Last
week on Pday was way fun, because we got to go to the mission home and
have a "family home afternoon" with President and Sister Ostler. I
super love just being around them; whenever I'm near them I feel happy
almost instantly. We sang a few songs, President Ostler gave an
inspiring message about true charity in spite of hardships, and we
played games. All the Ostler's things came on the boat from the U.S.
now, so they moved out a lot of the pictures we're pretty sure had been
there for 60 years and put in a bunch of nice family pictures, pictures
of Christ, etc. Not only that, but they have a Foosball table there
now and like, an arcade basketball game which is way fun. I forgot how
awesome Foosball is. I may or may not have started getting really
competitive. You know you're doing it right when you get just as sweaty
as if you were playing real soccer (okay, not quite hahah, but I was
super into it.) We also played "guesstures" with a bunch of
missionaries (it's like charades) which was way funny and fun to see our
whole zone enjoying themselves. Sister Ostler made delicious cinnamon
rolls too, which just made everything pretty much perfectly awesome.
President and Sister Ostler are definitely excellent role models for
how to be down to earth and yet spiritual in so many aspects of their
lives. I love how they always hold hands are super family centered with
their son whenever we see them :) I definitely always feel loved when
I'm around them.
The
picture is from where Sis Dumayas and I ate before the activity. They
apparently have stores in Manila AND Virginia! Mom, you should totally
make that picture my FB profile picture, hahah. I was super excited
when I saw that, and all the workers at the restaurant were kind of
laughing at the silly American when they saw how happy I was about
"Virginia."
I
was all ready to tell you all that I finally made it through a transfer
of my mission without getting sick... but yesterday my stomach did
some crazy stuff, and I had a "sinat" or small fever. So close. It's
cool though--still alive and still kicking. The good food the members
in 3rd ward feed us is keeping me going, haha.
Been
doing good exercise every morning; that's going successfully. When I
left Palawan, I was debating on whether I really wanted the jumprope my
trainer gave me or not. I decided to take it, and didn't use it until
this past transfer. I run and jumprope at the same time every
morning. It's super effective. Pushups and crunches are helping. "4
month slim down before you "die"" as they say in the mission is actually
super effective.
I'm
super enjoying my mission right now, although of course there are challenges and hard things that happen. I guess I've just gotten pretty
good at not letting stuff phase me. I really liked these verses that I
read in my study this morning, which King David wisely spoke in Psalms
27:
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
President
Ostler invited us to study on some of the leaders in the scriptures we
really admire, and David has always been one I admired before his fall
from grace. I read up on some of the trials and crazy things that
happened to him, and I can really see that these verses came from his
heart after repeatedly being rejected by Saul and persecuted on many
sides. As in all things, I plan to wait on the Lord and do all things
in my power that I can at this time to fulfill my purpose as a
missionary and become what He wants me to, even if I'm not always 100%
sure what he wants me to learn at every moment. I'm positive I would
have "fainted" in doing this work a long time ago without His support.
I hope we can all find those things that we need to wait on the Lord
for, and trust in him enough to have confidence to strive forward with
what things we can do.
Love you all!
Sister Larsen
The best tan lines of all time because of my shoes. X marks the spot.
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