The Circle of Life

Dear friends and family,

I'll get the sad part out of the way... my sister's cat, Callie, whom I had come to regard as my cat as well, was put down last week.  She was about 15 years old or so, so it's not terribly surprising... but it is hard to think that the last time I said bye to her was the last time I'd see her.  At least I have a personal strong belief we'll see our pets in heaven again, and have those connections we felt with them again. [The photo is from Christmas 2011]

To move on to happier things... although my Tagalog is not very good, it is to the point where it is better than most toddler's Tagalog.  This weekend Anna Marie was baptized, who had been taught for a very long time by missionaries.  Through a very complicated story I will explain after I get home, everything lined up so she could finally be baptized, which she wanted very badly.  We are honored to be a part of that miracle in her life and family.  Going back to the original story, her husband is a member who recently was reactivated and came back to church, and their kids are SO cute.  Their daughter, France, came up to me and was talking to me.  She wanted something at some point, and I just said to her, "Wala... sayang."  Meaning, "There's none - darn it."  She just walked around the room going "Wala... sayang.  Wala... sayang!"  It was the cutest thing of my whole entire life!  I don't think she should learn Tagalog from the American, but she speaks really good English already (as well as her parents, haha.)

The cool thing we did last preperation day was to go to a memorial park near our area with the other Sisters in our apartment. It was super crazy - I didn't really know that sort of thing existed.  When I heard "memorial park" I somehow thought it would maybe have some statues or something... but it's actually a HUGE cemetery.  HUGE.  The graves there are soooo awesome.  Half of them are giant crypts.  Some of those crypts are bigger than most people's houses here, made of stone, and sometimes have bathrooms and air conditioning and beds inside.  They're like that because during "all souls day" in November everyone goes to their ancestor's graves and party and hang out there.  So... yeah.  It was awesome, and intense.  Anyway... it was a pretty cool adventure, just to see the last testaments people build for themselves.  It reminded me of ancient Egyptians and their pyramids. That's what the picture is of.

I don't have a whole lot to say this week.  It's been good and awesome.  If you were to ask me how I feel now, I would definitely say "happy."  It's hard, there's challenges, and it's hard serving in a place where you want so bad to help people but the only and best thing you can give them is to help them strengthen their faith and hope.  I suppose that's the best thing we can give people though... and I am happy for that, and that I have that most precious gift from God in my life, and the opportunity to share it with others, especially when they're suffering or upset.

Love you all!

Sister Larsen

There was this huge random island thing at the memorial park... Sister Giles and I took a picture.

I Laugh in the Face of Pollution

Okay, the title of this isn't 100% accurate.... pollution is kind of the worst when you're used to living in backwoods Virginia your whole life and your first area in the mission was a beautiful clean island.  Apparently... there's a decent chance that I have a constant cold my whole mission because of the pollution here, and I'll have to stay on this medicine the whole time to feel alive and avoid the sinus infection I got twice over the past two months.  Yikes.... magtitiis hanggang wakas.  Endure to the end.  It's okay, if my pioneer ancestors crossed the plains in freezing weather, I can handle a little cold for the rest of the time, even though sometimes being sick makes it pretty hard to focus at times.

We went on exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leaders... and I got to go with Sister Mechum!  She was in the other companionship living in our apartment when I was on Palawan, and I felt like we got pretty close and she's awesome.  She gave me faith it was possible to learn Tagalog as an American, hahah.  That was a good experience, she's definitely one of my missionary role models.

Here's a story that was told in sacrament meeting this week.  There once was a foreigner visiting the Philippines.  He observed two men - one was digging a hole, and at the same time he was digging it, another man was taking soil and filling in the hole.  Curious, the foreigner asked them why.  One of the men said, "Well, I was hired by the government to dig this hole, and the other one was hired to fill it.  Another man was hired to plant a tree here, but he got sick and never showed up."  This story is a good illustration of "paying attention to the whole picture."  Sometimes I need that on my mission, when I need to remember WHY I'm doing the things I'm doing and not just go through the motions of being a missionary without really FEELING it all the time.  It's been harder with my brain being muddled by sickness, but it's getting better now with the medicine.  Easier to focus, easier to act.  Transfers are next week though. I just hope I don't get transferred further into the heart of the city (more pollution) yet since we're on the outskirts of the city now.  I know that as we all focus on the individual missions God wants us to accomplish, we'll see His plan for us and not miss "planting the tree" metaphorically.  Everything we do in live is meaningful and important.

The picture is of Isaiah Lambert's baptism.  We are so happy for him and his little 8 year old brother!  Isaiah's progressed a lot since we met him, and his desire for baptism has really grown.  We're so happy that he now has the Gift of the Holy Ghost to guide him through his teenager-dom.

