A Time For Everything

Hello everyone!                                                   written June 22

We're just a coupla hours away from our flight to Palawan... I couldn't be more psyched!  Time to go back to one of the most beautiful places in the world... other than, of course, Virginia.

Highlights of the week.... a kid peed in Sister Grant's shoe, a man from Saudi Arabia started talking to us and invited us to his apartelle and said in broken English "We are friends!"  and generally seemed pretty sincere (we gave him a pamphlet in English which he also probably wouldn't understand; I was struggling not speaking Tagalog to him), Sister Grant jokes of the week - with relation to people backing out of being baptized last second, "Now I know what it feels like to be left at the altar." and "Buy one get one free... just like missionaries!"  Sister Grant and I get along like two peas in a pod even though we can't figure it out because we're quite different in reality.  She said this week that if she and I can get along well together, then Zion is definitely possible for all the members across the world to work things out.

On a more serious note, one morning Sister Grant shared this in our companionship study and we both realized that this is what we had been taught this week.  In Ecclesiastes 3: 

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

 10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

 12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice,and to do good in his life.

Now, all jokes aside that verse 4 is my favorite; there really is a time for each and every thing in our lives.  I often feel on my mission that there really is no time (there's really not) but when I see what we do and how the Lord helps us, I've seen real miracles happen.  For the past coupla weeks Sister Grant and I both felt we needed to spent more time in one part of our area, but we kept putting it off... and doing other things... and putting it off... until on Saturday all of our appointments fell through and we were super bummed because it was supposed to be an amazing day.  We suddenly had time to [spare]. So we went over to that area, and started talking to people.  We were definitely supposed to be there, and should have given that time to the revelation we received before.  Lesson learned.

It's time for all of us to rejoice and do good in our lives.  Sis Grant and I have done just about all of the above in the past few weeks (except the dancing) and it's been crazy but fulfilling.  I've really been seeing how precious time really is and that it is not given to us to be wasted or whiled away (like I used to do all the time.)  I'm excited to build, and tear down, try again, build up better, and tear back down.  That's about where I'm at with myself and becoming what the Lord wants me to become at this time.  In President Stucki's last talk with us on Thursday he invited us, once again, to never stop "becoming."  In this sense, to never stop becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary (throughout our whole lives) and keep living the Gospel to the fullest extent every single day.  That's getting progressively harder and harder the longer I'm on my mission sometimes (in other ways easier) but I have really seen how my view and understanding of things has grown because of that idea of losing parts of myself in the work, to be brought back at another time,and building areas of my life and self that I never knew were there before.  I hope we can, with the Lord's help, all become master builders of our own selves.

Much Love From Afar,

Sister Larsen

P.S. We were talking to someone, and I meant to say "We'll see you at 12 noon tomorrow" but I accidentally said, instead of "noon," "no(gutteral stop)on" which means "back then."  So, in tagalog, it meant something like, "We'll see you at 12 back then tomorrow."  Yay Tagalog!

Lost and Found

So we found an investigator, and to get to their house you walk into this tunnel.  And as you walk into the tunnel, the ceiling gets lower... and lower... and lower... until you're all the way bent over and you pass through this arched opening.  Then, when you're through, you enter in bent over and see "comfort room" (which means bathroom) and these tiny doors where they shower and use the bathroom.  So we took a picture; dunno if you can tell how low the ceiling is. Pretty sure I was trying to explain to Sister Grant in that picture how to make the camera flash.  Definitely an Alice in Wonderland moment.

Last week we got to go to a special luncheon, just the Sister Training Leaders, with President and Sister Stucki.  I can definitely tell they're sad to leave the mission.... we're gonna be super sad to see them go, but I know President and Sister Ostler will be an amazing addition to the Manila Mission when they come on the 29th.

One interesting though brought up at our stake conference this week.  Let's imagine, for a second, that someone in your Young Women class, Priesthood Quorum, or Relief Society or Primary got lost one night in the woods and no one was able to find them.  There would be sudden panic.  Everyone would frantically start looking for them and call in the police and everyone would be on the hour, every hour, tracking down that person. 

But, now, let's think about what happens when someone starts... not going to church sometimes.  Starts hanging out with a bad crowd and being places they probably shouldn't on weekends.  Starts making other things the priority in their lives.  Eventually goes less active.  In the talk of the person who made this comparison, she said that most often when that happens we just say "bahalaga dyan" which means essentially "their choice."  If we'd frantically search until we found someone who actually got lost in the woods, how much more so should we for someone who is or is becoming spiritually lost and will have no idea how to return to the safety of their loving Heavenly Father?  I know that as we seek to reach out and help everyone... regardless of if they're members of the Church or not... to feel uplifted and happy spiritually, we're gonna see miracles and feel greater love and hope in the world.

