My dearest friends and family, written Oct. 20, 2013
I thank you so dearly for your prayers you have offered for me during this week.
On Tuesday, at District Meeting, the opening hymn was "Abide with Me
- Tis Eventide." I couldn't handle it. I just started crying uncontrollably,
which then continued through the entire meeting even though I tried really hard
to control it. Afterwards, I asked for a priesthood blessing. I received great
comfort from the words, "Christ will be right beside you, shoulder to shoulder,
and you'll feel His presence" and "You will be as steel going through a flame,
and become stronger spiritually through your trials" and most especially, "The
prayers of your family will be answered." I can't tell you how much that
blessing brought me the peace and comfort I needed. I now feel that I understand what is going on. The power of the Priesthood is so incredibly real. The power of the Atonement is
also something that I never think I even scratched the surface of until now when
I needed Christ's love and support more than ever before. I'm happy that I have such great friends and family that love and support me -
I've really felt your prayers this week. I
know all will be okay as I continue to follow Christ steadfastly and realize
that sometimes we just have to accept our trials, even our hardest ones
Technically, Nov. first is All
Soul's Day, but they celebrate Halloween and All Souls Day here. In accordance
with the title, I'll tell you a fun story. One of the member families here, a
VERY old couple who are very nice shared with us a story about the time Nay (the
mom) was in the hospital. Apparently, she was on the verge of death, and then
when Tay (the dad) woke up her eyes were wide open and she wasn't breathing.
The nurse came in, shined a flashlight in her eyes, and there was no response.
They pronounced her dead. Tay was upset, and so was his family, but after they
called the morgue to pick her up Tay felt before they took her they should check
one last time. They shined the light - no response. Then Tay started to call
out to her "Nay.. nay... can you hear me?" Somehow, she sqeaked out a small
"Ehhh..." They then checked her breath, and although she hadn't been breathing
before, she suddenly was! She received a Priesthood blessing, and literally
came back to life. I actually understood that story in Tagalog, aren't you
impressed, haha? There's a lot of miracles like that which happen here.
One day, we were supposed to travel to a
further part of our area called "Bagong Liwanag." We said to a motocab "Bagong
Liwanag" and he said, "Tara!" Get on! We did... and we were driven... and
driven... and driven... and... I was thinking, why are we going into the city?
Our area is far out in the country. But, as he was the driver, I assumed he
knew what he was doing. We were then the last people on the motocab and he
says, "Sige, dito Barangay Liwanag..." BARANGAY LIWANAG??? He thought we had
said "town of Liwanag" but "Bagong Liwanag" is a totally different place. We
then had to catch a different motocab all the way back out of the city into the
country. Careful with those motocabs, they'll getcha every time, haha.
Yeah, that's all I've really got this
week. It's election week here, so that's pretty cool. I totally plan on
bringing home some of the sweet election fliers they have... they look like wild
west "wanted" posters, haha.
Oh, and Conference was SUPER AWESOME. I
watched the Saturday morning session in Tagalog and understood like... 20% of
it. Not enough, haha. We watched all the other sessions in English at the
other chapel. I really really enjoyed it, there's nothing better than listening
to the living 12 Apostles and the Prophet called by God.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Sister Larsen
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