Cole and Daniel the "Dragon" Both looking spiffy in their baptism white! :)

Welcome to Beaver...Dragon at a Baptism?!                                             ‏                       6-17-13

Dear familia,

Well exciting news from Beaver!

This week is Transfers…we get our call on Saturday… I’m pretty sure I’ll be leaving. President came into town this past week and talked to me about it. My entire Stake Presidency and our High Councilor talked to him individually and asked that I don’t be transferred. President Leonard, said “Well Sister Larsen… I think if I transfer you I will have 5 angry men in my office! What should I do?” I laughed. I thought it was funny and also an esteem boost that they would ask President specifically and personally to keep me in their homes. I told President, “I love Beaver, will forever have it in my heart, but I also want to do what the Lord wants me to do. If he wants me to do work somewhere else or teach another Sister somewhere else, then I would love to do that also.” I’m not sure what he will do, but I guess we will find out on Saturday.

We had a great week…a really great week….We had TWO baptisms!

Wednesady we had Payton’s baptism. She comes from a less-active family that is trying to get back into the church. Payton got the opportunity to be baptized with her 8 year old sister which made it fun for them. We were very excited to teach both of them because they are very smart girls. They love going to church and wish their mom would take them more….sad. They are currently going with their grandma who has also been inactive for the past 20ish years. We hope we can help make changes in this family and strengthen them. I would love to see this family fully in the gospel.

On Saturday we had Cole Fletchers baptism. Cole is a son of Pamela who we recently baptized in May. We were so excited to be able to teach him. Pamela told us after she was baptized that she wanted us to teach her boys. At Coles Baptism we not only had him, but we also had “Daniel” Remember Daniel?!?!? The Lizard?? Daniel didn’t get baptized, but I got to hold him by the font so he could watch. THAT WAS A FIRST! I thought it was pretty cool! We actually made a white bowtie for him to wear while he was at the baptism. Cole thought it was silly but Sister R and I thought it was hilarious! We had a good time. We are now trying to get Aiden…Cole’s brother…to be ready for baptism. Aiden calls it getting “abatized!” hahahah we are currently waiting to see what bishop decides due to his learning delays. We are so excited to see this family come around. The husband is the only one now who is holding back, but he is more open than ever! He’s not sure if the church is for him, but he is willing to try if he gets to do his way. We know that with the experiences his family is having he will see the happiness and blessings and he’ll want it for himself. The day he gets baptized will be an amazing day. The family just announced they are having to move again :/ so I hope I can keep in contact with them and be able to see all the changes happening : )

This past Sunday we went to church and in this ward there were two farewells. One of the farewells was a girl that has helped us a lot and so I knew her pretty well.  Her parents joined the church when she was one year old. After the meeting we had a man come up to us… he said, “Hello Sisters…so where do you live?” I was caught off guard and didn’t really know what to say so I asked him do you live in town? He said, “No… I am the missionary that baptized Bri’s parents. You’re in my area!” Ooooh my goodness that was so cool! We talked for a few minutes about the area and all the changes that have happened since he served. He and I also talked about our love for Beaver…He understood my love for this place. It was great! I told him I have been here for 7.5 months and he was amazed at the worked that has happened. He told us, “Sisters… I never would have thought I would be here today for this. I never would have thought I would be able to see my work come full circle. ITS WORTH IT! Stay in contact with those you’ve taught and one day you’ll be able to see it all come full circle!” I don’t know why, but talking to him and seeing with my own eyes his life come in full circle… got me really excited. I thought that was the coolest thing ever! I can’t wait to see the people of Beaver in the future and see what they’ve become. I can’t wait to see these people go through the temple and become stronger than ever! Missionary work is so awesome. I heard this week from a talk, “Salvation is not cheap. If it were… it wouldn’t mean so much to us.” No wonder missionary work is so hard! We are giving people salvation. We are helping them reach the highest level of happiness! This is so true. I think about all the things I’ve gone through with people and the struggles we’ve had together and wow! It’s been hard! Buuuut oh so worth it! I love this work! The more dedication we put into learning about Christ, the stronger our relationship with Him will be. Is it worth it? Is going to church every Sunday at 8 am worth having a relationship with your Savior? I would hope so. I hope that someday everyone will desire to have a relationship with our Savior and will be willing to do anything to have it!

Family… I’ve been studying this scripture lately… I would like you to ponder on it… think about what it is saying and see how you can apply it to your own life. I want to hear your thoughts this next week : )

Alma 29:1-3

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

I hope all is well. Miss you all.

 Mom… I love you like alllllll the fresh strawberries we’ve been eating… yummy and sweet!

Xoxoxoxoxo

Until next week!

May you all feel our prayers!  <3

Sister Larsen

 

 

Things are Looking Good! :)

Welcome to Beaver....Things are looking Good!                                 ‏                    6-10-13

Dear Familia…

Hahaha mom funny to hear about all your run ins with people at Kirin’s Farewell. I am so happy for her I can’t believe she is going. You know, it’s funny cause we have 2-3 farewells EVERY Sunday for the past 3 months and so every week I get to reflect on when I left…wow! I’m pretty sure my talk was “baby” to what I would say now. I hear these young men give amazing and powerful talks and I think wow! I don’t think I was that strong when I left. I think of who I am now and all the things I have learned and I hope that when I come home people can tell I’ve grown and changed and become closer to the person Our Heavenly Father would want me to be : ) I know she will learn so many things I hope she gives it a chance. It’s hard. It’s way hard…but if you stick with it and you let the Lord help you through it all…you will feel better than ever! I hope she allows this experience to strengthen her.

