Dancing Is Still Awesome

This past week, I got to go to two ward Family Home Evenings.  That was pretty fun. One was while we were on exchanges... let me tell you, Filipinos LOVE games and they always get really loud about it and excited.  Makes everything a lot more fun when people are loud and excited about stuff.  Anyway, one game we played was where they handed out a list with the alphabet on it.  You had to find stuff from amongst all of your team members that started with each letter of the alphabet.  They were struggling to find something that started with "I" and then one of the other missionaries in the ward pointed at me and said, "IMPORTED!  We have one imported person here!"  We totally used that in the game and people had a pretty good laugh about it.

The picture is of Sister Dumayas and myself.  I think all of my Filipina companions are all of the shortest ones in the mission, hahaha :)  She's super cute and fun and reminds me a little bit of a puppy sometimes, but a very efficient missionary as well. 

Side note; I feel really privileged Sister Grant and I went to Palawan last transfer to do exchanges.  That's been discontinued now because they just barely called new STL's over on Palawan so they won't have to fly STL's over anymore.  I feel pretty happy I had the chance to go back when I did, though.  

The FHE for our ward was suuuuper awesome.  All the youth, guys and girls, put on a dance show for us.  First the Beehives (12-13 year olds) (no deacons, haha) did a Japanese umbrella dance thing.  Then the miamaids(14-15 year olds) and one teacher did a Chinese dance with fans.  Then finally... this was the best part. The Laurels and Priests (16-18 year olds) came out and did a Spanish dance.  The guys dressed up in white shirts, black pants, and had red flag things which they did a pretty cool dance with... I was legitimately impressed haha, especially that they ever managed to convince Priests to do it since they were pretty good in the end.  The girls were way good dancers too with Spanish fans, and when they all danced together it felt pretty legitimately Spanish. I could tell the leaders put a lot of work into that; it was way cute and made the night way fun :)  I was super happily surprised by that; I forget sometimes how well put together this ward is sometimes.  Oh, and the reason it was Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish is because that's all the countries that conquered the Philippines at some point and left behind pieces of their culture.  Pretty cool.

I'm pretty happy, feeling pretty good right now.  It's stressful to be trying to memorize the area in just a coupla weeks so that Sister Dumayas can leave the area when we do exchanges, but I'm not freaking out about it too much... I've gotten better at learning areas and stuff over my mission.  I just want to live this last few transfers I have up to their fullest.  Really loving my mission right now.  I hope all of you have a super great week and feel the Spirit helping you daily to receive personal revelation, according to your faith.

Love you all!

-Sister Larsen

Benefited In the Time of Storm

Doctrine and Covenants 123:16-17:

 16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a      storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves.

 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

You know, that's super duper true.  We as missionaries are super tiny in comparison to the great work that's rolling forth across the whole world, but each one of us in our areas has a HUGE impact.  Things were super crazy this week with the typhoon that came through.  It happened on the night before transfers, and into the morning of transfers.  The wind was really strong, and so was the rain.  A lot of damage to trees and stuff, a ton got uprooted, but we're all okay.  The electricity was all down, and the city shut down for a coupla days.  Our electricity was out for about 3 days.  At transfers, I was successfully handed off from Sister Grant to Sister Dumayas, my new companion (she's Filipina and way nice :) ) and on our way back to the new apartment I heard a ring in my bag.  I HAD TAKEN THE CELLPHONE FROM MY OLD AREA WITH ME.  Epic failure.  We had to go all the way back to the mission office, and I had to give the phone back to Sister Grant.  It all worked out okay though, hahah, just super stressful. Also, the other Sister Larsen in the mission is now in my apartment :)  The best kind of confusion.

My favorite theme this week I read in a talk, "Life is hard, not the gospel."  My mission feels super blessed right now.  Let me tell you... if anyone had asked me before what ward I really wanted to go to, I would have told them PQ 3rd ward having had some idea about it.  So here I am.  It's just as good as I thought it would be.  The members are so very nice to us, and the Church is quite established here.  I really love it a lot.  I'll probably end my mission here, which is very cool with me.  Missionary work just gets better and better the longer I"m on my mission.  

Favorite quote from sacrament meeting (In Paranaque, people speak a lot more English/Taglish.) "Angels will be at your side cuddling you wherever you may be."  I like that idea of cuddling angels :)

I'm really trying to bring back parts of myself I kind of boxed up and put away for the past... over a year.  A large part of me thought I couldn't be fun or enjoy myself really on my mission, because I hadn't figured out yet how to actively have fun in the work I was doing.  I did the work; it was rewarding, but my sense of humor and playfulness... kind of died.  Bringing it back now.  It's a process, but I'm enjoying it.  Life's more fun when I'm not feeling stiff and straight.  Obedient, yes, stiff, no.  

