Service and Singing

Dear Friends and Family,

So this week we had the opportunity to help package food for victims of the huge typhoon that hit in Tacloban.  Our mission has also recieved some missionaries from Tacloban mission and they'll now be serving in Manila.  That's really difficult for them because they learned Cebuano and Waray-waray in the MTC and now they're in a place that speaks Tagalog... however, people understand English pretty well here which is useful.  For the service project we went for maybe 4 hours and put 6 cans of calimari (squid) in with bags of rice.  There was SO MUCH FOOD there.  It was amazing.  We were very happy to help.  That's me and my companion Sister Cooper in the picture.  I'm so thankful for Sister Cooper, she's an amazing companion!

One of our members served his mission in 1991 and served with a companion named "Larsen."  He asked me one day if that was a relative of mine, and asked if it was my dad.  That would have been crazy, since we're helping his kids progress towards baptism within the next couple of months.  I said no, it wasn't my dad, but possibly a relative... Dad, know any of your relatives who served in the Philippines in 1991?

Our ward here is awesome too.  Bishop likes to play ping pong and volleyball, and is in his early 30's.  He does a great job coordinating with the missionaries and so does our ward mission leader.  I'm a big fan of this ward.  

So... we were "booked" to sing in church on Sunday, since we sang at the Elder's baptism on Saturday.  Sister Cooper has a cold and literally no voice, and so a ward missionary came up with us and it was me, Sister Cooper (who wasn't able to sing), the two Elders, a ward missionary, and the ward mission leader who sang in sacrament meeting.  After we sang at the baptism the night before, Bishop asked if I would be willing to sing a solo in church sometime while he would play the piano (he's really good at playing.)  So.................... we'll see when that happens.  I'll let you all know.  A member asked me after we sang how long I'd been a member of Mo tab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir), kidding around with me.  I don't think my voice is THAT awesome, but I'm happy if I can help bring the Spirit through music.

I also finished reading the New Testament this week.  I will tell you... I absolutely love that set of scriptures.  I've learned SO much from reading it.  This was the first time I really read it all the way through... and there's so many important doctrines there which are supported and upheld by the Book of Mormon.  Let me tell you... scriptures are amazing.  We are so blessed to have them, and we should always take the time to learn from them and grow in wisdom spiritually.  The time and effort that prophets of old took to write them was for us, now.  I hope we all remember to take the time to read with real intent the scriptures, and gain the knowledge that will make us happy at all times in our lives.  The Savior's actions and teachings in the NT are some of the most beautiful things ever written by mankind.

I hope everyone has a great week.  Love you all!

-Sister Larsen

Two "Nosebleeding" Americans; Bucket Showers

Dear friends and family,

First off... I AM SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY.  Yeah, it's dirty and crowded in the city.  Doesn't even matter.  We're doing awesome work here, through the help of the Lord.  One day we taught 12 lessons (10 of them with a member present), and found 5 new investigators.  In my old area, we'd be lucky to teach 4 or 5 lessons in a day and find 2 new investigators.  This is awesome.  We are really able to fulfill our purpose as missionaries.

I don't have any good pictures yet of the area, but I'm sure those will follow.  Here's the fun part - Sister Cooper, my new companion, just barely finished her training which means she's "3 months old" on her mission in the field.  I'm only one transfer ahead of her.  So... we're definitely getting a full dosage of the gift of tongues, because we super need it.  Before this was less evident to me in lessons because I had always had  a Filipina companion to help me out before when I was "nosebleeding," which means unable to understand the language or speak it. Now, it's just us.  And honestly... I don't know what it is.  I think that the people here in the city are legitimately easier to understand because they do sometimes use limited Taglish (Tagalog mixed with English) but I also just have realized that when I'm feeling the Spirit, the language comes SO much easier.  It's actually amazing.  I wouldn't have ever though I'd be here at this point, but they do say at about 6 months in the field here we should be able to function pretty well in the language.  I'm at about 4.5 months now being in the field, so it's coming along.  The members and people we've taught lessons to have said that my Tagalog is quite good, so I'm happy about that.  It has up and down moments, but really... the stronger the Spirit is in a lesson, the more fluent I am.  I am 100% positive that correlation is direct and evident.  Sister Cooper is an awesome missionary and companion, and she and her trainer did a great job with this area so it's been well prepared and we hope to continue with that high standard of work.

Here's the funny part.  You'd think that living on Palawan would have been a more ghetto living situation than here.  But that's not really the case - there we had a super nice apartment and heated showers.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like our apartment here and it's pretty nice.  But, the shower doesn't really work so we just fill up buckets with water, take a dipper cup and pour water on ourselves for our "shower."  I like long showers.  That's just the truth.  So I quickly realized in an apartment of 4 Sisters it wasn't gonna work out for us to all move through the bathroom fast enough.  So, I banished myself to showering in the laundry room with a different bucket and a bowl to dip water with.  That's how we do in my new ward, hahahahah.  I don't mind, it's just a good mission story to tell :)

I'm reaching that part in my mission where Preparation day (when we email, wash clothes, write letters, clean the apartment, etc.) just feels like an annoyance.  I mean, I love you all, but we are SO BUSY teaching and finding people throughout the whole week here I don't have time to breathe let alone think much about home.  It's awesome.  I love it.  This is a very, very happy part of my mission.  I'm excited for everything that's going to be happening in the next few weeks.  SABIK NA SABIK AKO.   I'm SUPER DUPER EXCITED!

