January 3, 2012

Welcome to the new year everyone! Chya!

This past week was quite eventful and the weather was amazing! I think Heavenly Father knew that I wouldn't be able to have a long winter out here so He is holding off on the freezing cold weather for a little bit :) On Thursday we do our weekly planning which normally takes a couple hours and with the nice weather, we sat outside in the beautiful sun! It was da best and truly set a wonderful mood for the rest of the day. Later that night we taught our big family, the E family and we did baptism jerseys with them too! If you don't remember, I came up with that out in Odessa with the Kellogg boys and we hung them up on the wall. Well, we did the same thing and it was quite and eventful evening! All the kids were excited about the jerseys, everyone talked at the same time, little Jacob was asking me every 5 minutes if it was time to play with the bubbles I brought...I guess you can say it is like your normal family home evening! Little Amber asked me about being brothers and sisters here which led to me explaining to her that we are ALL brothers and sisters. She then had this puzzled look on her face and said, "if everyone's brothers and sisters, why are people so mean to each other??" It was such an innocent concern and she was so sad to hear that it happens sometimes. We talked some more about it and she was excited to be getting baptized with all of her brothers and sisters. The last thing we did after the jerseys, bubbles, book of Mormon reading and jokes, was the prayer. Every kid wanted to say a prayer before we left and I was blown away to hear that each one of the kids as well as the parents express their gratitude for us sisters and for God being in their life more. I love this family, I know I say it every week but I just cant help but express it! Mae and Jim, the parents, are still trying to quit smoking. As of yesterday, Mae had 2 in 2 days and Jim had 4. I made a deal with them that since they are trying to quit smoking, something they turn to for comfort or just to have, that I would give up eating sweets. So far so good for me and its cool because last night Mae said that she knew that I wasn't eating any sweets and she felt so bad for smoking that she didn't even really enjoy her cigarettes. I know that they can quit, they really have a desire and all the kids pray that they will quit. The faith in this family is astounding.

Friday we visited with one of the recent converts in the ward who is in her 50's and joined back in July. Her daughter joined the church first about 5 years ago and she went on a mission just recently to Italy. It is cool to see Mary change so much even since I have been here! She had just gotten her patriarchal blessing and was sharing bits and pieces with us which was so awesome! Mary lit up every time we explained something in it or told her that our blessings didn't say the same thing hers did. She is the funniest lady and a very strong person. She told me I looked like a Barbie doll with my bangs and my hair all pulled up! Haha. It was the nicest compliment! I think she may have lost her mind a little ;-)

Saturday was an eventful day at the jail, there was a couple that came in that knew Alisha back in Az from General Mills and then another couple from Fort Riley, MO who knew my sister Cami! I love little run ins with people who know the same people I do! It was our New Years night and we spent it with this older couple in the ward who is the cutest. They made sure we were well taken care of and made us Salmon! Mmmmm....so yummy! Best new years dinner! But we all didn't stay up late or do anything crazy in our house. Just woke up Sunday morning and all of us sisters realized its 2012! We get real crazy on our missions sometimes haha. Although on Friday night, we did have a mooostache party :) Thank you Kim for providing the mustaches haha. I did include pictures!

Sunday the Erskin family came, minus Jim, along with their 4 friends that we had talked to on Saturday night. So we have now 7 kids that we are teaching! Haha. I think my calling on my mission is like 8 to 18 or 50 and older. But on Sunday, we had one adult, Mae and then 9 kids all in the back row! Needless to say, I have NO idea what any of the speakers talked about during Sacrament meeting. It might have been the craziest Sunday of my mission along with the most tiring. My hats go off to big families or Primary Presidents!

With it being the new year and everyone always talks about their resolutions, I have to say that President Monson said it best in this month's Ensign. We need to remember our ABC's. He goes on to tell about these three things that we need to focus on throughout the year which will help us achieve our other goals that we may have...A is for a Positive Attitude. B is for Believe in Yourself. C is for Courage during Challenges. I loved this talk because a lot of the time we get wrapped up in our next project that we are going to take on for the whole year when in reality it last about a month or two. I am so grateful for our prophet, Thomas S. Monson because he is so inspired and reminds us of those things in life that will matter most when we are standing at the judgement bar. We wont have all of our new toys or materialistic things but we will have our attitude and our testimony. May you remember what matters most this new year and believe in yourself with a positive attitude as you take on your next adventure with courage. I love you all very much!!! Happy New Year :)

Love

Sistaaaaaa Larson