Geeesh! Everyone is traveling like crazy around there! How did L&C get to go to CO? What is B&K doing in GA??? I hope they all stay safe! Glad you got my cards…I was worried they wouldn’t get to you.

Mom… I am so glad to be out here. I love it! It’s so fun and exciting to see all the changes and be the forefront of it all. It’s amazing to see how much Utah can change! My thoughts about this place were waaaay wrong hahaha this place needs lots of help! ;} Crazy to hear how backed up the missionary system is.

Beaver is actually in the process of getting MORE new missionaries. We are trying to figure out how to put them in here, but we are trying to work it out that they would do “Reactivation” work. We have a ward that is almost 80% inactive. CRAZY! If you saw Beaver you would probably think…where in the world would you put more missionaries, but I guess it’s needed. That will be cool to see what happens.

This has been a much better week! We just had Bishop’s son funeral this morning and now we are all on the mend. Hopefully no more “news” for a while!

For the past month, Sister Rodriguez and I have been working with a family of 4 who started with zero knowledge of God or Jesus Christ.(Did I tell you about them?)  It’s been interesting to watch them accept the basics and finally accept that there is a God and they understand who Jesus Christ is now. We finally were able to teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel. Thelma the mom realized “Wow, so that why there are so many churches!” We also talked about how we have a Prophet here and now who helps us today. Thelma then says “Well, that would have been good to know! We have a live prophet to help us. Great!” Sister Rodriguez and I just chuckled. Her openness to everything and her hope for all these good things is just so fun to watch.  To see her realize that we aren’t here alone- but really we are here with guidance, makes us so happy! Thelma’s boys are also enjoying scouts and every lesson they come with something new they either learned at scouts or at church. It’s so cool! This last lesson we also talked to Thelma about their prayers and how they felt they were going. She mentioned that they have been taking turns to pray over meals every night and she said she has seen that bring a difference into her home. We told her every time they say a prayer they are inviting the Holy Ghost to be in their home. With all the knowledge they have now and their open hearts, we had to invite them to be baptized! We put them on date for July 6th. Not only will we have a baptism for this family but we’ll also have to plan a wedding : ) hahaha We are excited and hope that no matter what comes their way, they will have the strength to follow Jesus Christ fully.

Chevo is also another Spanish investigator we are working with. We have been working on getting him to pray and talk to Heavenly Father and for some reason he just really struggled with it. There came a moment in the lesson I felt really bold and bore my testimony of prayer in Spanish. He looked at me and said, “Okay…I will pray!” I surprised him with my Spanish haha … but this week we found out he struggles with Word of Wisdom and has for several years. He has a great desire to quit, but he said every time he tries bad things happen to him so he gives up and goes back to smoking and then things get better. We talked to him about the power of Satan and how we have to overcome him. We are better than him. Chevo is on date for the end of this month so we are praying he gets enough strength to overcome his smoking so he can get baptized. Chevo has met with missionaries years ago and they tried to baptize him, but he didn’t show up because he said he didn’t feel ready, but now he thinks he can be ready and do it the right way.

Well you know Robert is baptized :) we are so excited for him! We visited him this week to check on him and also to start New Member Lessons with him. We went planning on teaching him about the priesthood and his roles now as a priesthood holder. When we got there… Sister Rodriguez and I were amazed at who we were looking at! Robert was a whole new person! The things he was saying, the faith he had and the strength he showed was amazing. He is realizing that the Holy Ghost is what he had been longing for all of his life. He said I will never do anything to lose him! He said he’s been reading his Book of Mormon differently also and as he is out in the world he feels different he feels like he can actually handle all the things life throws at him. We’ve never seen him with this much strength. In our lesson he started talking about going to the temple and he was looking forward to a year from now. We asked him if he knew he could go now and BOY… you’d thought we gave him a $100! We began to talk about Baptisms for the Dead and the importance of it…he said he has 17 names ready to put into “Family Search” and is ready to go to S.t George to do the work. We are now planning Roberts “second date” we call it and take him to the temple! I thought I was happy to see him get baptized, but to see him go to the temple and do the same ordinances for his relatives, wooooooooow,  that will be a whole new story!!!! J

Remember Claudia? The old lady I’ve been teaching since Dec. We met with her this week. She has been struggling with her smoking again and doesn’t think she can make it to baptism. We are working on trying to see her get baptized before transfers…. That will be another day I will be so excited my heart might jump out! :)

We have 2 baptisms this week!!!!! woohooo!!

Well that’s all for now! I hope y’all have a great week and stay safe! Love ya!

