalking the house haha. Which he even went inside and told his mom that his "sister friends were stalking the house" haha. Its what we do best as missionaries I guess! But we got to visit with her and lots of her siblings this past week. It was a total blast listening to them harass each other and give each other a hard time but you could still feel this incredible love between them all. Oh, they're all grown adults too with their own kids which made me feel like I was hanging out with my own family, just a little more rough around the edges haha. The amazing thing was being able to share with them who we are as missionaries, what we do every day and why we do it. The house was a bit chaotic but they all committed to be at Jennifer's house when we go back on Wednesday this week. I am so excited too, I really love Jennifer, she is an amazing mom, friend and so humble. She has downloaded the Gospel Library App on her phone and downloaded some of the manuals which she has no clue what they are for haha but she is so excited to learn.

I absolutely love this area and the people here. I am sad to think that the area might be closing but I PRAY that they at least send elders in to keep it going instead of it being double covered by elders in the other surrounding areas. I have to admit though, I have learned a lot this week about FAITH. Many times I have felt that my faith has been lacking which is why I wasn't getting better when I truly believed that I would start feeling better after X minutes/hours. I was reminded that sometimes we question our faith when in reality it is just a matter of remembering that it is not our faith that is lacking, it is our time to prove to the Lord that we still trust in Him while we wait patiently through our afflictions. I am so grateful to have been humbled by many events this week, I see just how much the Savior loves us and gives so freely to us when we are so imperfect. I love Jesus Christ, our Brother, for the pain he went through so we always have someone to turn to in times of need. I also am grateful to know that He was such a loving and happy man because THAT is the kind of person I am striving to be like everyday :) I love you all and am SOOOO grateful for all your letters and prayers, I feel them every day and I KNOW that your prayers is what helps me EVERY DAY. THANK YOU!!!!!

Love,

Sistaaaa Larson

June 18, 2012 Lord Has a Change of Plans

This week has been by far the most interesting and mission changing one I have had my whole mission. Let me start out by telling you my embarrassing story...on Monday last week, I went to open the door to the church building and some creepy looking bug flew towards me and I moved quickly to get away from it. When I jumped back, I flung the back of my head into the corner of the brick building, my eyes started rolling, I stumbled forwards and Sister Barnum just caught me not know what just happened. Haha. Yep. I didn't have a big concussion to send me to the hospital or anything but it did give me the biggest headache ever all day on Tuesday. The nurse heard my name and said, Sister Larson, you are having all kinds of problems these days! Haha. We stayed home most of the day on Tuesday under the nurse's orders, it was nice to have a place to rest my pounding head. Oh and while I was driving home on Sunday I hit a bird and on Monday walking to our car from Walmart, there it was, stuck to our front headlight!! Enjoy the picture haha.

Wednesday I had my ultra sound appointment on my abdomen down in Liberty. The tech who did the ultra sound had never really heard of missionaries and I ended up telling him all about our church which was kind of funny. He was super cool! He turned to computer screen towards me as he showed me all my organs, which it all looked like a black and white blob but still pretty cool. Then he found my gallstones in my gallbladder, he wasn't supposed to tell me any information about it but I am SO grateful he did. After that I felt such a peace of mind about my weird stomach cramps that I have been having for the past 3 months. I felt like a crazy person not really knowing why my stomach hurt and tried to ignore it for so long and now I had a reason. That night we visited with our Tuesday night family that we are teaching, Neal and Catherine. Neal opened up to us a little more but held back a lot. When his wife came home, his demeanor changed and his stubbornness came back. Catherine wants to get baptized and is stubborn/set on having their family all join eventually, but Neal is stubborn right back and almost plays a game with her about who can hold out the longest haha. Yes. It is very interesting, we are hoping that some hearts become softened very soon :)

Thursday morning I got a call from our Zone Leaders cause they heard I hurt my head, then I told them I also had Gallstones to which they were very surprised and taken back. Then the mission nurse called then the medical adviser over 5 of the Midwest missions called. I thought the calls were all over until I saw the Mission Home calling 30min later. President Keyes was on the other line, he gave me a new nickname "gallstone Larson" ha and he continued to talk to me about my new diagnosis. He told me that he had been thinking all night about the physical challenges that comes from it and that I should pray about going home on July 19th. I was taken back because I had talked to his wife the day before and we both thought that I would just have a strict diet for the next 2 months then get surgery when I go home. As he continued talking, I knew what he was saying was right but I needed to have my own spiritual confirmation as well just like he said. I got to talk to my parents that afternoon about the possibility which they all were very supportive about the situation going either way but were of course biased and wanted me home sooner haha.

Saturday we had an all mission fast so that each area would be able to find new investigators all summer long every week. Pres Keyes also asked us to first express our gratitude for what the Lord has already done for our mission, secondly to find each week, third what our area needed and last what we personally needed help with. I knew exactly what I needed to fast for and was grateful that I would have the opportunity to fast with the whole mission at the same time because of the great spirit that could come during it. As soon as we started our fast, within 2 hours we found 1 new investigator. After 2 hours, we had 3 new investigators! It was seriously amazing and I know that with all the prayers from 200 missionaries, miracles were happening!! Saturday night, I had the most amazing sleep in forever (no food in the stomach ha) and Sunday was an amazing service all day long. We had a new investigator Shawna come to church with her daughters which was so awesome and they all enjoyed it! Whoop! :) Our Sunday school lesson was on sacrifice and there was one moment when the spirit hit me so strongly about what I needed to do personally. Someone in the class said that with sacrifice it all goes back to faith and trusting in God and listening to the spirit to make those righteous sacrifices. I wasn't even thinking about what I was fasting about but the spirit told me so clear to listen to that and to Trust God...going home on July 19th is what the Lord is asking you to do and its time for me to trust Him. Relief Society was about personal revelation and a lady told a story about being in a car accident but her dad listened to a prompting which helped save their lives then said that its so important to listen to those promptings because our challenges we face could be worse. Again the spirit was telling me so strongly that my body is in need of medical help sooner and that I need to listen. I knew at that moment that it was official, I was to go home on July 19th.