Hope all is well with you all!  Keep on smiling even though it's super cold back home as I've been told!  It's "cold" here too... I wear a cardigan in the mornings.

Love,

Sister Larsen

There were requests to see this - this is where I take a bath in the morning out of that blue bucket while staying beneath that orange partition so no one outside sees me.  Just take a bowl and splash water everywhere.  It's really cold actually in the mornings.... that's okay though.  I'll never bat an eye at cold camp showers again.  Every day is an adventure here!

Cobra Blood--The New Refreshing Beverage

Apparently, one of our members comes from a place in the Philippines where they take cobras... kill them... and then drain the blood into a glass. And then they drink it.  He says he hasn't tried it yet, but that his family has and they say it's...  "invigorating."  That is now on my bucket list for when I come back to the Philippines in 20 years. 

One lady in our ward showed us pictures of the first missionaries in the Philippines (she was here at the time.)  That was awesome.. just a coupla white Elders in the early 70's with all of these cute Filipino families.  I appreciated that - shows the legacy of missionary work we're helping carry on here.

We were walking along somewhere this week and some random kid pointed at me and yelled "HARRY POTTER!!!"  I dunno if it's my glasses or what, but I think he might've been a bit confused.  I will never feel so famous or so awkward in my whole life after I leave the Philippines.

The picture is of Brother Jeffrey!  He is the 10 year old boy who was hit by a motorcycle three days before his baptism before, and was in a cast for 2 months.  His baptism really is a miracle, and we're so happy for him.  When we asked who he wanted to baptize him, he pointed to me, but we told him that Sisters don't do that, hahaha.  He's a great kid and we're so happy that his body has healed quickly from his accident.

Honestly, that's all I've got this week.  It's been pretty chaotic.  We have a lot going on a lot to sort out and keep in control, but somehow we're doing it.  I love this work and this people, even though sometimes it's difficult physically and spiritually.  We see miracles all the time here as we do the Lord's work.  I hope everyone finds opportunities to make the world a better place and reach out to everyone around them.... that's how positive change happens, and I've seen that time and time again here.

Love you all!

Sister Larsen

Happy birthday to Sister Taufa today... this was us at the temple last week.  We have a lot of fun together!  (That sign means "guapo" or "attractive" and for some reason everyone here makes it in pictures.)

Fireworks and New Year's Eve

For starters... I don't have my book where I write down reminders of what happened the past week.  So I'll do my best to remember - we just got back from the temple, which is why our P-Day is on a different day.  The temple is amazing.  Everyone who has an opportunity to go should go as much as often.  I feel extremely blessed to have the temple in my mission.

So, last week, we were talking to a random man and he was talking to us about New Years in the Philppines.  He said, "Para mga Filipino, masarap ang mga bawal."  He was talking about all of the dangerous fireworks and said, "for Filipinos, things that are not allowed are 'delicious."  That's a figure of speech here, to say things are delicious that are not literally delicious.  I found out on New Years Eve exactly what he was talking about.

I'm pretty sure about 98% of the 100000000000000000000 fireworks set off from private residences on New Years Eve would be illegal in every state in the U.S.  We got into bed... and I tried to sleep for a couple hours, to no avail.  I knew it was getting close to 12 when the cacaphony got to full blown mayhem.  I got outta bed at about 11:40 and sat out on our back porch thing (really small) and watched.  My comp and another sister joined me at 12.  It was AWESOME.  It literally was kind of like what it would feel like to be in the middle of a bombing raid... X20000.  All the cats were running around from car to car, cowering, and there were about 50 people hanging out across from our apartment with about 4 cars all honking as loudly as they could right at 12.  I can't really explain how the entire city literally erupted in the flames of thousands of fireworks right at twelve, but that's what happened.  On New Year's Eve night, Sister Giles (the new American Sister) told us some Korean folk stories she knows for some reason, and then the Stake President drove up to our apartment and gave us a delicious dinner.  That was awesome.  I think my New Years Eve was a lot more exciting than Christmas was.

In other news.... we have a lot of good stuff happening in our area right now.  I really really really don't want to be transferred. I love the people here a lot.  Hopefully... our feeling is... I won't be.  We'll see what happens though.  It's always according to the Lord's will, of course.

Let's see... what else was there... uhhhmmmmmmmm.  Wala na. Nothing now. Sometimes when Americans (like at the temple) speak to me I still accidentally speak Tagalog to them.  And mix up my "she's" and "he's."  We've been learning about the high value of visiting investigators every day, if possible.  We're hoping to see some long awaited baptisms soon.

