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