I talked to my mission president this morning and he received the same answer about me going home. He reminded me that I am going home because the Lord has a change of plans and I will have served a full and honorable mission by that date. What an amazing blessing to know that will have done all that the Lord called me to do and will be finishing my mission strong and complete :) I love the Lord and am so grateful to have such great people around me who uplift and inspire me all the time. With transfers being around July 5th, President said he will most likely close Chillicothe :( and I will go to the Visitor Center in Independence to be in a trio for my last 2 weeks. I look forward to finishing out my mission strong, with a smile on my face and hopefully not very much pain :) I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and support!! Thank you for everything! Talk to you next week :)

Love

Sistaaaaaaaaaaaa Larson

June 11, 2012    Very Interesting Week

With the younger Arkansas Sperry's back to their home, the house has gone back to its normal quiet state and it is beautiful :) A lot of events happened this week with our investigators and within the life of Sister Larson in general! I have learned a lot, mainly about the Lord's timing. With October, the girl with the baptismal date, she dropped us this week and said that she isn't ready right now to keep learning because she is trying to finish nursing school and can't learn anymore from us. We had a hard time with coming to terms with her not learning anymore. Another investigator hasn't been at home to be taught when we plan these really spiritual lessons too. Another lesson of the Lord has his timing even if we plan by the spirit, sometimes things do not go as planned because they are heading in a different direction we just can't see yet. It has been a bittersweet learning week that is for sure but I have gained a testimony of patience and truly letting the Lord lead the course because it will end in a place that is better than anything I come up with!

Our investigator Rusty, who testified of the Book of Mormon to his pastor dropped us awhile ago but his wife has come into the picture! She accepted a Book of Mormon, wants us to come by to visit with just her. We left her with Mosiah chapter 4 to read earlier in the week and by Saturday she has read the whole chapter! Whoop! Her husband Rusty was home and he committed to reading that chapter before next week and to be home for our next return appointment :) They are such a nice family and have such great faith. We are excited to see where it all goes with them and hopefully we will see them at church next week.

The lady who takes care of Nate Sperry, Teresa, stayed the night this past week and we had dinner with her at our house. After we ate, we watched the Joseph Smith movie with her and then talked with her afterwards for another 2 hours. When she first started working for the Sperry's 5 years ago, she was curious about this "blue book" that Nate would hold in his hands just thumbing through it. So she picked it up and would read in random places. Well she was curious about the book and so she bought one online, for $22 mind you ha and has her own copy of the Book of Mormon at her house. She never asked the Sperry's any questions really and we ended up answering a lot of her questions that night. It was such a long discussion but it was so awesome at the same time! She never grew up going to church, she's in her 40's and she started going to church 3 months ago...just 1 month after we got here. If Sister Barnum and I don't really see why we are here with other people, I can honestly tell you that we are here for Teresa and she tells us the same thing. Hopefully she commits to letting us teach her, she was a little hesitant about it but took the Ensign magazine from last year in October that was all about the Book of Mormon. She is incredible!

We had exchanges this week with the sisters in Liberty. I went down to the Liberty 1st ward with Sister Lisonbee and it was a crazy experience. The best part about being down in the house again at the jail, was seeing Sister Dodd and Sister Kavea!! On Friday night after planning, I went out on the porch with those sisters and we talked, laughed and had so much fun together. I think we could have easily stayed up til midnight, but don't worry, we were obedient! Saturday was a fairly dead teaching day because Sis Lisonbee just got to the area and didn't really know where to go plus a lot of people weren't home. Although we did come across a member who wanted us to learn HIS ways, learn how the Book of Mormon is false and he found out for himself, blah blah blah. I may have interrupted him a few times, told him we would listen to him if he would listen to us (with a smile on my face)...he did NOT like my interruptions haha. So he avoided eye contact with me and just looked at Sis L the rest of the time haha. The whole time I was thinking of the story of Korihor in Alma 30, wishing that I could strike him dumb haha. It was a very funny and sad situation. We prayed for him haha. That night at dinner, we were walking up to this house which looked like it was falling apart. Sis Lisonbee didn't know the members and I of course didn't either. As we walked up I said, "I have a feeling were going to be eating some interesting food...." Well. I can honestly say that I have had the worst dinner experience of my mission, thanks to exchanges. Dog pee every where, tons of trash, dirty floors, dirty dishes, black floaties in the drinks, cock roaches on the ground/floor/stove....the members were around 50 and didn't have any teeth and the wife had whiskers on her face that looked like a go-tee. I don't know if that's a good enough description but all I have to say is, if it weren't for the power of prayer, my stomach wouldn't have survived! Sis Lisonbee was a rock star, after we left and talked about it all, she said "listen to me! I am so ungrateful, they fed us and didn't even need to! I am grateful they did that." She was serious too! It was a HUGE lesson that I learned in a matter of minutes. Course I'm not saying I would go back and do it all over again haha but it was a moment I will never forget.