Much love,

Sister Larsen

At a member's house. Let me say... Dinner appointments are kind of a novel experience for me now.  When we were served steak, pie, and ice cream on Sunday... I literally almost started crying because I hadn't tasted anything like that in over a year.  I never knew food could bring so much joy, but apparently it can.  Talk about being blessed! 

[Below is some miscellaneous building with thick vegetation in front of it.]

Feels Like Not Good Timing, But I Know It's Right

I'm getting transferred.  Honestly... at the beginning of this transfer I felt like I got semi-revelation that I was gonna transfer away from Sister Grant, and I actually felt I knew what zone I was going to as well.  Turns out I was right on both counts.

Not gonna lie.  I'm pretty sad about that... Sister Grant has been one of the most influential people to have ever been in my life, and definitely my most influential companion for my whole mission as far as helping me to grow and develop myself personally.  There's some good things to this, but also some hard things.  I really really really am gonna miss Sister Grant and some of the truly special people I know here in Mandaluyong.  I felt like Sister Grant and I had just started making some amazing breakthroughs, and now... well.  The two (and only) baptisms I would have experienced in this area I don't get to be at now, but I know the work and joy goes on regardless.

You remember how much I loved Paranaque 1st ward?  Guess what... unless something else happened since I was there, I'm going to be in that same building again and maybe get to see some of those same people again sometimes (the wards meet back to back.. my old ward and new one.)  So there's good things.  I'm still a Sister Training Leader.  It's gonna be a big trial of faith since I really feel like Sister Grant is one of my truly good friends now.  I'll miss her a whole lot.

Anyway... not much else seems too important right now.  Transfers rock worlds.  The pictures to follow are of our zone activity to the Manila zoo.  It was cool; a bird defecated on my head within the first 5 minutes I was inside the zoo.  Not the first time I've been defecated on on my mission, haha.  Here's a quote I'd like to share though with you all from a good talk... well, two quotes actually.  By Marvin J. Ashton:   

"Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again. It makes the thought of (putting others down) repulsive."

"True love (for others) is as eternal as life itself."

That's a lot of what I've been learning, and had to develop.  I've learned a ton in Mandaluyong and seen miracles.  I'm full of like... all the emotions right now.  I know time's only gonna speed up more and more from now on.  Also gonna have to watch my weight in that ward over there; it's notoriously the ward where every missionary feels super loved but gets fat, hahah.  

I'm happy.  Change makes us stronger.  Sometimes things are hard, but necessary.  I'm thankful for every challenge and blessing I've been given, and I know it only gets better from here.

Love you all so much.

-Sister Larsen

I met a guy, and we made friends pretty easily, although I think one of the animals at the zoo ate his hand once.

Weird animal award.  Best randomly weird animal I've ever seen.  They don't even live in the Philippines but somewhere down in Africa.  Definitely on my top favorite animals list now but I don't really remember what it's called at the moment.

Welcome President and Sister Ostler (and Caleb!)

Dear friends and family,

I met with our new mission president, President Ostler, and his family (Sister Ostler and their son Caleb, who is 14 and is with them on their mission) 3 times this week.  And boy how awesome those 3 times were!  Once for a general welcome to the mission for everyone, once for Mission Leadership Council, and once for interviews with President Ostler.  Cool, cool things are happening right now in my life as a missionary, as a person, and across our whole mission.  President Stucki really, really taught us obedience, and how exact obedience brings blessings.  Right now, President Ostler has been showing us that we need our charity to grow up in conjunction with our obedience.  As far as I can tell, the biggest bridge between those two has a lot to do with sacrifice (with a really, really willing heart.)  I haven't figured it all out for sure, and it's gonna be a lifetime pursuit.  But boy howdy is this changing how I'm looking at missionary work, at people, and how and why I do everything that I do, especially as a missionary right now.

At the first meeting, when we all first got to meet President Ostler, his son Caleb put together a video to show to all the missionaries of his brothers and sisters talking about how excited they are for President Ostler and Sister Ostler to be our "mission parents."  Apparently, all of Caleb's brothers and sisters are married except for two (and one is on a mission currently.)  When the video came up for the one who's a recently returned missionary, we all immediately noticed that there was a picture of a pretty girl superimposed over the video sitting next to Caleb's brother.  There was a loud "whoops" from the podium, and they started laughing and explained that Caleb, as a joke, had put the girl in the video so his brother wouldn't be all alone since all the other siblings are married in the video, but they hadn't planned to show that version with her superimposed in.  The whole mission had a pretty good laugh about that one!  It was super duper funny, the Ostlers are some of the funniest and happiest people I've ever met.

