Pagbabayad-sala - Payment for Sins (Atonement)

Dear Friends and Family,

 I really don't have anything too exciting to share this week, other than that Sister Grant and I are seeing miracles in the work and feel more grateful than ever for the Lord's hand in this work.  I wanted to leave one thought though.

If there's anything I've really had ingrained to me here on my mission, it has definitely been how Christ's Atonement helps us not only to overcome our sins, but also to reach our full potential.  Christ's sacrifice makes up for those times when we're just not sure if we can do it, when we can't really see the whole picture, when our weakness in the flesh and in our mortal conditions makes it seem like there's no way we can possibly become perfect in the way we are expected to be.  There's been a lot of smoothing and shaving that's happened to me on my mission; I'd say by this point that I'm just not really much of the same person I was when I left, although some of the different qualities that were quirks which I can't live or do here on my mission will probably return eventually.  There's a lot to be said about a "change of heart," and although I'm far from perfect, there's a lot to be said for learning to have joy regardless of our circumstances when we can honestly say, "I'm doing my best to follow Heavenly Father's commandments."  We won't always be perfect, but if we're as close as we possibly can be, Christ will make up the difference for us through His grace as we apply and accept His Atonement for sins and weaknesses. 

I hope all of us strive to become better and better each day, and come closer and closer to Heavenly Father through Christ, His Son.  I know that the one and only way to have happiness that is true and lasting in this life and the next is to understand and apply the Atonement to all aspects of our lives.

A talk on the same topic from Elder Bednar:
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng

Love, 

Sister Larsen

P.S. Bowling is a lot more fun when you haven't done it in over a year.

New Things Make Everyone Excited; Lost Her English.

Dear everyone,

So, the most exciting news this week, is that the new church opened this week in our area which had been getting build for about 6 years from what I understand.  We're the lucky missionaries who get to be here for it, and it's making our lives a lot easier because people seem pretty generally excited about it and it's waaaaay closer than the old church was.  It's super pretty inside and out.  What a blessing, truly, for members and missionaries alike.  Easter Sunday was the inaugural Sunday that everyone got to go to church there for the first time!

Stories - went on exchanges twice this week, and that was pretty awesome.  Being an Sister Training Leader is in some ways what I thought it would be like, but also very different too.  It's teaching me a lot of things I don't have time to go into so deeply right now.  I'm learning a lot about responsibilities and how we all need to help strengthen and encourage our neighbor, and help them to be happy as well... whatever it takes and whatever we need to do.

Sister Grant got a balloon-animal making kit for her birthday.  We made balloon animals and were taking one to the office to leave for another missionary for his birthday (on our way to exchanges.)  Some kid saw us and asked if he could have it... we said we'd make him another one and bring it to him.  We did, and he was super happy.  Sharing joy erry day, even in the small ways... those are the really fun/happy moments on my mission.

Last week, we had a zone activity.  Normally, missionaries never watch movies or tv or listen to "wordly music."  However, we had permission for an activity to watch the movie Frozen last week.  That was pretty cool.  We're going bowling today for a district activity, so I'm wearing pants right now.  Pants are super weird; I don't think I like them anymore (haven't worn any for about... 6 months.) 

Easter is... interesting, here in the Philippines.  I won't go into it too much, but they celebrate the crucifixion here a LOT more than they focus on Christ's resurrection.  I kind of missed my mom's cornbread and creamed eggs.... no time to cook or make that on a mission ( and probably not the right ingredients here!)

Hey, love you all. Stay awesome.  Do good things, and always strive to find joy each day with the Savior's help.  I know that Christ lives and redeemed us from our sins should we choose to follow Him in all aspects of our lives.  His miracle of living again is there for us, and when we rise again in those last days we'll be joyful as we live according to Heavenly Father's plan for us here on the earth.

Love,

Marinda

Sister Grant... hahahah.  She's been on the mission long enough and speaks Tagalog fluently enough that sometimes she makes some pretty hilarious mistakes when she tries speaking English or remembering how to say things in English.  This week, I asked her if she could remember what part of a boat the "mast" is (pretty sure it's where the sails are attached.)  She started to explain and said "Well, the boat has that one thing called an 'udder' on the back..." I started laughing SOOOOOO hard and then drew this picture of a cow with an udder and a boat with an udder.  We have a lot of laughs together; Sister Grant is super awesome.