Also at stake conference, the pianist is super, super amazing.  However, she also likes to play things SO SO SO SO FAST.  I've never heard anything played that fast on the piano in my life!  We were trying to sing "Let us all press on" but I couldn't stop laughing because it was so fast no one could catch their breath and she was adding quadruple time chords underneath that made it sound like one of those 1920's background music to a black and white video of a horse race.  That definitely made my night.

We went to the really big Manila hospital here, Saint Luke's this week (don't worry about it, I"m totally fine and my companion is now fine too) and there they have a lot of cool art.  Some really cool art there.  The hospital kinda feels like an art gallery at times.  And then I realized... I miss going to art galleries and admiring art.  Thanks Mom for internalizing in me an appreciation for those finer things.  That's definitely something I'll want to do at a future date... go to an art gallery again.

Our ward mission leader said on Sunday that my hair was looking particularly golden and that I should watch out or someone might try and rob us, haha, funny joke.

Also, we taught a couple this week that's from the southern islands of the Philippines.  They speak Tagalog, but as we talked with them I started to notice it was kind of a different lilt and usage of Tagalog.  Eventually he used the word "prueba" which Sister Grant just looked at me for because she didn't know it.  I actually did know it, because that's the spanish word for "test" or "try" and I still remembered it from all the times my family would study scriptures in Spanish.  That almost never happens (Sister Grant is waaaay better at Tagalog than I am) that she looks to me for a word, but I can tell my Spanish background will come in handy when teaching people whose first language is Cebuano.  Cebuano is one of the hundreds of dialects in the Philippines and has a lot higher percentage of Spanish in it... I am soooo learning Spanish when I eventually get back home.

Hey, love you all!  Have a great week.  We'll be on Palawan next week and I"m not sure exactly what's going to happen with our emailing, so if you don't hear from me don't worry, I'm just living the life on a paradise island (and helping Sisters realize their full potential!)

Love,

Sister Larsen

When You Run Out of Food . . . 

Sometimes you try and save money and don't really buy enough food for the week. So you take some mango, and rice, and tortillas, and make a... mango breakfast taco?  Not too bad, since mangos here will always taste amazing.

Full Circle

Changed my mind.  I first typed "changed my mom,'" but that's not the English I'm looking for.  Tennis is not a sport for pansies.  Because Sister Grant used to be a super pro at tennis back in her glory high school days, President and Sister Stucki invited us to go play at the mission home this morning because they have a tennis court right next to the home.  It was awesome.  There was a coach there who taught (me) how to play and just egged on Sister Grant.  Apparently I'm really good at backhanding it, but that's about it.  I popped SOOO many balls over the fence, but the coach was nice and patient with me, and there was noticeable improvement in my skills (or lack thereof) by the end of the session.   I told Sister Grant that we'll play together and that she'll help me get good when we're both at BYU, although I still prefer bball and soccer.

President and Sister Stucki are two of my favorite people; it's gonna be hard to see them leave on the 29th of this month. I don't know what it's gonna be like to get a new mission president, but I've heard some pretty good stories about it making people grow, so that should be a building experience for me.

Here's the other big news.  On Sunday we found out what our assignments as Sister Training leaders would be for who we'd do exchanges with.  Guess what our assignment was?  PALAWAN.  I'll be going back!  That's very exciting for me, and I'll be so very happy to see some of those people I haven't seen in forever.  For those of you who aren't as familiar with the Manila mission - the whole mission, after the split, is now all city, except for the island of Palawan.  Missionaries never go to the island twice, if they get to go at all, so I feel priviledged that although I won't be assigned there twice (that never happens) I get to go back once again to do exchanges with the Sister missionaries there.  It'll be nice to go back to the area where it all started over a year ago.  It really will be a full circle, in a sense, as I look where I was at and where I am now... I don't even want to think of the attitudes and perceptions I had back then.  My mission's definitely been teaching me how to remain happy even when the times get tough and things just don't pan out the way I want them to; but ultimately it's not about what I want but what the Lord wants.  And if I do what He wants in His way, I'll be happy.  Obedience, although not blind, is one of my favorite principles of heaven.

We had an investigator a couple of weeks ago, that when we taught him about the restoration of the Gospel and showed him a Book of Mormon, he looked at us and said, "Can I buy that?"  That was definitely the first time anyone's offered to buy a Book of Mormon from me on my whole mission.  We said, "No, even better, you can have it for free if you'll read it!"

One little kid went to the church for an activity there with her mom for the first time. When she walked in,she said, "WOOOW Mom, the Sister's house is HUUUUGEEE!"   I wish I lived at the church here, it's brand new and hecka nice!

Taylor Swift had a concert here last week.  We met people who were going, and they were all like, "Sorry gotta go rinow we can't be late!!"  People are all about T Swift here.

