When the Lord Commands--Do It

                                                                                                           written Sept. 15, 2013
Don't even know where to start on this one - I can't tell all the awesome stuff that happened this week because there's not enough time.  I wrote about it in my journal though, so someday maybe you'll hear the stories eventually.  I'll try to explain as many as I can briefly.

First, the random stuff.  It has been officially declared in our mission that everything but Mormon Tabernacle Choir music is "bawal" or "not allowed."  That stabbed me to the heart a little bit... since everyone knows the type of music I normally listen to at home, and how even EFY music was very far from what I'd listen to during the week.  However... I gave a talk on "exact obedience" at zone meeting last week (where they announced this) and I also recently read in the manual "Teachings of the Prophets - Joseph Smith" that Joseph Smith once said, "I made this my rule - when the Lord commands, do it."  To me, that pretty much sums it up.  Our mission President knows what our mission needs, and sometimes it may initially be hard to accept, but... there you go.  We're doing it.  Exercising to Mo Tab still feels kind of weird though, haha.

 

 

That picture attached is of us at Zone Conference (three weeks ago, I think.)  Notice anything out of place??  Hahahahahah.... still probably one of my favorite pictures ever.  There wasn't space for me so they put me smack in between some Elders.  If people don't look closely at that picture, they're gonna be super weirded out.

There's a monster here (imaginary... or is it???) called a mananangal which is a vampire... with wings... that eats fetuses while they're inside pregnant women... and at night its legs detach from its body and walk around and scare people.  Yeah.

There's cheese ice cream here.  Not too bad, actually.

To the family - I showed some of our investigators the pictures of Miles and Molly (my niece and nephew) and they said that Miles was a "joker" because of his big grin in the one picture and that he's smart too because his head is so ginormous.  Matalino - genius, haha.  And that Molly is very tiny, haha.

We taught 9 people at once in a lesson this week.  It was awesome, and the main investigator accepted a baptismal lesson.  We were super intimidated to teach at first, because it was 9 teenagers of varying ages, but  all went well and we are excited to teach them again.  We had 21 new investigators this week who are willing to have us back to teach them.  Lots of good work this week.  Seriously... here in our mission, there's so many people willing to listen (and many with real intent) that it's hard to fit everyone in we'd like to teach!

Yeah, needless to say, I'm excited for our area.  Transfers are... next week.  Soooo... that's going to be exciting, but this is very far from being a "dead area" as they say.  So many people here are willing to hear our message, and are progressing as well.  I feel so incredibly blessed to be serving now in the Manila Mission.  I know that as we expect miracles in our lives and pray for them and act so that we do every possible thing for them to happen - in our personal lives or the mission field - those things will happen that we ask for in righteousness, even if it's not in the exact way we might initially expect.

The work is good.  Stay strong, and keep your faith growing always.  The Lord has great plans for all his children we can't even begin to comprehend.

Much love,

Sister Larsen

 

[Note from Marinda's mom-- The following photos went with the previous blog post. I am reposting the explanations of the photos.  I finally figured out how to use Print Screen and Paint to save photos that aren't jpeg.  Thanks to my husband for reminding me about how to do this.]

 

 The picture is of me at FHE at Nay Montilla's, she works with us a lot and is just awesome - she keeps a record of all the missionaries that have been through the ward since 1997 when she joined.  The guy next to me is one of our investigators, he's awesome too.  I taught them how to make "french toast" my mom's way, and they were all amazed to see how american food is made.  I also cooked it in Nay Montilla's HUGE wok, which was fun.  It turned out pretty tasty, so... success.  They liked it well enough but said it was "sweet" which I find funny because every single food here in existence is sweet, pretty much.

 

 

 

The tiniest lizard of all!  (These aren't my hands - we caught him crawling on our wall in our apartment like they love to do)

The man with his hands clasped in front was our baptism.  He's so awesome!  We are so excited to have him now as a part of our branch - he and his family are so sweet and I know that this is something his family has wanted for him for a long, long time.

Kind of like Virginia... buuuut not quite.  Asian flair, forreals

Awesome road 

 

Sunset from the church - because you requested it, mom.  Most of the time the sunsets are SUPER AMAZING, like... breathtaking.  But most of the time I don't have my camera  on me.

 

 

It's Too Early For Zombies (or Christmas)

Dear friends and family,        written Sept. 8, 2013

Well, the unfortunate news is that I don't have much news because I was sick for a good 3 days this week with a weird flu thing that affected my stomach and head (and made me weak.)  Sitting around the apartment when you have appointments you're supposed to be at and there's nothing to do at the apartment except for study and write letters (and sleep for most of the day) is one of the worst things ever.  Don't get sick on your mission, forreals. I was a walking zombie for those days and it kinda freaked Sister Ordiz out, haha.  Also, a ton of people already have Christmas decorations up cuz we're in "the 'Bers... September, October, November..."  Yeah.  Good thing I love Christmas.