Ooooh mom! Someone from Beaver is going to be going to Mesa! They are bringing a box down for me! I will be giving them all your info to contact you so you can meet up with them. I need to send it because I don’t need my winter stuff and can’t transfer it. Sooooo please be on a look for someone calling you about a box…they said they will be down there on or around the 28th! : )

And I shouldn’t tell you this…but be on the lookout for something in the mail. I don’t want it to get lost! ;)

Mom…. I love you like alllllll the flowers I see each day! They are beautiful but make me sneeze 100x a day. This lady also invited us to help plant her flower gardens…I thought of you and missed those times we did it together.

Ta ta for now!

Xooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo

Remember, you don’t need a name tag to be a missionary!       

    

 

 

 

 

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times....

Welcome to Beaver...                                                            ‏                                                                6/03/13

Dear Family,

Eyes are better...

Thanks for your email. Good to hear about all the crazy things that are happening. Hope everyone is starting to feel better there. Mom, I am so happy you were able to make it to the temple :) We wish we could go every week! I am glad you got the time to think about your “blessings”... It’s amazing to think about. Each day we reflect on the things that happened and we talk about our miracles. Trying doing that each day as you go to bed and talk to Heavenly Father about them. When you talk to Him about them, he is more incline to give you more :) Blessings go from large things to small things like you have seen. I am so glad that you weren't in your car when all that happened. I pray each day my family is protected and taken care of. That is a blessing for me to see :)

Well this week has been the best, worst, greatest week of my mission. I have had to rely on the Lord more and more this week as the days have gone on. To start... Sunday we had 2 of our 12 investigators show up to church :/ even when their fellow shippers came to get them. Then we also found out that a lady that I have worked with since Dec....She helps take care of us with different things... she was trying to go on a mission and she was at the doctor and they found out she has Breast Cancer. :(

Then Monday was Memorial Day and luckily it was a P-Day I have never taken a nap on pday before and I fell asleep for about or even over 2 hours. I felt bad for my companion, but when I woke up I felt a ton better. Then when it was time to go out and teach we just kept praying that someone would be home for us to talk to. Sadly we didn’t see anyone. Monday night we heard sirens for the first time around town, but never heard where they went. We didn’t think much about it until we heard it closer to our house. After spending a day in the woods riding 4wheelers and swimming and having a great day with family...our neighbor across the street came home and fell on the floor and died. It broke my heart. I had just talked to him last Friday and didn’t even realize that would be the last time I would ever talk to him. I have worked really close with this couple and his wife is actually our RS president. I couldn’t help but to hug her and cry. 16 years ago they lost a daughter in an accident and almost on the exact date she lost her husband. That was shock to the community. It took me a while to realize that I needed to change. I need to cherish the moments I have with people more instead of just brushing it off and thinking it another day. We never know when things will change and when a life may be cut short. I think now how I can better cherish the moments I have with people.

THEN Thursday night.... the MOST AMAZING thing happened!!!! My investigators I have been working with since DECEMBER FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! Robert has been an interesting character to work with. Did I ever tell you about him? He asked us one day...Okay well if God is Jesus' dad...then who is God’s dad? We got many questions like that one. Most of them we didn’t know how to answer and when we would tell him to pray about it... he freaked out. He didn’t like that answer. Robert went from not believing in God to believing in God and believing that He could help him. Robert is also the same man that didn’t show up to his baptism last time...remember me telling you about that? Yeah...We kept working with him and tried really hard to get him to reach baptism and HE DID IT! He finally got baptized! I got to speak at his baptism and wow! Roberts’s baptism was the most spiritual and happiest baptism I have had so far. The spirit was so strong and Roberts’s whole demeanor has changed. The moment he came out of the water he was a changed man. My heart has never felt so much joy. I thought it was going to jump out of my chest! Elder Captain was able to join the baptism since he helped teach him at one point. We both couldn’t stop smiling. He was also able to be confirmed at his baptism and Elder Captain got to be part of that as well. It was way cool! Robert also got ordained to be a priest on Sunday. This is an event I will never forget!

Thursday during our baptism our bishop got a phone call. He decided to decline it and said he would call later. Our bishop is an attorney and works with the police dept. here in Beaver... We later found out that that phone call was one no one wanted to hear. We found out that another one of our bishops (we have 6) another bishop I have worked really close with and know very well... His son was out with friends having a good time and drowned in the nearby reservoir. Talk about the best worst day ever. To top it off...their daughter was getting married the next day. Talk about the worst best day of your life. Wow!! THAT was a shock to the community! He had graduated high school just a week earlier. Again, cherishing the moments you spend with people because you never know what will happen next. I have thought a lot this week about Our Saviors Plan. It’s been comforting for those closely involved to lean on that plan and understand we see our loved ones again. It’s been amazing to see the strength these people have to work on moving forward and know that our loved ones are in good places and one day we get to go there too.

I am grateful for the gospel and the love and comfort it brings to our lives. I am grateful we get to talk to our Heavenly Father and ask for strength to keep going- we don’t have to feel like we are talking to the wall. We get to actually talk to Him and he is there to help us.

I love being able to teach prayer to our investigators because I get to see the power it has in their lives and how it slowly but surely changes them.