Emergency Transfers--Biglang Paglilipat

Dear erryone,

Here's a brief rundown of all the things I didn't say last week that happened, but I talked about halo-halo instead.  It was so hot we both almost passed out - funny moment when my comp couldn't keep her eyes open in a lesson.  I'm super duper allergic to the fumes of red onions - so many tears and couldn't see anything for ten minutes.  I talked to a woman named "Betty Bottor."  For those of you from my freshman drama class with Mr. Dias, you might remember this tongue twister which is why I laughed so hard when she said that was her name,

-Betty Bottor bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter, if I put it in my batter, that will make my batter bitter.  But, a bit of better butter, that will make my batter better.  So she bought some better butter, better than her bitter butter, and she put it in her batter, and her batter was not bitter.  So 'twas better Betty Bottor bought a bit of better butter. 

If you watched the women's conference last week, they showed a clip of people all over the world singing "I am a Child of God." After the brief shot they showed of some jeepneys, they showed some kids singing it in Tagalog - "Ako ay anak ng Diyos."  We were pretty excited.  We also taught an investigator with her husband on Skype... that was a novel experience for me.

So... now for this week.  I have probably not ever been so surprised in my whole mission.  On Wednesday night, Sister Disoloila and I went to the house of her recent convert.  While there, they started teasing Sister D saying she'd probably transfer soon.  We told them that the transfer day wasn't for another two weeks, and they all started cheering (joking) and saying "Sister D's Gonna transfer!!"  We went home that night, made our plans for the next day, and got ready to go to bed.  I was brushing my teeth when the phone suddenly started ringing at 10 at night.  Sis. D picked it up, and then started answering very seriously, "Oh.  Okay.  Yes.  No.  Yes."   I was curious, but though it was probably our District leader.  Next thing I know, she hands it to me and says, "It's Elder Belnap."  He's one of the AP's, and was my Zone Leader on Palawan ( sorry for those of you who don't understand any of these terms, ask your nearest Mormon friend if you have questions.)  He then said, "Hello Sister Larsen, this is probably a phone call you didn't want to get... Sister Disoloila is emergency transferring out of the area tomorrow and getting a new companion.  You'll be getting a new companion too, but I"m not allowed to tell you who it is yet."  In my head I was thinking... oh no, that probably means the new companion I'm getting was the problem companion that had to be emergency transferred and they don't want to tell me yet.  So, that was one night of very little sleep and wondering what would happen the next day and being sad Sister D was gonna leave me two weeks earlier than expected.

Next day, Sister D got all her stuff (she knew who her comp was gonna be) and we went to mission office to wait for our companions.  About ten minutes before we expected them to get there, we got a phone call from President Stucki.  I answered, (I know my tenses on these verbs are all wrong) and he called me to be a Sister Training Leader. 

My new companion, who I then met ten minutes later, is Sister Grant from Rexburg, Idaho.  She's super kind, loving, humble, and amazing.  In four days, I already look up to her a lot and she's doing a great job of "training" me as an STL.  I feel supremely inadequate to do this work, to recieve this assignment from the Lord to help other missionaries fulfill their purposes more fully and recieve all the blessings of the Gospel.  However, I also know that the Lord supports us in all things and will ever lead us forward in what He expects us to do. 

Thank you for your prayers and letters and support.

Here's some of my favorite paraphrases from general conference this week that really helped me feel at peace about these new responsibilities I've received:

"Faith is the antidote to fear"

"Love, not coercion helps people live the gospel"

"Love of Christ is key to Christlike obedience"

"Obedience brings "clarity of choice"

"Endings are not our destiny as children of God"

Sorry if this letter is super crazy; this has been a crazy week.  Love you all; stay obedient and give your whole hearts to God and you'll feel His approval.

Much love,

Sister Larsen

P.S. The picture is me, Sister Grant, a kind woman from our ward, and the cute one next to me is Amel, Bishop's daughter in law who we have been teaching and love a great deal.

