Brightly Beams . . .

... the sun on the day of another baptism!

This week, one of the wonderful people I've been teaching my whole time here, Sister Imee, was baptized.  It's been a long journey, but as we testified to her about the blessings of eternal families (her husband is a member and baptized her) and continued to express to her just how special she and her family are to Heavenly Father, she received a testimony for herself of its truthfulness.  Her testimony was one of the best testimonies I've heard on my whole mission.  We sure love them.  The sun was SO burningly bright when we took that picture, haha!  We sang with the Zone Leaders at her baptism and it sounded pretty nice apparently.

I've been listening to the music Brooke sent me a while back, specifically the bluegrass Christmas songs on the album "Christmas Pickins'."  Reminds me of good ole' Virginny erry time.  This week we also went on exchanges again with Sister Te'o and her companion (normal exchanges this time), and it was super awesome!  At the end I tried to explain to Sister Teo a quality trait she has that's really good, but I couldn't remember what the word was in English.  I tried for literally 5 minutes to remember it... tried about 5 different words that were all wrong... and finally came up with it... "resilient!"  It's good.  I'm trying to find my English again.

In the mission right now, we're working on becoming "Master Gospel Teachers," which means really focusing on the doctrines in Preach My Gospel and knowing them like the back of our hands.  This week Sister Slade and I got "certified" for knowing the first lesson like that :)  Feels like studying for tests a little bit, but I like it a lot better.  I"m going to try and get certified for at least the first 3 lessons before I go home, even though it's a mission goal for everyone by December.

We also had interviews this week with President and Sister Ostler.  I love them so much, and I'm going to miss them SO much when I do eventually have to leave.  I have a huge amount of respect and love for both of them, and I hope I can be like them when I'm older.  Honestly, in my interview, he gave me a lot of sound dating advice as well as answering my question for him about how I could be a better missionary right now in my mission.  I definitely will miss being able to learn from him on my mission after my mission.

The windows of heaven are definitely open to us when we do our best and love others with fullness of heart and lead by love and the Spirit.  I testify that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and truly loves to answer them.  Here's my parting thought this week about my feelings towards my mission and life at this moment:

2 Nephi 9:49

49Behold, my soul abhorreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness; and I will praise the holy name of my God. 

I love all of you and I hope that we all recognize every blessing and feel God's love for us every day.

Much love, 

Sister Larsen

No TB, Yay!

Hello everybody!

A ton of things happened this week!  First - we went and got our tuberculosis tests and Sister Slade and I are both clear - they took an exam to check us both (required before we can leave the country.)  Then, today, we woke up early and with everyone else who's going home this transfer we got our visa stuff fixed and had our fingerprints taken.  I managed to get ink ALL over my arm and papers because I didn't realize that table was where the ink was (it just looked like a black bar painted on the table.)  Smooth. I wasn't the only missionary who did that, haha.

Random things - Sister Slade and I saw this AMAZING rainbow thing this week at sunset.  It was crazy though, it wasn't a rainbow... it was like right in this one located spot of clouds, there were about 10 different colors shining out of the clouds that looked like watercolors splashed around.  Never seen anything like it, and we don't know what it was... kind of like the northern lights, but we are DEFINITELY not in the north, haha.  Also, one day we opened our gate and saw something suddenly wriggling violently on the ground.  We jumped back and then looked a little closer.  It was a lizard tail!  For about a minute, it just wriggled and writhed like a worm on the ground even though it wasn't attached to the lizard anymore. Gross.  Probably a self defense mechanism.  

Mariz (who we found weeks ago in a very inspired way!)  got baptized this week!  We're so very excited for her, and she's excited to work with us.  We sure do love her and her energy and enthusiasm.  Definitely a person I'm lucky to have met on my mission.

So, Bishop asked me to sing a solo in church a few weeks ago.  After we sang "Nearer My God to Thee" in Tagalog at Mariz's baptism, he approached us and reminded me I had said that.  I said that it'd be a lot nicer if Sister Slade sang with me (she's a killer alto.)  So we did "Be Still My Soul"--first two verses in Tagalog, and last verse I kind of re-arranged to be like the version that's on Vocal Point's "Nearer My God to Thee" CD.  I got a video of Sis. Slade and I practicing, but it refuses to upload in the Philippines.  We got pretty fancy with it, especially for having one day to practice (partially cuz I'd worked out the arrangement for a solo several weeks before that.)  Went well, and now we have a lot of people who want to work with us from the ward.