This week we also had a lady call us and ask us to come over and teach her....miracle! She had only been in town for two weeks and ran into someone who had our number and gave it to her... we are now teaching her. Heavenly Father loves us!

Even through hard times or difficult times...our Heavenly Father is always looking out for us. He knows what we need and he knows what will help strengthen us.

t’s been weird to be in Beaver for so long, but I truly love this place. President asked me the other day how I felt about it and I just sat there smiling. One of our bishops asked me the other day “Sister...I think your time is almost up here, huh? When do you think you’ll go?” I started crying. I’m not sure why I started crying but I did. I have never loved a people so much in my life. I’ve been praying a lot about asking for help to truly love these people like the Savior would and I realized right then, Heavenly Father has been helping me to love these people one day at a time.

I am so grateful I chose to come on a mission. I’ve been reading my Patriarchal Blessing as well and in there it says that I will help those I go and serve but I will also help people if I stay. I am glad I have been having these experiences here.

I’m sorry if this is all over the place and kind of a sad email this week. It’s been an interesting week for us. We continue to look for the goods things though.

Family I love you lots! I hope each of you feel my prayers and know that I love you!

Mom I love you like …. I loved seeing Robert FINALLY get baptized! :D

xoxoxoxo

Sister Larsen

                                                                 Robert's Baptism

Finally Summer in Beaver, Utah....74 degrees! Tad bit jealous.. :)

Welcome to Beaver...ITS FINALLY SUMMER and it’s a Ghost Town!              ‏                         5-27-13

Dear family...

Mom... sounds like you had an interesting week. Glad Leah is all moved :) and glad B got her card! Tell everyone I say hello today and I kind of wish I was swimming with y'all ;) hahaha It is so hot here...74 and I'm dying. Ha-ha actually the other day for dinner we had a BBQ with a family and my eyes got sunburnt! It’s been so bad for the last couple of days. I have had to wear my glasses to try and help me see. It’s really annoying actually because all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep. I've been putting in eye drops like crazy too. So weird. I never had that happen in AZ...Unless I was at the lake or something. I think because it’s been so dark around here and not so sunny and then all of the sudden I was sitting in the sun and it was blaring in my face that eye got shocked, I don’t know!  Hope it’s not too super-hot there...

Glad to hear all the events went well... like graduation and then wedding. Thanks for the pics! Looked like a fun day!

Mom I am amazed by your "adoption" story. I think that is very cool and inspired. It’s funny how Heavenly Father works and helps us. I have a story to tell you about Heavenly Father helping people.

Who knew that "your life story" could ripple into these kinds of waves and be able to help so many people. I know it’s helped you a lot and helped you to be able to understand your life more, but I think really it’s helped so many people around you. You always said that if Heavenly Father wanted it to happen he would make it happen and look...I think this is the exact time it needed to happen. Heavenly Father’s plan is so exact and timed perfectly. We have no idea how or why....all we know is it needs to happen and if we follow it the way He wants to then it will all be okay.

Glad to hear people are starting to get better and getting things figured out with their health. Tell Gramps J and L that I say hello!

Well this week... it’s been a roller coaster kind of week. For some reason this week I haven't been feeling good. Not like sick...but I haven't been able to wake up and I have been just dragging. I haven't really felt like myself. I'm not sure what's going on. But it made this week a little tough.

On Monday we had members come in and re-do our apartment. It was pretty fun they repainted and we got all the spiders out! It was grossssssss! This house is super old and so alllll the spiders love to come live with us. I don't really like it. Windex is our best friend. We just spray them hahaha so that was the start to our week...our apartment was a disaster for a while but now it’s all back together and functioning.

Wednesday we had a rough start to our day. We have an investigator we see every Wed. at 1pm. We didn't plan any backups for her because we knew we would be seeing her. We got to her door and there was a two page note waiting for us. She stated she did not want to join our church and there would be no reason for us to come visit her anymore and that she is doing this because she has agency and so on. She ended the letter with Jesus is my Savior NOT my religion! Have a good day! haha Sister and I laughed at first then we cried. I felt so bad for this woman...she has no idea what she could have and yet she doesn't understand Jesus Christ at all! We told her the things that we teach her can improve her life and help make her a better person and yet she is perfectly happy doing the things she knows are wrong. It just made me sad. The other sad part about it is we still see her around town and she doesn't even want to say hi. The rest of the day went similar. We tried to stay really positive and at the end of the day we picked up another investigator...a family of 4 :) So it all worked out and Heavenly Father had bigger plans for us.

So my story about Heavenly Father knowing who we are and how to help us....