On a funny note, the Weed family that we have been visiting with for awhile, their daughter got baptized a month or so ago fed us on Friday before exchanged. Their littlest girl, Eliana, is 7 years old and says the funniest things. Her mom was looking for her chapstick in her purse, she yelled out, "who took my chapstick!?" Eliana then says, "Not me! Last time I'd sawed it was in my hands today after school!" Hahaha. After my laughter about her comment, I turned to her and told her that was taking her chapstick. She quickly corrected me with raised eyebrows, big eyes and her hand unfolding in my face saying "Noooooo, that's BORROWING." Hahaha. I LOVE HER!!! She made my week. Another positive note, we got a new district leader who is a BOSS! He is so awesome and is already turning our district around, we are so excited to have him as our leader. Our awesome Zone Leaders came to our meeting this week too which was a tender mercy for me because they are incredible and so uplifting. I love little tender mercies :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep your heads held high! Remember, it is all in the Lord's timing. Its up to us to make sure we SEE His timing and don't fight against it :) Much love to you! I miss you too!!!

Love

Sista Larson

June 4, 2012  Spiritually Bold Week

Since zone conference, I have tried my best to be as obedient as I can be and it has been surprisingly very easy! Haha. Life truly is easier when you just do the right thing. I have also been reading the Book of Mormon cover to cover again and this week I was reading a lot about Alma and the sons of Mosiah's preaching. Well, you add Zone Conference+Obedience+Alma missionary teachings = Stronger spirit = Me using boldness! Ha. I must say, it was a really amazing experience to be able to say "I promise you that we have the solution..." to a drug addict who said she knew she wanted to quit but didn't know what to do. We had many experiences this week where people were okay with sitting in limbo, not wanting to read or do anything to receive answers...kind of just expecting God to drop the answer in their lap without any effort. I'm so grateful for the spirit and the trust I have in the lord standing behind me in my moments of boldness. I love the feeling of promising someone a blessing and trusting the Lord will take care of the rest. I was able to tell someone "as a representative of Jesus Christ, I am telling you that He is ready for you to come unto Him and waiting to wrap his arms around you". The mantle of a missionary is so real and an amazing feeling!

Our investigator October continues to move towards her baptism date, she expressed some fears/concerns this past week which we were able to settle. She said that she really likes reading the Book of Mormon now compared to last summer because of the things she found in it from our random reading assignments and she looks forward to the little gems she is going to find in it each time she reads. How true that really is for all who read the Book of Mormon with an open heart, searching for help/comfort/guidance. One thing she hasn't seen is the connection of her feelings of peace and calmness coming directly from Heavenly Father as answers to her questions of what she is learning is true and good. Hopefully we are able to help her see that for herself and let her receive her answers in her own way that she can recognize.

The kids, Madison, Kendell and Aj were totally crazy this past week. They are in summer school, like EVERY kid in this town, so when Saturday comes, they get stir crazy and ready to play. It was interesting to see the difference though, in their home versus teaching the Weed's in their home. The spirit is truly stronger in a members home than in their own home, even if the members aren't totally converted to the gospel, it makes a BIG difference. None of the kids came to church on Sunday either. We are praying that we can get the grandparents involved more so they feel comfortable with coming to church with the kids.

The members we live with, The Sperry's, have their grandchildren in town from Arkansas and it has totally changed the dynamic of the house! They have 5 kids, age range from 12 to 3yrs old and they like to run every where in the morning....our bedroom happens to be right under the kitchen haha. But even if they are loud, they have been so much fun!! It has been fun coming home to a house where you get greeted by lots of hugs and they just love you just because you're a missionary. They have stayed at the house for over a week now and are heading back tomorrow, it will be very different and sad to have the house be totally quiet again.

This week truly was a busy week and a good one. I've been having some physial challenges, went to a doctor on Thursday last week and hopefully will be getting back to full health soon. I have been trying to push through the tiredness or the stomach cramps that I have developed out here and still see how the Lord is the one carrying me through the day. I am excited for this upcoming week and seeing more people! Hopefully some big miracles happen this week!! :)

Love you all, thank you for your prayers and support!

Love

Sista Larson

PS. If you are looking for something to read these days, read Alma chapters 12-40. It talks all about the missionary experiences and they are awesome! ;)

May 28, 2012   Spiritually Growing Week

We had transfers this week and I stayed right here in Chilli with the same companion, Sister Barnum!! We are excited for the next adventures we come across, Pres Keyes said that we both might get transferred in July which is so sad but hopefully he gives us a warning before that happens. On P-day last week though, we went on our fun buggie right by a 15yr old Amish boy and the Gallatin elders as well as Sis Leonard who is the neighbor to the Amish family in Jamesport. It was seriously the SMALLEST buggie and they called it the family rig, holding 9 people! I think they must have fit 9 small children in there cause 9 adults could never fit in, we barely fit 6! Haha, but it was a lot of fun! The elders and us all walked around Jamesport, looking at the shops and buying random goodies. We had a really fun p-day last week and this week, we got to stay at home in our shorts till 3pm....soooo nice!!