I want to be just like Sister Ostler when I grow up.  This quote alone explains why, "I wish we could just have a party with you Sister Training Leaders every week!  But I think that's probably not allowed."  They're such a happy and fun family, and they made very clear to us that their first priority is still their family (President Ostler said he'll sometimes go out in Levis and a t-shirt without a nametag and take time to just be a dad for Caleb) and that they want us to all feel incorporated into their family, all 200 or so missionaries.  Our interviews were done at the mission home, and there wasn't any particular stress for time and we got to make no bake cookies while we were there with Sister Ostler making sure the Elders didn't burn down the kitchen.  That's the most fun I've seen missionaries have in a long time, haha, just trying to figure out no-bake cookies.

At mission leadership training, after lunch President Ostler passed out animal crackers for all of us to munch on while listening because he knows how hard it is to focus after a bunch of missionaries eat lunch.  In case you all didn't know, animal crackers are pretty much one of my favorite things in the whole entire planet.  

One thing that was interesting is that when President Ostler speaks to a large group, he often reminds me in some ways of President C. Thomas Carter.  That's a very high compliment to both of them, two people who I esteem very highly.

The picture is of all us Sister Training Leaders with President and Sister Ostler after MLC.  Talk about a good time.

Much love,

Sister Larsen

One of my favorite investigators (also a cat lover.)  This cat is the fluffiest and cutest cat I've ever seen that wasn't my own cat.  

w

Jungle Fever

written June 30, 2014
Palawan.  Oh man.  When I went back to my old area for a day and saw two of the people who were baptized while I was there, it was like.... I can't describe it.  But some of my feelings and attitudes of my mission have been changing because of it.  I've really seen how I've changed, and how people were commenting that A. My Tagalog was a tooon better (almost a Filipina now) and that B. I am a lot happier.  Both true, but a whole lot else has changed too since I was in my first area, mostly for the better.

Some stuff that's the same back on Palawan:

1.The old apartment looks exactly the same... but they've moved the desks around some

2.We wrote our names (in pencil) beside our heights on one of the walls a year ago,and it's still there.

3.The posts Elder Burt put up for my mosquito net are still there on the one bed

4.Found my old Preach My Gospel I'd left behind when I transferred

5. They're still teaching a lot of the same people Sis Ordiz and I used to teach over there

6. The fam who was baptized while I was there had a new house built for them which the missionaries built for them

Some... interesting things that happened:

1. One night there were not extra mattresses in one of the apartments so Sister Grant and I slept on the tile floor with just our sheets (that was a reallllllyyyy awesome night's sleep, hahhahaa), you're probably not a real Philippines missionary until you've slept on the floor

2.Some of the apartments had no toilet paper.  Nuff said.  Filipinos generally don't use it.

3.We were walking on this one part of the area where it's plywood boards hooked together and suspended on bamboo poles about 7 feet above the ocean.  I was walking on one (no railings or anything, just two boards below your feet) when suddenly... I wasn't walking anymore.  My whole entire leg had popped through a week spot in the bamboo and I was super stuck.  A member and the Sister I was on exchanges with helped me out, but I just about fell all the way through into the water.  Got some sweet bruises from that and a good shock to the system.  Adventure!

4. We accidentally walked on some wet cement because the member we were working with said it was fine.  The guy who laid the cement did't think that was so fine.  Like... classic cartoon style the falling through the bamboo and walking on wet cement.

Good stuff:

1. Ran into the middle of the road and we met halfway to hug one of the sisters I was there to teach before her baptism

2. In my old area, at one point there were 5 members who I had met and been pretty close with who went with us to one lesson

3. Couldn't stop smiling for one whole day

And... when we got back from Palawan, we were both pretty toast, and I came down with a fever on Sunday.  There's another pretty good story with that, but it'll have to wait until after my mission.  

Learned a lot this week; seen where I came from as compared to where I came from and where I want to be going.  I really feel your contiuing support and encouragement, and thanks for sticking it out this long to everyone.  There's a lot I'm learning that I don't have the time or energy to articulate right now, but we just got a new mission president yesterday, and I can tell a lot is gonna change and it's gonna be a great growing experience for everyone in the mission.  

Love you all!  This has been probably the most stressful and most amazing week of my whole life thus far.  I know Heavenly Father watches out for and protects and guides us, no matter what.

Love,

Sister Larsen

P.S. The picture is the sunrise at Baywalk, where we rode bikes Saturday morning for our exercise (sooo awesome)

Sister Grant and I... what a great week

Some of the people from Santa Monica branch... maybe you'll recognize them from a year ago.  The one on the far right we taught (he's still not baptized yet) but he turned into a pirate (?)  (hahah) while I was gone (not really just looks like it) and put thatched roofing on his trike.  What a hipster.

With some members in Mandaluyong