We have an investigator who I have been personally working with since Dec. We started out just serving her and then finally got the opportunity to teach her the actual lessons. The lessons were going really well and so we decided to commit her to baptism. She told us she wasn't ready. She had lots of things to fix first and that she wouldn't be doing any of that for a good while. We told her we just wanted to makes goals with her so we could help her get over her addictions. (if you don't have a goal of something...what are you working towards?)... Well about a week went by and she sat us down one day and said she's not ready to get baptized and that she doesn't want to be pushed. So Sister and I decided to set her aside. We didn't want to be dragging her anymore so we decided to pray about and see if she would approach us. It took 5 days for her to approach us and all the sudden we get a call from her. She said "Sisters! Are you mad at me?! I want to talk to you...come over!" So we went over there kind of scared as to what she wanted to tell us. Last time she "sat us down" she wasn't too happy with us, but we sat down and she got really quiet. She said Sisters the other night...I had something really funny happen to me. I blacked out and the whole room was all spinning and I thought I was going to die! She said I was so scared! I didn't have anyone to help me and I was here all alone. The only person I knew who to ask help from was God. So I started talking to Him. I asked Him to help me and make me feel better. I was so scared that I promised God if he gave me one more day to live I would give up smoking and drinking forever! Sisters! I promised Him!....that's a covenant right?!...I laughed and said yes, it is. Well good she says because as of 3 days ago I stopped smoking! I'm being a good girl now and I feel so much better" ....haha I laugh because she's 74 and calling herself a "good girl" She is just a hoot! Now we are seriously looking at baptism for her and getting her ready! It’s funny to see how Heavenly Father works and helps people. He knows exactly what we need and he knows what will help us. I'm not sure why that particular event had to happen like that. But I know that it happened for a reason. Our investigator needed to find deep inside of her the strength to just say that she was done and she is now done!

This last month I have been able to really see Heavenly Father more in my life and in others’ lives as well. We don't know why certain things happen but if we continue in Faith and let it work its course we will soon find that He was right and it’s okay. When we "Let go and Let God" life seems to fit together perfectly.

This past Sunday we had a mom speak about her son who is on a mission. She talked about the things SHE learned while they were out. Mom...what are some thing's YOU’VE learned while you've had missionaries out? What are some things you've seem in your life while Bud and I have been out?

While she was talking about the things SHE learned I was thinking about the things I have learned so far. I want to share a few with you....

1. A mission gives you time. Time? You ask? It takes your time away! .... no. In reality... a mission gives you time to think. To think about what's important in life. Time to think about how you want your family to be. Time to think about who you really want to become and be. A mission also gives you time to see the Atonement work in others’ lives other than your own. You don't get to see that in the real world unless you're working with the missionaries. You don't get to see the deep changing process of people’s lives and on a mission you do! How cool is that?

 2. The Atonement is REAL! Heavenly Father heals us in so many ways we can’t even comprehend. Many times it’s in ways we don't even expect! Tender Mercies are not just for the heck of it... they are to heal us and make us happy. The Atonement is not just for "sins" it’s for our happiness and well-being. Heavenly Father loves us so much!

Well mom I love you like... a horse loves carrots! And that's A LOT! :) hahaha

Familia....I love you all and hope that this summer treats you well and you love every moment God gives you! Be good and take care of those munchkins! :)

 Until next week.... xoxoxoxoxox

Sister Larsen

 

 

                                 Meet Daniel the lizard and Cole....they are taking the missionary lessons!  :D

 

Trip to St. George to take a family to the temple :)

Welcome to Beaver....We will now be taking a special trip down to St George!  ‏                         5-20-13

Dear Familia….

A week already! Geesh! Time is flying by!

Mom…the sister I told you about is currently in Scottsdale…she might come to Mesa but since the boundaries are getting changed she might end up in the Scottsdale mission :(

Speaking of St George… Tim’s family is moving there….and Tim got married in March, cool huh!? A little sad I didn’t know buuuuuut that’s life right? We all move on eventually.

What a week for Sister Rodriguez and I! We have been presenting the Book of Mormon more and more with our investigators and recent converts and it’s been amazing to see their growth and conversion. We have one particular investigator who we were following up with on prayers and reading and she said that she got down one night and prayed about God and if the things she was doing were right and she said “all I got was this feeling. I can’t even describe it, but I think it was good.” We had the wonderful opportunity to teach her about the Holy Ghost and how he talks to her. It’s VERY new for her since she hasn’t had any religion of any kind in her life before, but she understood and is now focusing on that feeling each time she learns. HOW COOL! I was very excited about this lesson because our previous lessons with her family have been a struggle because everything is so new to them. They have even started talking about baptism even though they have no idea what it is means and we haven’t been able to talk to them about it : ) The spirit works in amazing ways.

Sister Rodriguez and I have been working on focusing on the Spirit and listening to him during lessons. Not only has it been a good learning experience for her, but also for me. As we take our time to listen to him and think about what he wants us to say…things go smoother and better. So the other day we were driving by and we saw our investigator outside, so we quickly stopped. We hadn’t seen Ana for a while so we had to talk to her! She said she really needed to get her car cleaned out and didn’t have time to sit down and talk to us.  Soooo since I can’t talk to her very well (in Spanish)…I cleaned the car while Sister Rodriguez began to teach her the Plan of Salvation and about church. Ana came to church for the first time this Sunday! It was pretty great! I was excited to be able to serve someone and also to be able to teach her at the same time! Hahaha ;) 