Our investigators have really changed and made some good steps in their spiritual journeys. The little girls we are teaching come over to the Weed's house when we teach them sometimes, so we get to have a kid lesson with everyone quite often. Their friend Abby came over to the house at the Weed's one day with one of the little girls, Kendell, so she could be taught since she was gone when we taught Kendell and Madison. It was so cute! We will be teaching her tonight at her house with her family for the first time, we are excited :) The girls' brother, AJ, finally sat in on a lesson this past week and even said the closing prayer which was so awesome! Their grandparents haven't joined in on the lessons just yet but we are hoping that tomorrow they do.

October is seriously amazing. She reads the chapter assignments in the Book of Mormon and then goes to 3 Nephi to read one chapter in there or more until she doesn't have time to keep reading. her understanding of the scriptures has grown so much in just 2 weeks, it really has shown me how the power of reading can open your eyes and mind to more things around you, not just spiritually speaking either. We talked to her about setting a date for baptism and she said yes! So she will be getting baptized on June 30th, hopefully. Her mom doesn't really know much about the church and seems to have a confusion about what October is doing with learning....so we are praying October talks to her mom or maybe that we can teach her too!

On Sunday I had this really amazing experience that came to me when I least expected. We had a really rough weekend and being at church on Sunday was just a struggle. The speakers didn't keep me engaged, I was tired and was feeling emotionally exhausted. In our gospel Principles class, Bro Stull "Mr. Hulk" taught a lesson about the sacrament in such a way that I had never heard. I read the lesson and thought to myself, this is going to be a long boring Sunday...ha....heavenly Father proved me wrong real quickly. If you ever want to learn a lesson, doubt yourself or other people and Heavenly Father will show you other wise haha. But he helped me see how the Lord always brings his blessing and spirit upon others, he is always true to his promise just like in the sacrament prayer. If we endure the trials/road blocks in our path he will bless us. But we also have to do our part in always REMEMBERING Christ...if we but remember him in all we do, we can truly make those choices that can better our lives and bring those blessings. That is why the sacrament prayer is said the way it is. What a blessing it is to have that every single week, to help us remember Him. That night we had dinner at the Stull's and had a way fun time. Bro Stull is a big dude but a total softy at heart. His wife was making a joke about how he was a softy and how she just isn't a crier at all. I laughed and said, yeah my dad is that way....he cries at commercials. The whole family laughed and she said, he probably would do that too!! Hahah. It was so fun and was a tender mercy for me, feeling like I was with my dad :)

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had our zone conference in Liberty. Sister Dodd got transferred to the Liberty Jail and we got to sit together through the conference, it was awesome esp since it was our last zone conference that we will attend. The whole theme of conference seemed to be focused on OBEDIENCE. Something I know I personally needed to hear haha. But it was also a very spiritually uplifting conference. I wish I really had time to share all the messages that were shared because they always give great advice that applies to missionaries and members alike. In the scriptures it talks about "living after the manner of happiness" and Pres Keyes gave us 6 "Be's" to live by that can help us do that and they are so helpful. They are Be Worthy. Be Obedient. Be Anxiously Engaged. Be Not Weary In Well Doing. Be Prayerful. Be Grateful. Many members and missionaries know that we have to live according to all of these but it is helpful to be reminded of the simplicity of them and that we may not be 100% in an area but if were low in another, we can focus on it and strive the be the best we can be in that area. One of the counselors said that we should make it a "quest". If we aren't the best at it, don't just do it because we have to, we should make it a quest to be the best one could be. I loved that.

At the end of the conference, they leave 20min for testimonies for the missionaries going home in the next 3 months....well....that was me. Pres Keyes announced it was testimony time, looked straight at me and said, you ready to start us off sister? Haha. My heart jumped out of my chest! Who can say no in front of a group of missionaries haha. So I went up first. After I sad back down, I felt like I just had the most out of body experience. The last 5 minutes didn't feel real to me at all. I watched the others get up, sit back down, then Sister Dodd went up. I couldn't believe I was watching her bear her testimony either. After conference was over, I still was so happy to just be there with other friends/sisters. We took pictures, said goodbye and went back to our area. The rest of the day I kept playing over the day, I realized that my "lasts" moments had just hit me. I really cant believe that my mission is coming to a close. I feel so grateful to be out here, to have changed so much and to meet so many wonderful people. I pray that I can continue changing, becoming better, help others the best I can and be a light to others back to our Savior. I seriously love my mission. Grateful I still have almost 11 weeks to just keep doing work!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Thank you sooooo much for your prayers and love. I know I felt them this week. I Miss you! Hope all is well for you!!

Love,

Sista Larson

May 21,2012   I Love My CHILI

This past week has been a lot of fun and full of some really good teaching experiences! We have lots of investigators now and seem to have a lot of appointments every day which makes the week go by SO fast!! I love it! On Tuesday we were able to teach the little girls, Madi and Kendell with their friend Abby (who we will start teaching next week at her family's house! Whoop!). We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ which includes the basic principles of faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. As we taught the girls each step we wrote each word on a separate piece of paper looking like stepping stones and they loved moving through each of them, it was a lot of fun. Each girl explained what each principle was before they could move to the next one and their answers was what made teaching them fun. Madi is the oldest around 9yrs old and she understood that the holy ghost was a gift that is given to you after you get baptized but that you can still feel it before you get baptized but its not with you all the time. She also understood that you can only have that help/comfort from the holy ghost when you are doing what you are supposed to do and not doing bad things. They all had some really cool answers that I will cherish...they're all some special little children of God, no doubt about that one. That night we had dinner with the Hamilton family and Neal was a little nervous about saying the prayer but while the kids were outside, he grabbed the drawing we gave him from off the fridge and said the prayer for the food!! It was so awesome. We all had a fun and good night at their house on Tuesday.