Halo-halo Just a Mix, Like Life

Written April 6, 2014
Dear errybody,

The picture is of me eating halo-halo (probably the most famous Filipino dessert) at mine and Sister Disoloila's favorite Filipino food chain.  Halo halo is a mix of everything... beans, bananas, ube ice cream, flan, tapioca balls, other stuff, ice, cream... etc.  It's so delicious, and exciting because you never really know what's going to be in each bite.

I figure my mission is a lot like that too.  And life, but I'll apply it specifically to my mission.  There's a ton of new situations and experiences here for me, some good, some not so good (as in, difficult), some super amazingly supremely awesome.  However, even though some bites in the halo halo are more delicious than others, it's still over all really delicious.  I figure that's where I'm at right now.  Yeah, my mission is super masarap - delicious - and I need to take the time to think about that and enjoy it in the grander picture even though at moments not every bite is gonna be as delicious as the bite that had the leche flan in it.  Sometimes you'll get beans, sometimes the flan, but overall that sweet taste of cream and ice and deliciousness is still underneath.  Rather than focusing on the beans, I'm learning more and more to focus on the delicious sweetness underneath it all.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Restoration of sacred covenants and ordinances, the same ones that were here on the earth at the time of Abraham and Moses and Noah.  My purpose as a missionary is to bring others unto Christ and recognize the fullness of joy they can achieve in this life, even if sometimes it's hard, even if sometimes it seems impossible.  I've been re-aligning my attitudes and perceptions this week with Heavenly Father's help, and it's really helped me to overcome trials physical and spiritual. 

From "True to the Faith" under the topic of "Adversity" - Rather than asking ourselves "Why is this happening to me?  What have I done to deserve this?"  We should instead ask those productive questions of, "What am I to do?  What am I to learn from this experience?  What am I to change?  Whom am I to help?  How can I remember my many blessing in this time of trial?"  I'm still adding more answers to those questions every day, but it's coming and I'm finding greater joy every day because of it.  I hope we all apply and answer those questions.  We'll be happier, and realize God's plan for us (and our neighbors) as we stay positively constructive in our self evaluations and become stronger through Christ's Atonement.  In Tagalog, the word for "atonement" is "pagbabayad-sala."  It literally means "the payment" for *something.*  Regardless of our shortcomings or obstacles, Christ will help us when we seek Him first in our life.

Love you all.

Sister Larsen            

[From her Mom--After I told her about  how I had seen a good example of considerateness and responsibility, I asked Marinda about good examples she had seen.  Here is her reply]
  
    I see about 3000000000000000000000000000 bad examples every day, and the misery that comes from sin and also the poverty from it.  However, at Church,, sometimes I do see good examples, especially in marriages and such.  Mostly though, I learn from people's bad examples here... sometimes that's just life though.                     

Trials Make Us Stronger

Written March 30, 2014

Whelp, hello everyone again!  I hope that everyone is doing well, finding joy, and reaching your true potential as children of God.  Once again, not a lot has happened this week.  Sister D and I have been working hard, and sometimes that's what we need to do - keep on working hard and then we'll recieve blessings.  This isn't an "easy area," but we have a lot of faith to see miracles.  I'm grateful to be here. 

I ate "crispy pata" this week at a member's house which is fried pork feet.  Yeah, hoof and all, fried.  It was delicious, surpisingly.  Note the other picture sent - I've also been trying to step up my cooking skills and cook real food here.  The other picture is chicken adobo, my favorite Filipino food which I cooked, and I was pretty proud of that.  Cooking is one of those skills I plan to more fully develop eventually when I have time, because delicious things are delicious and awesome.

So the Patriarch here likes to give pearl earrings to the Sister missionaries that come to this ward.  He gave me some this week and then realized my ears weren't pierced.  He said, "If you want, I have a tool just back here I can pierce them for you!"  I declined, but he said the offer still stands if I want to "look more ready to be a mother when I go back." 

I really know that as we pray and ask for comfort and guidance from Heavenly Father, He will give it to us.  I also know that as we seek for revelation, we will receive it as we open our hearts.

Love you all! Do good things this week!

Love,

Sister Larsen

P.S. the picture is of us at the temple last week