This past Saturday we got the opportunity to take Francisco & Yolanda to the St. George temple to do their family baptisms. WOW! What an opportunity that was! It was truly amazing! Seeing them just glow and have this happiness overcome them was just priceless! We also got the opportunity to go outside and look around the temple and teach them about Eternal Families. They are excited for their day to come next year and made sure we were going to be there :) How special to see this beautiful family come closer and closer to Christ and realize this all is true happiness. We took them into the Visitor’s Center and showed them the Christus (Big Christ statue) and also took them through a movie called “Gods Plan for His family”. We made them cry.  That is one of my favorite things to do for people ha-ha  It not only showed them the importance of the temple, but it also solidified their testimonies of family. They know that family is important and now they want to work harder in the Gospel to get to the Temple! I will be in Utah A LOT this next year : ) We get to take Pamela to the temple this weekend and take her to do her family names! Wooot woot! I am sooooo excited! She just can’t keep it in, the fact that she gets to go to the temple. I love it! Pamela is also another person I will be going through the Temple with. She and I have created a special bond and now her husband is coming closer and closer to wanting to learn more about the Gospel. We will be baptizing her kids at the end of the month!  : )

We will be having 3 baptisms in the next two weeks! It’s going to be amazing month for us here. I can’t believe how much Beaver has grown and I have had the opportunity to be part of it! This has been such a blessing to my life. All of these people here will forever have a place in my heart.

Well not much else has happened. Today our apartment is getting remodeled so we that is pretty exciting. It needed a facelift. Hahaha

Well mom….I love you to pieces and I miss you tons. I love you as much as I loved seeing someone brand new to the Gospel do Baptism for the Dead for the first time! You have no idea what that feels like. Preeeetty amazing!

Hope ya all have a great week. Don’t work too hard!

Xoxoxoxox

Sister Larsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday after Mother's Day

Loved talking to you :)          5-13-13                                    

Thank you for the LOVE :) You are so great. I did get the pics. They are darling.     

 I agree, I love that no matter what happens between each of our lives we can always come back together "without skipping a beat"...that’s why you’re the greatest mom in the world and my best friend. I was very sad to go...it went by way too quick :( But I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Really, I'll be there for the next one ;) haha I think about you often and pray for you.

 Thank you for the reminders! ;) You are so good to me! Tell everyone I said hello.

  xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox

 Love you Honey Bunches of Oats!

 Here is a pic from today...we got free ice cream at the Cheese Factory!...not that my cheeks need it!

 

 

                                                               Manti, Utah Trip-Manti Temple

 

                                                          Hailstorm in Beaver, Utah

Missionary Nametag Cookie made by a member :)

 

                                            

Baptism Pictures

                                                                  May 6, 2013

How Much Do You Treasure the Gospel in Your Life?

Welcome to Beaver... How much do you treasure the Gospel?               ‏                         5-6-13

Mooooom!

 I caannnnnnt wait till Sunday! Actually I forgot all about it till today when we walked out of our house and evvvveryone asked us when we were talking to our moms! ha! This week has been nuts I can’t wait to tell you about it. Soooooo Sunday is a supppper busy day for us. We have church and appts till 6pm :( Soooo I can’t call you till then. We will be going over to President Robinson’s again :) Sister R gets to Skype and I will be in the other room calling.  So I am allowed to call you on our cell phone or if President lets me call on his or you can call me. Our cell is ….... don’t get too excited and try calling early ;) hahaha ...PS  I only have 45 mins. sharp! (Missionaries can call home on Christmas and Mother's Day. Looking forward to my Mother's Day this year, for sure!)  :D

SALT LAKE!!!!! Wooooow Kiryn and I will have lots in common now and we can share "Utahan" stories :) Tell her I am so happy for her! Tell her when she gets there she will fall in love and she will soon come to find that this is the place for her. I can’t believe she is going I am so proud of her! :) Tell her she is going to need soooome WINTER gear! That’s for sure- it’s brutal there. Beaver has been warming up thank goodness but we are getting another storm today so it dropped to freezing. We are so bipolar! .....MOM! Tell Kiryn to make sure that the clothes are CUTE aaaaaaand the skirts have to cover her knees WHILE SITTING not standing and make sure they are comfy and work worthy....we missionaries get on the floor a lot and teach lots of kids.... just heads up! She will soon understand. (Kiryn Judd is my niece, she received her mission call to Salt Lake City, Utah and will report the beginning of June.)

I got Kort's wedding announcement. It was super cute! I’m happy for her that she is finally making this step. (Kortni Judd is another niece) Lots of exciting events ahead!

Tell Leah and Chance I am happy for them on the new house :)

 I haven’t heard from Tim in months ;( I can’t seem to find her or my letters are going to random places. I have been thinking about her lately... I’m sure she’s just busy. I hear from others that are in Flagsstaff and its super fun to hear all their stories. Crystal is all grown up and has a house now and Mike is married...lots are having babies. Liesel is in honeymoon heaven ;) ha! Don’t worry...I won’t be getting married anytime soon :) What if I moved to Mexico? (Timothy is a friend of Moriah's..she is a girl, in case you are wondering who "Tim" is)