Wednesday we had our last district meeting before the end of the transfer and it was so fun! Since we had 2 elders taken out of our district last transfer, its been just the 6 of us for awhile and it has been lots of fun. It was a tender mercy for us that day to have a good last meeting together too. Sister Barnum was having a really rough day from morning till mid afternoon and it was cool to see how she would get better little by little as the day progressed. I love the power of prayer. We did get to teach this girl October who is dating a member, she is about 20yrs old and has grown up in a home where God is all around you that he isnt a person and doesn't really understand the importance of Jesus. It was a really interesting yet awesome lesson we had with her! She has a lot of really good questions and read Alma 32 that we gave her to read, which she had a lot of things highlighted that she liked! We also got to teach her on Saturday which was an even better lesson as we focused on the spirit and how we learn through the spirit. Since she believes in energies around her, meditation and taking time out of each day to ponder, she has this really awesome spirit about her. I loved hearing different spiritual experiences shes had. The best part about teaching her, she loves to read and learn! She read Mosiah 3 and 4 that we gave her which she highlighted in those chapters all over the place too! We love her, she is such a fun and willing investigator...she likes to take her time too so baptism isn't quite in store for her yet but it is totally okay! It is all in the Lord's timing.

Friday we had service that morning at the salvation army like normal, went to a members house in town for our usual lunch time and drove up to see their 2 front trees cut down into pieces ALL OVER their front yard!! The 13 yr old girl said she had no idea that their tree was even coming down that day and her dad (who is seriously like the hulk) was hauling the branches by himself. He came home when we had finished our lunch, so I grabbed Sis Barnum and we went out and went to work! The tree limbs were huge and there were a LOT of them. I was helping Mr HULK with the big limbs, moving the big trunk pieces around and doing the big stuff. We put them on the trailer, loaded us all up and took them to the city burn site, went back home and did another load. I gotta admit, it felt SO good to do REAL service and labor for someone but man I was SO tired the rest of the day haha. I felt like such a pansy! Spiritual tired, I get that all the time but the physical tired, its been awhile but I loved it :) Later that night after dinner, we went to see if one of our investigators was packing her stuff to move to Brookfield (outside of our mission...boooo) and found her fiance and friends loading up all their stuff in a horse trailer....so we helped them load up! The fiances friends were total country boys, swearing, one lighting a cigarette every 5 min, the other with a big dip in his lower lip but man they were hilarious! It was a lot of fun helping them move, didn't even feel like work. One of them reminded me of my cousin Trevor, he was so fun. (Larson family - please tell Trevor its not too late to write me!! Haha. I miss that guy!)

Sunday was one of my favorite church days since being out here. The first speaker was the branch pres wife and she started her talk but 5 min into it she said that she felt like she needed to bag it and talk about revelation. It was such a beautiful talk about feeling the spirit, knowing when things are true, acting on those feelings in moments instead of just letting them sit there and do noting for your life. She brought in an amazing spirit to sacrament and the rest of the lessons in church seemed to flow perfectly all together! It was so awesome. October was able to come to church and she said she really enjoyed church! I love when the spirit allows others to be teachers to so many others, exp non members :) After church we were able to commit this single mom we found a few weeks ago to learning from us! She was taken back when we told her that no one gets paid in our church and that we don't have 1 minister/pastor who speaks every Sunday. It was pretty cool watching her get all excited about it and then asked us if she could come to church haha. We said yes, don't worry ;-)

Today will be a fun Pday too, we're going up to Jamesport to the Amish community and meeting up with the Gallatin elders to go on a buggie ride!! The famous Leonard's in our branch live up there and hooked us up! I am pretty excited too, should be a fun day. I am totally nervous about transfers this week too so it will be nice to do something to keep us busy. Last week on Pday we went bowling with Momma Sperry and Nate (family we live with), so fun!! We had dinner with the fun Deardeuff family last night and the mom/daughters hugged us for so long because one of us or both of us might not see them again. It was so weird to have that feeling already with saying possible goodbyes. We find out on Tuesday night where we will be going and will have to be in Indep by 7am on Thursday if we are leaving. This week will be an interesting one. Please keep us in your prayers a little extra this week, I know I will need it. I love you all and am so grateful for all the letters and prayers you send my way!!! I miss you!!!

Love

Sista Larson

May 14, 2012   Miracle Week

This past week has been by far the most AMAZING week I think I have had in Chillicothe, maybe in my mission. But it was also the most interesting week full of the most RANDOM events! Tuesday was probably the craziest day, filled with very weird/interesting experiences. There is actually too much that happened to really say in this email but just know that there was something interesting that happened at every appointment that day haha. One of the better stories was eating dinner with the Hamilton family. After we all ate dinner, the daughter Kenzie and her boyfriend Tanner got up and went outside. Then Catherine, the mom, got up to make the dessert which left Neal with us 2 sitting there at the table. We of course gave him a hard time about not getting the memo about ditching out on us and how he was in the hot seat. Eventually we got into talking about the Restoration pamphlet that we left with the family to read but only he read it. He has some good questions about Joseph Smith, how old he was when he was baptized, if he checked out any of the other churches before he prayed about what church to join and how the church was organized. It was such a good conversation with Neal and we committed him to say the pray next week when we come over. Every week, Catherine says the blessing on the food but this time, we will get Neal! Which we were told on Sunday that he is all kinds of nervous for the prayer so I drew him up one of my prayer drawings that I made up in Odessa about the steps and what to say with beautiful 3rd grade type drawings to go with :) We are excited for tomorrow!