Much love from afar,

Sister Larsen

P.S.  On Friday we were told to be at home by 3 because of the storm that went through the Philippines.  It didn't really end up hitting us hard at all, but from what I understand it hit Palawan (where I was) and Coron (a small island near Palawan where we have Elders) pretty hard, but all the missionaries and members are okay.  That's definitely a tender mercy of the Lord. 

"Boulder fights"; Lessons From Cats; Goals From Age 10

Yep, it's that time... the time of transfers.  I'm getting transferred back to Manila!  Actually most of the Palawan Zone is staying the same, but I'm okay with getting transferred.  I could feel it was my time to go, and I'm excited for the differences in missionary work that I'll discover over in Manila - I know in some ways it will be easier, and in some ways harder.  

This week, because the chances of it being my last week on Palawan were super high, Sister Jennic and Sister Jacquiline said, "Gagawin kami boulder fights para sa inyo bago aalis ka."  "We'll do boulder fights for you before you leave."  I had no idea what that meant.  Turns out it means the traditional eating setting in the Philippines; laying out several banana leaves (in this case, on a bamboo bed they had made), laying the food on top of the banana leaves, then everyone eats with their hands.  I actually really like it a lot, and it's fun.  I still don't know what the actual word is to describe this, but it sure sounds like "boulder fights" to me, hahaha.  I was seriously hoping I'd get to see fighting boulders.  

On the same note, yesterday the Lola (grandma) of Sister Jennic, who when Sister Ordiz and I first were visiting the family was super irate and wouldn't talk to us, declared that she sees we're people of God.  Her heart really has been softened; she was die hard Catholic and mad we were visiting at first but now she really likes us.  She then said, "Because you're leaving I'm going to sing you a song."  It was in Cuyunin, the Palawan dialect, so I didn't really understand it.  It was probably a 5 or 8 minute song, sung by this 80 year old woman and I didn't know if I was tearing up because it was so funny or because I am in many ways sad to leave here.  She had a good voice actually for her age but it was just SO hilarious how soulful and fun she was with it.  Then she started singing about me being on an "aeroplane" going to "Manila" and wishing me luck in Tagalog.  That was sweet, I really appreciated it coming from her especially.

Throughout this entire transfer, we've had a family of cats that lives beneath our window right where we study every day.  Now, I have no idea how this originally happened, because it's fenced off by a very high bamboo fence.  Every day, the momma cat jumps this great distance up to the fence, and claws her way over it to get to her babies which are next to our window.  It's not in any way an easy thing, so I'm not sure how she originally did that when she was pregnant, since there's no other way to get into the fenced off area.  Anyway... every time she hops over that fence she starts trilling (specific kind of meow... man.  I'm still such a cat person) and her kittens are all SO happy to see her and... aw.  Man.  That mom cat wanted to keep her kittens safe, so even though it's very difficult for her to jump that height every time, she does it so her babies will be protected and happy.  There's a lot to learn there... I feel like when I see the examples of people here as well, I see what parents need to do more clearly as I see good (and sometimes bad) examples.  It's not easy to be a parent, but I'm confident my mission is preparing me to someday be a better one.  I am supremely appreciative for the hurculean efforts of my parents in the past to keep me on the right track, instruct, correct, and love me so that I would do what was right and be safe like those kittens.  That spiritual safety is something that I want for every single person in the entire world to experience, and I know that Christ conquered insurmountable opposition so that he could save us, the children of God.  

I've learned a lot this transfer about how important positivity is, to me personally.  Without Christ, none of what I'm doing now or anything that we ever do would be possible.  Our lives would have no purpose.  My understanding of the Atonement has grown in leaps and bounds this transfer, and I am so incredibly grateful for the eternal sacrifice that Christ saw fit to perform so each of us could have the choice to be happy eternally.

And, for fun, here are some of my goals from when I was 9 that my mom found cleaning back home and sent me.  I'm not doing too bad so far, actually.  I was actually surprised "go on a mission" was one of them at that point in my life.

1. Go to BYU Provo

2. Have 10 cats

3. Become an art teacher

4. Have kids

5. Get on a chior [sic]

6. Go on a mission

7. Heart cats even more

8. Get a drivers licence [sic]

9. read all Harry Potter books

10. Make my own flower garden

Love you all!

-Sister Larsen

In celebration of Halloween... I still don't know what these are called.  But their call is super weird sounding and they look like zombie pheasant things.  They just wander around in our area wild.  I'm gonna miss the green and fresh air here, but I know I have other things to do that the Lord sees fit for me now.