Well this week flew by for us as well. We had a surprise BAPTISM!!!!!! I realized this week why I have been in Beaver for so long. Not only did Heavenly Father want me to see all these amazing miracles, but he also wanted me to teach Pamela and help her get to the waters of baptism. Pamela has been an amazing investigator to teach. I have learned so much from her and her relationship with Heavenly Father is incredible! Originally we had her on date for May 4th but because of different reasons with family, we kept changing her baptism date. Last Sunday we officially decided with her that her baptism would be on the 11th of May. The following Tuesday we had an apt. with her and in the middle of the lesson she perked up and said "No Sisters. Sister Larsen, I need to get baptized this week! I need to have the Holy Ghost with me more. I think it will help me to understand this Book of Mormon more!" "Oh and after my baptism can we get this temple stuff figured out...I need to go!" ... Sis Rodriguez and I were a little surprised and yet excited at the same time. We weren’t really sure how to react, but we knew that Heavenly Father answered our prayers and made everything right. It makes me think of how much I take for granted the Holy Ghost. Am I desperate to have the Holy Ghost with me like she was? How about yourself? I think for those of us who grew up in the church, we forget how blessed we are and how amazing the Holy Spirit really is. We managed to get everything together in 3 days and on Friday we had a wonderful program. I was impressed with the ward- we were worried no one would come due to short notice, but the room was full and the support, they gave her on her big day was overwhelming. Pamela’s husband who is not a member and didn’t want anything to do with our teachings came to the baptism and also came to church the following Sunday. We thought he would only stay for Sacrament...but he stayed the whole block! He said he is really reconsidering the option for us to teach him. My heart grew in happiness and almost leaped out. He hasn’t wanted us to teach him the whole time we taught his wife! After church was over he said he loved Sacrament and Sunday School, he really "felt God" there. As missionaries church is the number one place we strive to get our investigators. It’s one of the only places we trust that our investigators can feel the spirit and trust the teachings.

This Sunday we also got our family of 4 to come to church. It was the first time they had ever been to church! :) The dad only stayed for Sacrament but the mom and one of the kids stayed for the whole block! We were able to go to Sunday School with the mom and she loved the Gospel Principles class. We are having to work really slow with family because none of them have had any religious backgrounds and the dad has never even "thought" about God before. It’s definitely a change but one we are enjoying. We are having to think harder about the lessons and be sure to have the Spirit with us when we teach. It’s been good for Sister Rodriguez to see how investigators can be on such polar opposite ends of the learning.

Sister R and I are having a blast and loving it out here :)

Gotta go! love you loooooots. Tell the family I love them and look forward to hearing from y'all

 Mom I love you like allllllll the minutes we put into putting Pamela’s program together... that was a lot.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sister Larsen

Spanish Baptisms! :)

Welcome to Beaver... 7th Spanish Baptism!                                  ‏                                  4-29-13

Dear Familia...

 Mom...sounds like you had a crazy fun weekend! Glad you got to meet all your relatives and have yummy food! I wish I could have been there with ya!
(Webster Family Reunion in the Gila Valley over the weekend)

Sorry if y'all are confused about my companions. I’m still getting use to my new one and stillll introducing her to everyone. ha!

Tell Aunt T I said hello. Miss her!

Well this week was the best week ever! Sister R is doing well and is a good missionary! Training her has been a breeze! We do have our differences, but they don’t affect us too much so that’s good. We just get up and get to work. Mom, I think I have been in Beaver for too long. So not only are you and your friends trying to find me a husband...but now everyone here in town is. I had 3 more marriage offers >:/ hahaha I might even become a reverse polygamist and have like 7 husbands sometime soon. It’s crazy! ha

Well Lalo and Jorge got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday and ordained on Sunday to be priests and will be going to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms and then they will be passing the sacrament on Sunday! Talk about welcome to the ward!!! ah! We are soooooooo happy for them! I told Sister R ...that’s what happens when you wait 7 years to join the church :P These were Sister R’s first baptisms in the mission! woot woot... Now L&J are able to do alllll things within the church. It’s pretty amazing. I have been thinking a lot about these boys and why we were there to teach them. They have been studying the church for 7 years and how come no other missionary could get them to commit to baptism. I know without a doubt that all things happen for a reason and Heavenly Father’s plan is on his timing. I also learned that it’s because of them I had to learn how to better listen to the Spirit. There were many lessons I had no idea what they were saying but I could feel the spirit guiding and directing me to know what to say or how to help. Teaching these two boys has been the biggest highlight of my mission. I know that I have been in Beaver for so long so that I could see all these miracles play out. I love teaching here. I love being part of this community and helping those that I see. We also found 4 new investigators this week.

Oookay talk about timing... So there is this lady...we tried talking to her when we first got into town and she would always say... "Oooh come when you see my car. Stop by whenever you want." She would never make a real appt. So then this week we went to get gas and this guy walked out of the store and said hello to us. His son is in the West Indies mission and so I talked to him about "Elder Medley" and said my friend knows of your son, blah blah.... Then I asked him..hey do you know anyone that we could go talk to today? He said why don’t you go talk to that girl inside the store and see if you can start going to her house. I’ve talked to her about church and whatnot...it’s a shot. We said well why don’t you come with and introduce us to her. So we all went in and woooooah, guess who the clerk was? The lady who we had tried talking to months before. She knew who I was and so right off the bat we started talking about what we do as missionaries and whatnot and then she said, “well why don’t you come over tomorrow afternoon and we can talk.” :O...whaaat!? OK! So we went over there the next day and she says so I’ve been to church before...I really like it and I would like you to teach my whole family! I need my boys to understand these things and know who God is. My husband my not be super into it right away but we are working on him. Let’s make this a weekly thing. Could you stay an hour? ....Sister R and I had no idea what to say. I had no idea what to say. I was blown away! I can’t help to think what did Heavenly Father do to help prepare her? Why is she different now then she was before? I’m still here...is it because Sister R is here now? I will never know these answers I don’t think...but I do know that Heavenly Father is in charge and he knows what is best!