Wednesday we contacted 2 friends of little Mayanna Weed's who had come over and listened to a couple of the lessons when we taught her. The girls are 9 and 8 years old with incredible questions every time. They're being raised by their grandma as of last year because their mom was murdered and the dad committed suicide. These poor girls have lived an interesting life the past year and are so worried about where each of their parents are now. Grandma said that she would love it if we would come over and teach the girls! We were so excited and Mayanna even came with us to teach them when we went back on Friday. Mayanna is already a missionary and acts like she is 30. It is so fun! Before we went to dinner, we stopped by a less actives home and were greeted by her African American boyfriends family. We had the Uncle, cousin and brother all outside talking to us...or more like hitting on us haha. I may or may not have gotten serenaded by the Uncle. Haha. It was hilarious! We had dinner with this new family, the Albrecht's, who moved here a month ago and we just LOVE them!! They're so fun and have such down to earth personalities. He is the new Anesthesiologist for 2 of the hospitals around here and moved here from St Louis for the hunting/fishing/wild life adventures. Plus, they watch modern family! They totally win in my book. The dad bought a Beebe gun from Walmart and shoots the birds that try to eat his dogs food and their little 4 yr old girl LOVES it! They sit on their back porch watching the birds, just waiting. Haha. Yep, they are def adapting to the Chilli lifestyle real quick haha.

Thursday we were able to teach a former investigator names Rusty. We didn't really know what to teach but we thought we should go over our purpose because he would also bail out on lessons which is why we dropped him in the past. Before we really got into our expectations or our purpose he told us that he was ready for a change because he stopped going to church 3 weeks ago because of a situation with his pastor. We of course had to ask him what it was and we were NOT expecting this one....he went to his pastor and told him why they aren't teaching out of the Book of Mormon because it is a book that is similar to the Bible but is better. His pastor was taken back and told him that no one should be reading anything but the bible because it says in there that no one should add or take away from the book. Rusty didn't agree with it and apparently stood up for the Book of Mormon, testified to him of the truthfulness of it and that the Bible was written by man and who is to say its entirely correct! Sister Barnum, Peter and I were all taken back as we just sat there with total amazement! Peter said in a text before we got to Rusty's house that he wasn't sure Rusty was ready to change but that it was our call since we have that inspiration as missionaries....we were right!! Haha. But we definitely didn't expect THAT kind of a response! It was so awesome! We reminded him about the intro to the Book of Mormon, how it says that if you gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon then you know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lords church established once again on the earth. He agreed right then and was ready to come to church! We thought about committing him for baptism but we talked to him about baptism on our last visit but that is when he pulled away big time so we didn't feel right about it....although now I wish we would have just asked him! Oh well. Maybe this week! :)

Friday my bishop from my old ward in Chandler was in town and came up to Chilli! I just love Bishop Arnett, he is the best. That night Sis Barnum and I had a chance to make sushi with some kids our age for dinner. A member, Jeremiah, has been dating October for over a year and a half but she has never wanted to take the lessons. We finally got the opportunity to sit down with them, talk to her about her religious background and she was entirely open to learning! She came from a spiritual background, not believing in Jesus Christ and believing that God can be referred to as the Universe. It was so interesting to me cause I had never really tough anyone who wanted to learn who Jesus Christ was without really having a belief in him already. She thinks of him as just some man that people look to but doesn't understand why. Were so excited to teach her and to be able to teach someone who Jesus is from a totally different view! It was a fun night, made me miss real sushi though.

Saturday we went to a real small town called Braymer, population 900, a town where everyone waves at you no matter if they know you or not. We loved it! We got a referral for a lady names Shirley who we found out had been taught by missionaries almost 7 years prior. She had been to church, was living in Liberty and even went to the Independence Visitor Center. She is so friendly and open to learning from missionaries again! It was a total surprise to us since she hadn't called us back or replied to our text messages prior to us just showing up at her house. The Lord was just preparing her heart for us to be at her door that is for sure! That night we went to dinner at the Applebee's in Chilli and we were told that our check was getting paid for by another table!! We had to ask them multiple times if they were sure they meant OUR table cause NO ONE had done that for us here in Chilli! But they did! It was the perfect ending to that day too.

Yesterday, I got to see my family :) It was so fun and the best!! I am so excited to see everyone in such a short amount of time but I am also grateful I still have some more time out here on my mission to keep serving and finish strong. I look back on this week and I feel like we didn't do anything differently. The Lord seriously just blessed us MORE than I could ever expect. My prayers have been more gratitude prayers than anything because I cant believe the miracles that happened...one right after another! It is weeks like these that make me so happy that I am on a mission!! I hope you all get to see all the little tender mercies and blessings in every day this week. I know He gives out lots, whether we deserve them or not :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Love