Oh, funny cat story.  Of course.  We were teaching a part member family and they have this cat I LOVE called Ming Ming.  He's like... an adolescent cat.  Every time we go over there, the cat finds my lap as soon as I sit down.  The family teases me that we're best friends... and I mean, come on.  Yeah, we are.  Anyway, one time we were teaching them and Ming Ming jumped into the room from outside with a cockroach in his mouth.. it was still alive.  He dropped it on the floor as a present for his family.  The dad caught it (between his toes) and chucked the cockroach outside.  We laughed and continued with our lesson.  A little later... Ming Ming went into their bathroom.  Bathrooms here... are wet.  And open.  And dirty.  Ming Ming came out with a LIVE WORM and dropped it on the floor for all of us to admire.  Once again, we all laughed and the dad tossed the worm (and cat) outside.  The dad also told us that in the Philippines sometimes burgers and hotdogs actually have ground up worm meat in them.  Like, they grow huge earth worms in farms here and if you're not careful with what brands you're eating you might eat worms.  Eh... don't care.  I've probably eaten worse without knowing it here.  So... we kept teaching after the cat was thrown out the second time.  Then towards the end of the lesson, the cat was meowing at the door.  The dad opened the door... and in jumped Ming Ming with ANOTHER cockroach.  We had a real good laugh that time.  Cat presents to their owners.  They're the best.

Well.. hope you all have a great week.  I love you all and hope you are doing well.  I had another fever this week on Saturday night... but buhay pa.  Still alive.  Still working.  Hopefully getting healthier now.  Loving my work here... I can feel more and more clearly how important these people are to God.

Love,

Sister Larsen

Merry Christmas--Here's Some Trunkaso

Dear friends and family,

First off, this was the Christmas message from my nephew, sent to me by my mom.  He's so smart, he spells and types his own words now.  I feel like there's a lot of subliminal stuff in this message I may not fully understand: 

"missionary fashions plates captioned apples grahams posters wonderful weddings soup salad notates babies/pokers lambs"

So the picture is of us on Christmas morning.  True to tradition, I made french toast (my mom's recipe) and bacon.  It was delicious, and I wore my new "Philippines Manila Mission" apron to cook it, given to us by President and Sister Stucki.  Super awesome.  Christmas was great; I was glad to skype my family.

Unfortunately, I got a slightly different gift for Christmas... the day after Christmas, Sister Taufa got weirdly sick and just slept for a really really long time.  Said she felt really weak and sick, but felt a little better by the end of the evening.  We still ended up working and teaching two appointments, but then at the end of the last appointment I started feeling weird.  We went home, and I couldn't even finish planning before I fell asleep.  The next day, I slept for about 6 hours straight during the day, and several times woke up and tried to get out of bed but was too weak.  There was no identifiable reason - no fever, and my stomach hurt a little bit (as well as my head) but there wasn't any real REASON why I felt like I died that day.  It's continued to a lesser extent now; I have a weird cold (again) and still feel weak and like I want to sleep all the time.

Moral of the story - don't make fun of seemingly fictitious Filipino diseases.  While I was on Palawan, everyone would always say, "Sorry Sisters, I can't meet with you... I have 'trunkaso."  Which as far as I could tell was often just  what they called feeling a tiny bit sick and like they didn't want to do anything.  Now I know better.  Trunkaso is the disease that steals away all your energy and kills you for no apparent reason.  The Philippines just likes to mess with people's health, I think.

Anyway, on a happier note, I feel inspired to share with you Bishop's lesson from Sunday.  It was a lesson to the whole ward about setting goals for their families, but I think it applies pretty well to everyone and I thought it was awesome.  Here we go:

WAYS TO HAPPINESS 

The goals and plans, following Nephi's example

2 Nephi Chapter 5

1. Verse 10: Statutes and commandments - why they're important to us, and that we need to follow them 

2. Verse 12 - Read scriptures daily with our families

3. Verse 17 - Be industrious and labor with our own hands - work hard and be diligent and driven

4. Verse 16 - Temple worship - (families should be sealed and attend the temple regularly)

5. Verse 26 - Magnify our callings

Promised blessings:

Verse 27 "And it came to pass we lived after the manner of happiness"

Verse 13 "And they did prosper in the land."

There we go, Brothers, Sisters, and Elders - Let's all set and achieve great goals this year, following the examples of our scriptural and real life heroes.  I know we'll all be happier and live better as we live the principles and teachings of Christ and the prophets every day.  It's as simple and straightforward as that - obedience does, in the end, mean happiness.  Let's make a goal to be happy - and therefore, to be joyously obedient to God's will for us in all ways we can.

Masigayang Bagong Taon!  Happy New Year!

Love, 

Sister Larsen