Ooooh remember Tyler...our first baptism here in Beaver... He got ordained to a Deacon on Sunday too! I was soooo excited to see that! Annnnd his dad who has been super inactive got to stand in and be part of it. It was super cool!
We have many more miracles happening as we speak and I know that as long as we stay obedient and we continue to work hard that Heavenly Father will show us all things.

This last Sunday we almost got 5 less active families to church...we didn’t end up getting that many but we tried. Maybe next week will be the week! :)

Pamela is on her way to getting baptized this week or next week. We are excited about her. We should have 3 baptisms for the month of Mayo! Wooho!

Ooooh speaking of Mayo...mom, did you know that Cinco De Mayo means nothing to the Mexican people??? We celebrate it because we say it was their freedom or because they won the war. That’s not even the right day! They celebrate it in Sept! ha! I just think it’s funny! We have a ward that is trying to do a CDM party and all the Spanish people are confused and ask why? They keep calling us crazy Americans! hahaha! You should ask your kids about it!

Well this next week is full of lots appointments and temple dates. We are getting the Familia Ramirez...to the temple this week and they get to take their own family names! Miiisssssssionary work is amazing!!!! :)

I love being here in Beaver! I love my mission!

 Mom...I love you just like I loved watching Lalo and Jorge get baptized, confirmed, and ordained!

Well I think that is all I can think of! It was an amazing week. 

Love you all      xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Larsen

Meet the other Sister Rodriguez...from Mexico City!

Welcome to Beaver... Meet Hermana Rodriguez!                                  ‏                                   4/22/2013

 Dear familia,

This week has been a whirl wind of a week... It seems like I haven’t even slept and these past 3 weeks have been just a blur! Hermana Rodriguez (Honduras Sister) went home :( I miss her, but she seems to be doing a lot better and getting the help she needs. On Tuesday I had to drive down to St George (drove through a blizzard) and dropped off my temporary comp and get my new comp. It was soooo weird to be back in the city! I was so lost! I forgot how to get to the VC annnnd there were soooo many stoplights! I couldn’t believe how much I actually missed Beiber Town. I’m pretty sure I’ve decided I’m going to live in a small town my whole life. This city thing is too crazy for me! Well, I finally made it to the Mission office and I got my new traineeeee...Hermana Rodriguez...confused yet??? hahaha join the town! We came back and I started introducing her to everyone again and everyone is soooo confused. They keep asking me "Wait, we already met her?! We thought you were getting a new one!" hahaha I did get a new one. She is from Mexico City Mexico and is not 19, she is 24....phew! hahah She is a great missionary. She knows almost perfect English, which is very helpful! We have also found many things in common like we both played sports, we both love to travel and try new things, etc. most importantly we both love to teach!! She has been able to teach our Spanish Investigators by herself and she has been doing such a good job. We are both excited for our Spanish brothers to get baptized this Saturday!! woot woot!!!

This week we had two very disappointing moments. Neither of our baptisms went through this week :(...that is the first time I have had that happen to me. We are not sure what to do now, but we are going to move forward and help build their faith more and pray that their day will come. It’s all in the Lord timing and he will make it happen the way it’s supposed to now.

 This week we also had our last mission conference with President. It was sad. He and his wife will be leaving the end of June and we will be getting our new president then. It will be a sad day for sure to see them both go, but we are excited to see what the new president will bring. I never thought I would be able to say "I loved my president" because at first I never even saw my president and knew nothing about him, but now that I have been out for some time, I have really learned how to love President Leonard. He is a great man and loooves his missionaries. He has set the bar high for this mission.

Well not much else to say for this week...we had so much going on I can’t seem to remember it all.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well and dad is able to get around and do fun things again. Glad chance survived his trip! haha ... and Leah! Mom...AIMs over....score! Now you have time to "relax" ...hopefully! Give the family my loves buuut esssspecialy my girls! :)

 Hope gramps J is doing better :( He’s had a rough couple of months :( hopefully they can figure out what’s going on.

 Tell Gramps L that I hope his heart starts feeling better too!

Tell Grammy B That I love her and all the goodies that she sends me. Tell her I like the banana cookies she sent that one time...they were the best...they don’t come fossilized. haha Maybe she will start sending some veggies ;) I am officially on a diet! I had to put away 3 skirts :(

Mom I love you like alllll the rain drops I have seen in the past three days...and that been a lot!

Love you all and miss you...your letters are the best!

 xoxoxoxoxox

                                    Sister Larsen and "new" Sister Rodriguez is sitting below her