Sistaaaaaaaaaaa Larson

May 7, 2012   Temple Dedication and Celebration

This past week was so awesome and I can honestly say I have never been so tired as I was this past week. Since the temple open house was over, it was like my body was on recover mode and I couldn't wake up! Tuesday was the worst too haha, I was totally out of it and had heavy eye lids in almost every appointment. But it was an overall really good day of teaching and finding others to teach. Lots of the people we tried to contact were so friendly and the members we saw were all in such good moods! That night we had dinner with our Hamilton family and it was an awesome night. Near the end of dinner, the mom said that she wanted to know what Baptism lessons were cause her husband was asking about why someone would need lessons before they get baptized. We explained what we do and showed them different pamphlets that we teach from and testified of how important it is that those who get baptized feel that the church is true on their own and not because we are convincing them. It was so awesome because everyone was listening and really had questions but you can tell most of the questions weren't asked....they like to see what everything is before they really take a step towards anything unknown. After we did a brief overview, the mom said that the family all wants to take the lessons to learn about it. I was blown away! Her daughter Kenzie and her boyfriend both agreed that they wanted to learn starting next week. I couldn't believe it! This family that we have been praying for and wanted to really teach them opened up to the gospel. It was a huge prayer answered for us and we finally understood why the lessons we planned on teaching them never happened....it was all on the Lord's timing :)

Thursday we had interviews with our mission president and his wife, the Keyes'. I absolutely love when get to have our one on one with them both because they truly listen to you and want to make sure you are doing good. President Keyes told me that I will be most likely getting transferred to the Independence Visitor Center next transfer (on the 24th) which was not a huge surprise since I have never served there. Although he didn't tell me that it was for sure or a promise, which I believe since things change sooooo quickly out here. We all got our rules that we needed to go by for the cultural event that happened on Saturday and I was SO excited for the event! Friday came and went haha. It was a rough day, appointments all fell through. BUT we found out that our dog Barson went back to his original owners :) So no need to worry, he is safe!

Saturday....was AWESOME. A member dropped us off by the Marriott next to the auditorium. As we were walking towards the front doors, one of the church security guards said to us, "don't make a big scene". I thought, oh great, what did I do already?! Haha. Then Sis Barnum pointed at Elder Walker of the first quorum of the seventy and says I think Pres Monson is getting out of that car too! We got to the doors, I turned to see Pres Monson getting out of his black car!! I couldn't believe it!! We went inside, saw one of the Senior couple sisters standing there and we told her that the prophet was coming in! Of COURSE we waited for him to come inside and there he was but 5 min later. Walked into the Marriott in his crisp suit, body guards all around as he waved to us and said "Howdy Howdy!" We were but 10 feet away from him! I wish he stopped to come say hi but I know I was so shocked I stayed standing in my spot for another 10 min after he went upstairs!! It was so awesome. Cant say I have ever been that close to a Prophet before :) The night continued to get better as I saw lots of old friends from the mission. ALL the missionaries were gathered in a room. Pres Keyes had us all practice the Armies of Helaman song prob 5 times. Then he also told us that we would be able to watch the show from the top seats in the auditorium!! We had some pretty good seats too! I was sitting in my seat waiting for the program to start and I got to see one of my sisters and her new baby! Cami and her husband live down south but go to come up for it, it was so fun seeing her! Then another sister, Jamie, came over and totally surprised me cause I didn't know she would be there either! Nothin better than seeing a prophet and your family in the same day :) The culture event was absolutely amazing. There were 3,500 youth that got to participate in the event. We went down to do our part, the youth split on the floor and Pres Keyes and Sis Keyes lead all of us missionaries in behind them. While we walked we started singing the song as the youth all turned and knelt as we entered the auditorium. To my surprise, Sis Barnum and I got to walk close to the front with the rest of our zone. We walked all the way to the end of the gym and we all stood there facing the prophet. The whole auditorium stood and clapped for us as we came into the gym. I couldn't believe it. Many of the youth were so excited, "look! Its the Missionaries!!!!" many of them said to each other as we came in. It was such an incredible spirit. Pres Keyes was told later on that some of the camera men couldn't do their duties because they were in tears. I cant even tell you how amazing that night really was but I know that I will never forget it.

Sunday the temple was dedicated by our lovely prophet. We went to the morning session and it was so good. Elder Holland was able to come to the dedication as was Elder Hallstrom. The temple president and his wife spoke independently and their talks were very moving. Members in this area have gone from their temple district being in Manti, UT with 13hrs away to Kansas City with 1hr away. Many of the speakers spoke about the prophet Joseph Smith at the Liberty Jail. My heart was so full of gratitude to have served in such a sacred place. Many people have had to sacrifice so much or gone through trials that are hard to understand but the Lord has blessed these people in this promise land with a GORGEOUS temple. What a blessing it is for ME to serve as a missionary at this wonderful time. I could not have asked for a better experience, better place to serve, better people to have met and a testimony that has grown. I love the Lord. I love my mission. May the Lord bless you all and help you all to remember the promises you have made with Him so He can bless your life in a way that you cant even imagine.

I love you all,

Sista Larson

April 30, 2012  Adventure Week!

This past week was a fun filled/adventure week! With our last shifts working at the temple, we met lots of people who had some really good questions. There were more people this week who came to the open house and asked questions just to solidify their opinions on us being crazy but that's okay! Opposition in all things right?! We got to go through the temple with Teresa, she works with Nate Sperry every morning, getting him showered and dressed and off to school. She is so awesome and she brought her sister along for the tour. As we were walking back to the church building after we went through the temple, people behind us were asking questions to me about why I have a black name tag, where I was from, why I was here in MO and why would I choose to live in Chilli. Teresa walks right next to me, grabs my arm, turns to them and said "because we want them here! These girls have blessed our lives in sooo many ways ever since they got to Chillicothe." Her sister said, "she would never say that if it weren't true either." It was a really awesome moment because Teresa is a Harley driver, rough on the outside kind of a woman but she has the biggest heart and we have made an impact on her life in a way that I don't think we really understand.