Just some random things.  The picture is of me at FHE at Nay Montilla's. [Note: the photos Marinda sent couldn't be saved for reposting.] She works with us a lot and is just awesome - she keeps a record of all the missionaries that have been through the ward since 1997 when she joined.  The guy next to me is one of our investigators; he's awesome too.  I taught them how to make "french toast" my mom's way, and they were all amazed to see how American food is made.  I also cooked it in Nay Montilla's HUGE wok, which was fun.  It turned out pretty tasty, so... success.  They liked it well enough but said it was "sweet" which I find funny because every single food here in existence is sweet, pretty much.  Also, ube, or purple yams, are one of the best things ever.  Look them up.  Mom, do we have those in the U.S.?

One day I asked Sister Francisquete (the other Filipina missionary in our apartment) if they have dandelions in the Philippines, cuz I hadn't seen any.  She thought about it, then said, "Hindi, wala." No, not any.  Then she thought about it again and said, "Wait!  Yeah, we do, I think... one time I saw those in a flower shop."  Sister Mechum looked at her and just started laughing since we're pretty positive she never saw dandelions in a flower shop for sale, haha.

The word for "almighty" in Tagalog (used in the articles of Faith) is "pinakamakapangyarihang." Yeah.

The fun story is that one day, in the back of the jungle, we were walking up to our investigator's house, but there was already someone there.  There was a WHITE man there.  I was really confused, and then he walked up and started talking to me in a thick accent, clearly also very surprised to see some random white person in the back-woods.  Turns out he's from Denmark (you could tell from his accent) and owns a shipping company over in Manila. He and his Filipina wife (who was there, and very nice) were just visiting Palawan for a bit.  After talking for a while (and asking why in the world I was here on Palawan... I explained and he said "I hope your family knows what you're doing over here" and I assured him they did)  he gave me his business card and invited me to lunch sometime with him and his wife when I get transferred over there eventually.  I didn't bother explaining that I might not be transferred to the area he lives, but I gave him a pamphlet and then after I gave it to him I remembered it was in Tagalog (all of them are) and he wouldn't understand it.  He said he's read it, but hopefully his wife can translate for him.  I think I'll send him an English one via pouch mail and have the missionaries over there deliver it to him :)  The strangest referral to those missionaries of all time, haha... "I met this man from Denmark in the middle of the jungle, and here's his address, please give him an English pamphlet and not a Tagalog one..." haha.  

Most importantly, we had a baptism this Saturday of a wonderful man who always made time for us and progressed very quickly in a matter of weeks.  Now that he is baptized, his whole family are members.  He had a sudden change of heart and was willing to accept our teachings even though when I first got here he wasn't really willing to meet with us or make time for "the word of God in his life."  We are SO happy for him and his wife and his two sons; now they can all be active together and one day go to the temple.

Even when the times get hard, this work is worth it.  Everything that we as missionaries do is worth the struggles and trials and heartbreaks.  When even one soul comes unto Christ... it's all worth it.  And even if we don't have a single baptism on our missions, if we ourselves have greater faith and greater trust in the Lord - then we brought ourselves unto Christ through our service and our one guaranteed convert should be ourselves.

Giving a talk in Zone Meeting today. Hope to be guided by the Spirit to say what our zone needs to hear to become more effective, obedient missionaries as guided by the Spirit.

Love you all,

Sister Larsen

I Always Wanted a Canopy Bed

Canopy beds are super legitimate.  They remind me of princesses and medieval times, so ever since I was a child I always wanted one.  But sometimes dreams are realized a little differently than what you expect.  I'm pretty happy with what I think of as my mosquito - preventing princess canopy bed I now have.  Srsly, I don't know why I didn't get a mosquito net sooner.  Now the mosquitoes can eat the other three sisters and not feast on my apparently gourmet blood all the time.

So I encountered another temptation last week.  We were walking to a less active member's house and when we rounded the corner to walk down the alley where they live... DISCO LIGHT.  DANCE PARTY.  There were like 20 small children of various ages dancing to "Oppa Gangam Style" (one of the best dance songs in recent times) with this sweet disco light set up.  WE HAD TO WALK RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THEM.  They were all saying to me "Dance!!!" in Tagalog and English and it was SO HARD for those 15 seconds... and then when we left we had to go through the ordeal again.  I don't think Sister Ordiz understood how that was actually a real temptation for me to ignore that innate desire to just dance, but yet again, as with not petting the kittens previously - somehow, I managed to maintain those missionary standards.

I also ate a straight chunk of raw ginger this week because Sister Mechum dared me to and said she'd give me a whole mango if I did.  It was super gross and spicy and - not what you would expect based off of gingerbread cookies.  But now I get to have a free delicious mango.

I also realized that this whole time, after eating a meal, I've been saying "Pusok ako" meaning "I'm full."  However, after hearing Sister Mechum (the other American in our apartment) pronounce it, I realized that I've been pronouncing it wrong this whole time.  Sometimes (or a lot of times) people pronounce things way differently than they're written or what I would expect, so then I over pronounce things incorrectly after learning them wrong from hearing.  What it SHOULD have been is "Busog ako" for full.  "Pusok ako" means "I'm aggressive."  People must have thought I really felt passionately about their food, hahaha.

