"We can’t go to church...Today is our boating day!" :)                                     ‏               8/14/12

Hiiiii ya'll,

Welcome to Utah where everyone has a boat and ATVs AND nice cars!! Everyone we come across are doctors with huuuuuuuge houses! I wish you could see these pictures I have taken! Their houses look like hotels :)

Second week of the mish was welllll interesting! Our area is doing soooo well. We have our first baptism this Sat. :) I am sooo excited! Aiden, who is 9, is so ready to be baptized! We gave him a prayer rock and every time we see him now, he reports whether or not he hit his head or bumped his toe. It’s so cute! He has been doing really well with his prayers.

I got to teach Tanner all by myself this week. We were at the VC so Sis Tornar had to do tours, so I got to teach :) I asked him how his prayers were going and he said good, I asked him how is reading of the Book of Mormon (BOM) was going and he said good... I wanted more from him... he doesn't talk much... So I asked him where he was reading....you know what he told me??? He said, well I’m all over...you know I pray every morning and ask God what I should read and I read what he tells me. Uuuuuh my mouth just dropped open! uuuuh okay! This kid is seriously sooooo rockin! We are trying to get him baptized this month, but he is very adamant that his uncle baptizes him ....and that won’t be till Sept. :/ ... I hope we can get him to bump it up earlier :)

For the first time. Yesterday I got to spend the afternoon at Brigham's... that was really cool! It is funny that people can come just to see a house, but there is some really rich history and really cool stories. We are growing pomegranates there, almonds (I ate a bunch haha), we have grapes evvvvery where and you just pick a bunch and eat it...they are pretty heavenly ;) I almost got to do a tour allll by myself, but then I had to leave. Next time!

Dinners are still pretty good! They are the typical American LDS dinners.... no potatoes yet and not very much meat... We have a lot of lasagna type of stuff...

I want to send pictures to you....but the computer we use doesn’t let us :/ Sorry! Still trying to figure out time to do all the things I want... It’s hard when you have to drag someone along with you everywhere...LOL

The Visitor’s Center( VC) is a crazy place! I am meeting so many people that know people I know and/or people that we might be related to. I met a woman yesterday; her family is from the Gila valley... Her father was a teacher....ask Grandma if she ever knew "Mr. Dean"? The lady said he was well known around there taught Spanish classes and some other things too... I told her we are Jarvis’s there and she said she knew many Jarvis's ... pretty cool!

Soooo this week was a tough week for me... I wanted so bad to just pick up the phone and call you, mom. I didn’t think it would ever be like this. My companion made me cry twice this week. And it wasn’t because I’m a wimpy girl and can’t handle it...I just got sooo frustrated and couldn’t handle it anymore. I really try to listen to her and apply the things she is teaching me, but I also try to teach her things as well and help her understand myself and she wants nothing to do with it. It’s her way or the highway. ...I got a reassuring comment from our Stake President this Sunday and also yesterday one of our Ward Mission Leaders gave me confidence. We had an investigator cancel on us and  Sister Tornar was upset... I felt like it was my fault. She doesn’t like the way I teach, so I felt like I messed it all up. So I was talking to our WML about it and he said that it doesn’t matter that you both teach differently...It matters that you are here...You are here for a reason! If they cancelled because of your lesson...it because they know the things you told them were true and they need to change. They'll come back...we'll see them next week.... Wow! I was really grateful he told me that. That was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. I know that I am supposed to be here...and even if my comp and I don’t get along right now... there will be someone that I will mesh with and we will be able to reach those that need the both of us. I am working on figuring out how to be myself and blend in. Being a new missionary is tough (for all of us newbies) but we know that if we are ourselves it will work out eventually. I love meeting all the people here and I am trying to talk to everyone I walk by.... I am hoping that this will help me be more myself, open up, and also help me with our door contacts.

The heat here isn’t too bad...pretty use to it by now... most of the girls and even the natives are having a hard time... it’s been pretty hot but once they find out imp from AZ they say oh! You can handle this! hahaha it’s kinda of funny! I always felt bad for the missionaries in AZ... But it’s funny now to see the Elders just dying here.

Every morning I play Ultimate Freebie for an hour and it is juuuust a blast! The last couple of days it has been light...but we are heading out of summer now because the mornings are getting darker and darker... I almost got smacked in the face, because we couldn’t see the freebie hahaha.... I wish I could tell you everything that is happening here and in my life. I am trying so hard to be really good at my journal...maybe I’ll send you some of those, mom ;)

loooove Alana’s picture :) She is a cutie!!! Kendra looks fabuuuulous!!! Such a wonderful family!!!

Well I hope this one isn’t too crazy!

xoxoxoxxo looooves :)

I love you all!!! You are so special to me and I am soooo grateful to call you family!

Love you Honey Bunches of Oats!!

Sister Moriah Larsen