Thursday on our way to Cameron for District Meeting, we were going to be early, so I suggested stopping at Far West which is 14 miles round trip out of our way haha. So yes, we went and yes we ended up being late to district meeting! But, by only 10 minutes :) We drove down to the Far West site, took some fun pictures, told some stories about the site since Sis Barnum had never been there before and took off on our journey towards Cameron. The GPS said the fastest route was on a dirt road which the truck and trailer right in front of us also happened to take. They took up the whole dirt road, eventually we made it past them which they didn't really move over to the side or slow down...luckily we were in our truck so could handle to nice bumps along the way haha. After our meeting, we went to a small town to contact our first referral from the Internet in a small town called Braymer. We chose Shortest Route on the GPS...bad idea....we drove on almost every gravel road south of the freeway in Livingston county! It was pure chaos. We found the referrals home only to find out she wasn't home sadly. But it sure made for a long driving day and lots of fun!

Friday was our last temple shift, it is going to be so sad not to see everyone so often! I got to see some really awesome sisters 3 times a week, it was the best! Sister Harrel who is actually serving in Odessa, and I got really close while we worked at the temple. Its fun cause she is the smallest sister out here! She's adorable though. After our shift, we went through the temple with one of our investigators Michelle who came up with Sis Leonard and it was a really amazing experience. She was speechless and was amazed by everything in the temple. We didn't really get a chance to talk to her more about the temple cause she slept on the way home but we do know that she loved it! Sister Barnum's family (uncle/aunt) from Overland Park came up that day too and took us all out to dinner at a casino buffet in down town Kansas City. Haha yep, we walked through a casino and had lots of interesting looks. It was so weird being in a casino as a missionary! Very weird. But it was a total blast being with her family, they are a blast and just a party to be around! It made me miss my family though.

Saturday Mayanna had her interview with our district leader. She was so prepared on her own, some of her answers surprised me too! Her response to why we have a prophet means that she knows she can get baptized and she can return to Heavenly Father and that if we didn't have a prophet we wouldn't know how to pay our tithing or do anything else! Haha. She is absolutely amazing and a very special spirit. Her Baptism on Sunday was wonderful. Her dad was able to baptize her and confirm her which was a HUGE blessing. He is such a great guy and has been trying really hard to do things the right way. Pres Coleman was in tears as he welcomed Mayanna into the branch right after Frank gave her the Holy Ghost and gave her a beautiful blessing. Frank and the family has really made some wonderful changes. So excited for them.

Since next week is our temple dedication, yesterday was fast Sunday and we decided we were going to fast for miracles. Our family we eat dinner with every Tuesday is so great but we haven't really been able to count them as new investigators. We asked the husband Neal to come to the baptism after church, him and Kenzi normally leave right after sacrament. As we came around the corner towards the cultural room where the baptism is held, we saw Neal all dressed up walking into the room with Catherine! It was amazing!! They even sat fairly close to the front. The two talks on baptism and holy ghost were most likely more for HIM than they were for Mayanna :) After church, we saw this pretty golden lab with no collar or anything. Sister Barnum suggest we take it back to one of the surrounding houses. Well, no one claimed him and they all said he just showed up that morning. On our way back towards the church, the dog saw a bunch of chickens so it darted across the street just to harass them in their pen. Then it saw a rooster roaming on the yard and it took off and grabbed it in his mouth!! Sister Barnum turned away cause she didn't want to see this dog kill the rooster!! My instincts kicked in or something cause I just took off running towards the dog! Sister Barnum came running too and we got the dog away and the rooster was still alive! Ya! I man handled that dog towards the church, a member found the shelter's number so we called to have him be picked up but the lady at the shelter said she couldn't come get him right away but we could bring him in. We thought, shoot well bring him in! We got a truck bed we could put him in :) Walked to the truck, he jumped in then back out and then jumped back in but tried escaping. We grabbed the hitch to try to shut it but it got pulled up off the hinges and it fell right on my leg above my knee cause I tried to catch it. There we stood with a broken hitch (or so we thought) and a dog who just tried to kill a rooster who is just sitting there watching us!! Our really awesome spiritual day quickly turned!! Haha. It was hilarious. We fixed the hitch, put it back together and sat there waiting for the animal shelter to come get him. While we waited, we just fell in love with this beautiful dog! We named him BarSon :) The lady came, took him away and we felt sick to our stomach. Later we found out from a member that she kills the dogs if they're not claimed after 2 weeks!! Ah!! Sister Barnum was scared and still not okay with the events of the day...it was kind of funny actually haha. Yes I know. I laughed at her pain, I am cruel but it is just companionship love really :) The day did get better as we found another investigator who we taught awhile ago who just stopped meeting with us but he told us that he wanted us to come back and teach him again!! Whooop!! Overall, it was quite an interesting yet awesome week. Only in Chilli do random things like this happen.

I am so excited for the temple open house coming this next week, the prophet will be here and we all get to be apart of the celebration on Saturday night!!! Ya!! I will send you pictures of it all, hopefully we get to meet the prophet! Pray we do :) I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and love you send my way. Hope this email brings a smile to your face :)

Love

SISTAAAAAAA LARSON