Transfers this Week 10/26/2011

Hello E'erybody!

So today is the day that we have our transfer calls sent out to us yet again. It is really weird to me that today is here, especially since this transfer was a 7 week long instead of the normal 6 so it was a longer one. I had a lot of fun this transfer though and this past week was really awesome. We had a rough time here and there, not the jam packed 19 lesson week like last time but still good in its own challenging way :)

On Wednesday last week, I went on exchanges with Sister Fie'eiki who is the funnest sister! I am pretty sure I am part poly cause they're all like family to me and they call me cuz haha. Anyways, she's been having a rough transfer with being really sick, having no voice, not being able to eat anything, having a hive reaction to medicine...poor girl has had it all this transfer. Well, she was doing a little better by the time she came with me on Wed. We were on shift together, I took the first group that came in which was 3 older ladies and Sister Fie'eiki followed along. The tour was such a spiritual experience. By the third narration near the bottom part of the jail, the spirit was so strong and Sis Fie'eiki was shedding a few tears. One of the ladies had a comment which hit both of us in such an amazing way and I will never forget it. She told about how amazing she thinks it is that Joseph Smith was confined in this jail for 4 months and was a blessing it was that he had the other men there with him. Many of us have trials that we feel like we are the only one suffering but when we really look around, there are close friends or family right there with us. What a blessing that is to us, we are never alone even if we don't see the friends or family, we ALWAYS have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Thursday Morning Training was about the Atonement and it was amazing. The Adams had us think about the atonement and how we use the atonement every single day as well as the people we teach use it every single day. They had us write a letter to ourselves from the Savior and while I was writing, my heart was so heavy knowing how much He loves me and I KNOW it. The sister leaders played this video clip from Elder Holland when he talked in conference awhile ago about the Savior feeling utterly alone before he died on the cross and the spirit was so strong. I was reminded of my tour I took the night before, how Joseph Smith was not alone and how we are never alone. At times when we feel like we are, the Savior knows EXACTLY how it feels to have the presence of His Father removed and yet we don't have to experience such pain. I have a hard time really understanding the atonement but what I do know is that the Savior fills my heart with comfort at the times I need it the most and continues to love me no matter what mistake I make. The grace of God is truly significant for all of us.

Friday night we all got together in the house, along with the senior couples and carved PUMPKINS!! YEAH! I told everyone last week to buy a pumpkin cause I seriously LOVE it! So, of course, it gives us a reason to have a party and we did it! :) It was a lot of fun! Plus it was really funny watching and listening to people communicate while carving their pumpkins together! I felt like I was people watching more than anything haha. I love it.

Saturday was the COOLEST day. Remember that guy from last week in my tour who called me back, Vincent? Well, I called him again to see if we could visit with him and he came up to the jail on Saturday! Vincent comes off as this rough guy with tattoos all over his arm, a 5 o'clock shadow beard and his strong personality that goes with it. I was kind of nervous to teach him, especially when he pulled out his notebook full of questions right away before we really started talking! He was about to dive into his questions but I had to stop him to say a prayer and he respected that right away which really helped bring the spirit right away. He had questions about the "keys" if they were physical or a metaphor, about the Book of Mormon and why Christians would reject it if it really was another testament of Jesus Christ, who calls a bishop or if it was a ranking system, and lots more. It was SO much fun talking to him because he really wanted to learn about the gospel and had a pretty open mind/heart to it all! Near the end of our hour and a half lesson, he was GLOWING and said he KNEW something is coming his direction. He said he is so excited for this new life he is started because he feels like his old life is dying and cant wait to see where he is headed! Of course, we couldn't agree more! Words really cant describe the lesson we had with it or the feeling that we all had but it was by far the most amazing lesson. I love finding people like Vincent who truly want to learn about the church, have REAL questions and have an open mind to accept it. We will see him again on Saturday, I am pretty excited to see how it goes.

Overall, this past week has been really fun with amazing tender mercies along the way that have kept us going. Another fun thing was finding my "mom" here in the ward on Sunday, Sister Oscarson who is so awesome! Finally found her! Im not an orphan anymore!! Haha. But I really have loved serving with Sister Whittier so much. We have a feeling that she will be the one to leave on Thursday and we just try to avoid really thinking that we wont be together. I am kind of nervous to take over the area since believe it or not, I am having directional challenges in this area but it will be good for me. I think she will be getting shipped out to like Great Bend, KS or out in the boondocks where she will feel right at home haha. We got to go to the zoo this morning with this younger mom, Bryanna blanch and her son Bradley, we had a lot of fun. I also got stalked by a bee while we were there...hate bees! Funny story you if you can imagine, a few weeks ago we were walking to our cars and Sister Hall and Fie'eki had just gotten in the other car when a bee came at me from NO WHERE! I was moving around, trying to get away and it just kept coming at me! I had to drop my bags and run away! I turned around to find all the sisters laughing SO hard cause of course, they cant see this stupid bee...all they see is me...looking like a crazy person!! Hahah. Oh yes. I haven't changed in that category one bit! Haha.

Anyways, I love you ALL!!!! Thank you so much for the fun emails and prayers. I hear them all ;-)

Love

SISTAAAAAAAAAA Larson

Ps picture number 8 is the best, some kangaroo just posin' like a model on his side haha oh and the blurry water pic is a giant polar bear who was playing with this giant ball, it was awesome!! I LOVE the zoo. Sorry there are so many pictures this week! Lucky you I guess?! :)