This past week was full of the most up and down's I have ever experienced on my mission. Although I lived through the hardest day on my mission, the up days were absolutely amazing. The Lord really helped us with tender mercies along the way that helped lift my spirits and build up my faith again.

On Monday last week, we taught the E family all about the Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom and paying tithing. It was a lot of fun since we turned it into a drawing activity and everyone had to teach us about the things I assigned them to draw. All the kids were so excited about learning about different commandments and they all are so smart! I LOVE teaching this family because the kids will listen to us, most of the time, and really want to do what is right. We also reminded them about the baptism questions which they all are still working on but they actually understand 95% of it! With their baptism fast approaching, we were working on baptism details for the next morning on Tuesday. We had to move the time of the baptism from 12pm to 10am down to 7pm to accommodate all these things going on in the ward...it was CHAOS! It wasn't even until Thursday night that we set a final time for the baptism.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Cashmore, a new sister being trained by Sister Birch and we stayed in my area. It was so much fun being with her, she laughs a lot so of course I felt like the funniest person around her :) We got to help Greg get ready for baptism, went over the questions and had him try on the white clothes, which he picked this 70's jump suit with a collar...he looked slick. Haha. Sister Cashmore is trying to learn Spanish right now and we had a lesson that night with our Spanish house. Luckily we had Sister Gomez with us otherwise we both would have sad there saying one liners like, God is our Heavenly Father, You will have blessings, Faith in God...no bueno! Not sure the Spanish house is progressing like they used to but hopefully that changes soon because little Valeria is SO ready to be baptized. Later that night we ate at Bri and Caleb's house (love them!) and walked outside to see the ground covered in snow! We had our first real snow fall and it was so pretty and FREEZING! I of course took her to QT for the best Hot chocolate :)

Thursday was the hard day...luckily that morning we had our early morning training which went really well otherwise we would have had nothing too great to say about this day. We went to the E home to talk to Mae and Jim then later talk to the kids when they came home from school. The door opened up by Jim's mom as smoke billowed out from behind her...my heart dropped as soon as I saw her. She told us that Mae and Jim left for Kansas for 2 weeks. I tried looking behind her to see if someone was really home, I saw someone swiftly move to back rooms. As she opened the door a little more, her eyes shifted around and she told us that no one was home...not even little 3 yr old Jacob. I couldn't believe it. I looked her in the eyes and told her I saw someone move behind her and wanted to know if no one really was home...she replied that no one was home. We walked away with baptism clothes and toys in our hands with our heads hung down. As the day went on, we had no idea what to do since Mae didn't answer her phone but could text us a little bit about the situation. She really was gone, she didn't want to have the kids baptized but said she wanted to talk to us and the kids about everything. Later that day, we tried contacting a less active. He opened the door with a smile, said it was a cold day for us to be out! We laughed, introduced ourselves and kept talking to him then he shut the door while saying thanks for stopping by. It was truly not our day to be out talking to people and my emotions couldn't take anymore. My heart was broken from the E family and I knew we needed to go home. Sister Underlin and I took care of some things at home, we took ourselves to dinner at Chick Fil A and went by Bri's house. Thank goodness for her on this day because she WANTED us to be in her house.

Saturday Greg still was baptized and it was such a good moment! The talks that were given were exactly what he needed and he was totally enveloped in what they were teaching him. Greg truly is a humble man and he has been CONVERTED. I realized that we may not have had 5 baptisms or more that day but we did have a TRUE convert into the church which means so much more. On Sunday he was confirmed and he also received the Priesthood! He was so ready and everyone was so excited for him. He was introducing himself as Brother as he wore a tie for the first time and had the biggest smile on his face all day. Sunday night he bore his testimony at the Presidents Devotional at the Liberty Jail and he started getting emotional and couldn't keep going. I haven't seen Greg get emotional like he did and I was extremely touched by his love for this gospel. He is such an amazing person.

With Transfers coming this week, Sister Underlin got a call that she will be training a new missionary which means I know for a fact that I will be leaving. It gave me a week to really let is sink in and say goodbye to people. On Sunday I said goodby to my favorite Colombian family, the Gomez's who I will miss SO much!! Last night I got to say bye to my Momma Oscarson and to our investigator Jim who lives near by. He expressed his gratitude to me for all that I have done for him and he was very sincere about how he is going to miss me. It was so hard to say goodbye but I felt like my heart couldn't take seeing Jim progress then go back to where he was. After we left, Sister Oscarson called us and told me that Jim was almost in tears talking about how he knows that I was sent to Liberty for HIM. He said that he felt so comfortable telling me things and knowing that it wont affect my opinion of him. Jim has investigated the church for almost a year now and I felt like I had a very special connection with him too, esp since I didn't let him get away with phony excuses and called him out on it haha. But as she was telling me this my eyes started watering because Jim also said that he knows that I came here for him and that its his time now to figure things out for himself. All my doubts about my promptings I received about him or times I saw him progress then go back all went away as I was comforted knowing the Lord truly was guiding me. I had never been told that I was sent here for someone, especially someone who I have taught and I was so grateful for that comfort. The Lord truly does give us guidance and uses us as tools even if we cant see it all the time. I am so grateful for the Lord allowing me to be here in the Liberty 2nd ward and to grow so close to others here. My testimony has grown immensely since I have been here and I cant even fully express my gratitude for my companion Sister Underlin or the ward. I am leaving this place a better missionary and a better person.

I love you all so much! I hope and pray that you will all pray for your own missionary experience and that you will act on those promptings you receive. Blessings from sharing your testimony will be better than you can imagine. The prophets have been saying it for years, every member a missionary and I truly stand by that statement. Don't let yourself get in the way from touching the lives of those around you. Have a wonderful week! :)

Love,

Sistaaaaaaa Larson