Sister Slade and I are working on our English.  We have some pretty terrible grammar.  And some things when we try to say them in straight English are really hard; there's some words we just pretty much always use the Tagalog for.  So we're working on that.  A good example this week is when I was talking about someone who just gave birth that we know.  When I was talking about it though, I said, "Yeah, well, it would be hard when you just gave baby and..." and didn't realize that birth was the right word there until about a sentence later.  Working on it.  Talking in straight English makes me nervous these days though.

I love you all!  Have a great week.

-Sister Larsen 

We came home one day to see this parked in front of our apartment.  It's the basket wagon!  And there's hammocks and other woven things.  I'd seen one in Paranaque before, but never got a picture of it.  And there's a HUGE carabao that pulls the cart around.  Super awesome.

Magbabago Ang Buhay--Life's All About Changes!

So we found out last week that Sister Bechachino was actually transferring, so we went to transfer day along with all the other missionaries who were transferring.  As we waited for my new companion, one of the Elders I had met before came up and said, "Sister Larsen, Hello!  YOU are about to die!!"  In mission lingo, the term "die" means that you're about to finish your mission and go home.  About 5 other people said the same thing when they saw me because they all know this is my last transfer.  I try not to think about it too much, but it is getting really close right now, especially because I'm just enjoying my mission SO much right now!  My new companion is Sister Slade, who I already knew and got along quite well with (did exchanges with her before when we went to Palawan) and life's pretty lively with her around, haha.  I feel super blessed to have her as my companion, and she goes home in only 12 weeks, but we joke that the only way that we're trunky is that we're eating pretty much exclusively American food now.  

During General Conference when we watched it, it was, of course, super awesome, and I got a lot important revelation for how I need to be preparing to go home.  My area is a missionary graveyard - there's about 10 of us here "dying" off our missions within the next few transfers, and it's the most "trunky" area.  That's chill though, we got this.

We've been seeing a lot of miracles this week, and people are really opening up to our message and living it in a way that is truly amazing.  I really love these people here.  One cool experience is that about a month ago I talked to a man who was fixing his car, and we set up a tentative appointment, but he wasn't there.  We've tried about 6 times since to go back to him, but I felt like we shouldn't give up even though he wasn't there every time.  When we went back on Sunday, a lady answered the door and asked how we met that man and why we were there.  She then came out, and I expected from the questions she asked that she was about to chew us out and tell us to never come back.  Then she said, "I was at church (conference) earlier this morning, I'm a member visiting here!"  So she invited us in and apparently the man we met is somehow her step cousin or something and she's staying there with them for a while.  Talk about a miracle!  There's a lot more other circumstances like that happening right now (like seeing a fish in a fish tank, going up closer to the house to see it (if it looks cool and is an animal, I"ll probably go look at it regardless of how sociably acceptable that is), and then realizing there was actually a person sitting there in the dark who we're now teaching) and a ton of other awesome things.  

That's it!  Love you all!

-Sister Larsen

Kapayapaan--Peace

Dear Everyone,

This past Thursday ended a week long extended exchange I was privileged to have with Sister Te'o, a brand new missionary to the mission.  That was one of the most amazing, clarifying weeks of my whole mission.  And boy, did we have fun together (you know, staying within the bounds of missionary dignity of course... but I haven't laughed that much in probably my whole mission!)  Sister Te'o left a commitment for me after the exchange that I should "just be myself" regardless of whatever else might happen after the exchange.  So I started looking really deep inside to who I am becoming and who the Lord wants me to be.  I did a lot of self evaluation.  And after doing so, the Spirit really poured out to me that the Lord knows I've been doing my best and the work I've been doing is acceptable to Him, and the person I'm becoming right now is also acceptable to Him.  I couldn't be happier.  The Spirit really is my constant companion right now, in ways that I can't really explain... but consistent, persevering happiness every day in a way that very few things can get me down is one good way to describe it.  Just too happy, in spite of honestly quite a few reasons why I shouldn't be from external sources.  I suppose I've reached the point where I really am satisfied with myself, who I am, and how the Lord has shaped me.  It feels so good, and I'm planning to enjoy that (and continue to press forward steadfastly) to the best of my ability over the next 6 weeks, regardless of what happens.

The picture is of Sister Te'o and me.  That hand sign means "pogi" and people here do it to mean that they're really attractive.  

Anyway.  I don't have a whole lot of specifics this week, other than I'm feeling really good about everything right now.  Things are all falling into place.  I'm seeing things clearly (or a lot clearer than previously) and because of it I don't feel confusion or uncertainty anymore but the Lord has given me certainty of what He wants me to do now and what things I can still improve upon.  It's awesome.  I know this clarity is only possible through making correct decisions, seeking the Lord's guidance, and ultimately accepting the Gift of the Holy Ghost through God's authority on the Earth.

Love you all.  Invite the Spirit into your lives every day, and in every way.

Love,

Sister Larsen