My speaking ability with Tagalog is even or better than it was in Spanish before I left.  Which means - not that great, but something to go off of.  HOwever, my understanding of Tagalog when others speak it is still pretty significantly lower than it was for Spanish.  Mostly because... they speak really fast and there's not similar roots to English like there is with Spanish.  So, still struggling with that, but it will come... eventually.  I pray all the time for the gift of tongues, cuz I need that the most right now.

Here, ice cream sandwiches are literally ice cream stuck in between slices of bread.  Delicious, but weird.  I plan to never eat ice cream another way.

At a ward missionary activity, I taught everyone how to play "duck duck goose" or for the, "pato pato gonza."  They loved it.  There's a lot of games they don't have here, seems like, so they appreciated the new one.  They also have a lot of games that are way cooler than American ones, haha.

Typhoon in Manila

Dear Friends and Family,      written Aug. 25, 2013

I'm pretty glad to be over here on Palawan right now, because 80% of Manila is under a lot of water.  They experienced a typhoon this week and have had a lot of problems because of it - water up to people's necks in some areas.  The missionaries there were quarentined to their houses for a while because it's dangerous to walk around in the water there, even to help investigators and members.  Apparently Palawan is safer and rarely if ever gets hit by typhoons.

Here's some stories.  So, Sister Mechum, the other American Sister in our apartment, was walking by a Adventist church one day with the doors open.  And what she heard shocked her.  It sounded like they were singing "In Our Lovely Deseret," a supremely Mormon hymn.  Sure enough, there they were with the lyrics and all singing about not drinking coffee and tea and singing one of the most blatantly Mormon hymns there is.  We both got a huge kick out of that.  

I also ate "shells" this week at a member's home - AKA some sort of sea snail boiled up and still in the shell.  The shells are pretty, so I kept one.  I also came up with a great proselyting idea.  Here, people walk through the streets selling food and they yell out the name of it in a specific way and with a specific cadence.  So when they walk around selling balut, (aka putrid fetal ducks still in the egg - yes, people eat that here) they yell "BAAALLLUUUUUTTTT! BAAAALLUUUUTTT!!!" My idea is that we should walk through the mga barangay (villages) yelling "AKLAAAAT NI MORMOOON! AKLAAAAT NI MORMOON!"  (Book of Mormon!)  I think it would work, no?

Also, many of the cats here are asian cats and have little bob tails.  And some are a cross between long tail and short tail cats so they have medium short tails or medium long tails.  It's adorable.

I'm going to relate some spiritual experiences now, so those of you reading it on the blog you're gonna miss out cuz they're too specific to post up generally.  If you want to get them from my mom, feel free to ask.

Exodus 13:21

Sent Aug. 18
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."  

If only it worked that way - a cloud or pillar of fire over people's houses when we were supposed to go and share the Gospel with them because they were ready.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way.  Plus, the people in the houses it was over would probably freak out and run away.

I realized that for about three weeks previous to this one, we were in a slump.  We were teaching the same investigators who either weren't progressing or weren't able to be baptized for various reasons even though they were progressing in other ways.  It's really hard, as a missionary, to know that people you're teaching aren't moving towards that all important goal of baptism.  So that was difficult mentally - it was because we weren't really fulfilling our purpose to bring people to that ultimate goal of baptism by someone holding the authority of God.  We can teach, we can plead, we can exhort, but only through their agency can they choose to keep commitments and prepare for baptism.

I also realized that I kept thinking in my head, "Wow... this isn't very good.  I can't fulfill my purpose to bring people closer to Christ when I can barely speak the language, and I can only say 15% of what I'd like to say and it's hard for the Spirit to speak through me when I have to focus so hard on speaking the language."  However, that's not the right attitude.  Several people who have known me since I've been here on Palawan truly complimented me on my Tagalog this week, so that made me feel better - there is progression, even though it frustrates me to no end most of the time.  I realized that I need to simply do my best to fulfill my purpose, even with my limited language skills, and that will be fulfilling my purpose - even though it may not be as efficiently as I could in English.  When we taught a lesson for the first time to some new investigators and one of them asked me why/how I had learned Tagalog so far, the wife answered (in Tagalog) " Because she wants to share the Gospel with us, and it's very important to her - she's putting in that effort for us and for God."  I almost started crying when she said that in the lesson because that gave me just a little bit more encouragement, and she was likely inspired to say that whether she knew it or not.

The last thing - there is something to be said for the faith of the children here.  There is no way when I was their age (7 to 15) that I would have had the guts and faith to go to church even though my family wasn't.  Often times, we have parents here who will refuse to take the lessons but their kids still go to church because they allow it.  They love going to church, and see that it is important at their tender ages.  The interactions I've had with children here has certainly helped me to see why Christ felt so tenderly for them.  They truly are gifts from God to everyone who is privileged to have them.  I hope my future children can exhibit as much faith as many of the wonderful kids here in the Philippines.