Sister Grant told a funny joke this week.  In Preach My Gospel (missionary handbook, sortof) it says, "When trying to talk to people for the first time, start by noticing lettering on their clothing or things in their yard for ways to start up a conversation."  Sister Grant said to me, "What if the people aren't wearing any shirts and they don't have yards?"  #Manilainthesummerproblems.

Luray, like Luray Virginia, means "to mutilate" in Tagalog.  Glad I don't live there.

We taught an American, in English, and his Filipina girlfriend this week.  I've never taught someone who doesn't understand Tagalog in a real teaching situation yet on my whole mission, and neither has Sister Grant.  That was an exciting lesson with a lot of long pauses where we awkwardly tried to figure out how to say gospel related things in English.  I will not be able to talk about Church things very well in English for a loooong time, probably.

Things I learned this week - my mission is actually like being in one giiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaant funhouse where you get to see how tiny of hallways you can squeeze into and there's lots of cool animals and insects you can see that might bite you and you'll bang your head on a lot of things.  It's been cool though.  We had some trials of faith this week for sure, but we also feel that the Lord is pleased with our work; just sometimes people have their agency to choose whether to follow what's right or not.  The Lord has a plan for all His children, including HIs missionaries, and I know my faith has really been strengthened this week and we really had to rely on the Lord and not our own spiritual or mental strength.

Love you all!  Stay strong and happy and make choices that will bring you true, lasting happiness... and always, always, thank God every day for everything you have and all He's blessed you with.

Love,

Sister Larsen

What We Do On Exchanges

This is what happens when we go on exchanges and we bring two Sisters to our area like we've been counseled to do - we sleep on the floor in the kitchen.  PARTY!! :D

New Best Cat

In every area, I will always have a favorite cat.  In this one it's definitely Leor, who belongs to a really solid and great family in this area.  He's a Persian cat, the first one I've ever held, and is quite simply the most delightful little fuzzball I ever did meet.

We All Have 3 Talks . . .

My computer's broken again eeryone, so just bear with.  Once again, it's been a pretty awesome week.  One major highlight was I got to go to the mission home for the first time in my whole mission for Mission Leader conference.  It felt a lot like being in the Oval Office when i was in there in the meeting  - pretty legitimate.  We also were privileged to have Elder Craig C. Christiansen of the 70 come and speak to us for a special missionary devotional.  I was pretty awesomely inspiring.  One of my favorite things he said was, The Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel didn't happen all at once.  It was a work in progress, with Joseph receiving revelation day by day as to what the Lord wanted him to do.  would it have been nice if he had recieved it all at once (q mark) Yes, but that's not the way revelation works, and that's not the way your missions are going to work.  You're going to improve and grow and perfect yourselves one day at a time as you follow the Lord's counsel and revelation to you. (end quote.)  That's a paraphrase, but that's pretty much the gist of it.  Loved that, because even if we want things to come all at once and we just KNOW everything, that's not how were going to grow the most.  this, too - quote, If we knew how much energy prophets (like President Monson) expend to receive revelation, we'd never hesitate to spend a extra time on our knees. (end quote.)  I've definitely learned full time the importance of praying fully, really endeavoring to increase my connection with Heavenly Father.  That is so very important and crucial in our lives, I don't have any idea how i could possibly be happy without it.

Here's a funny story Elder Christiansen also told.  He was a mission president in some south american country for a while, and he told about one town that was 90% mormon  out of the like 1500 or something residents that lived there.  At first he had two Elders assigned there.  there hadn't been baptisms there for over a year.  those elders were very discouraged.  One day elder christiansen recieved revelation to pull out the elders and put in Sisters instead.  Within one transfer, they suddenly had 6, and then 8 baptisms, and continued success in like manner.  When Elder Christiansen made a special trip to ask them why they suddenly had so much success, the one sister who was there looked at him, and didn't say anything.  He asked her, "no, really, Id like to know so we can try and duplicate this elsewhere.  Why did you succeed where the elders didn't.  she looked at him, smiled really big and said, "President, who can resist my smile"  Apparently the Elders had been walking around with the idea in their hearts that the area was hard and impossible, so the members and others always said, the elders don't want to be here and look sad all the time.  The sisters were always smiling and energetic, and that was the difference.  Members here in our ward now have commented on how happy and jovial (sometimes) we are even compared to past missionaries, and I think that's a big reason why we're seeing huge changes n the way the members are supporting us and really helping us a lot now.  I'm super happy here, probably happier than i have been with our work and success than i have been my whole mission so far.

Love you all, 

sister Larsen

P.S. quote from President Monson that Elder christiansen told us about: "we all have three talks - the one we planned for, the one we gave, and the one we wish we would have given."  I hope this was the email i wished I would have sent, hahah!