Best Water in Beaver!

Welcome to Beaver...where we have the best water!                                              12/17/12

Dear Family :)

Yesssss it’s been snowwwwing :) I love it! It’s not like Flagstaff though… it snows and then it all melts away pretty fast. Glad you have been getting rain… this land needs it.

Glad you got your shopping done. Thaaaaank you for the special things and I will looove the stamps!! I can’t believe they are going up again! That’s okay about the music… we are trying to get some from members… but I don’t care…anything church. We have a CD in our car and apt. don’t worry about it though… we’ll keep working on the members hahaha Granny gave a Tab-Choir CD – I opened it early hahah we were desperate. We love listening to it...it’s better than what we come up with ;)

So I should already be on your Skype system. I would just need to call you. I might have to create a new one but I’ll just find you…idk it’s not too tough. Our Stake President is letting us use his i Pads and we get to spend the day with their family. It’s pretty cool…I guess if Skype doesn’t work out…I can always just call :D …no matter what I just want to spend the holiday with my family! I can’t wait to hear you all and see how you are all doing! I miss you all like crazy. I have been thinking about everyone a lot this week for some reason and thinking about how lucky I am to have to you all. I am soooo soooo blessed. Mom, I always thought your letters were normal and everyone got them from their family… my companion doesn’t ever get anything from her family :/ It makes me sad… I feel bad now showing her my letters and things because she doesn’t get the same. You should send her a letter. Her name is Hermana Bojorquez :D

Grandma sent her a whole X-mas package :) so nice if her!! Tell gramps I just got his letter and card :) THANK YOU!!!!

We have only been getting little bits of the story in CT… thank for sharing that little story! Made me cry! I hope everyone there is doing well and I know this is going to be a tough Christmas for them this year. But I hope if anything they rely on the Savior and reach toward him for comfort.

Soooo Beaver! Oh man! This has been a week! I am exhausted!

Last P-day we spent allll day trying to find food hahaha we finally got everything we needed and then went home for an hour and fell sleep! We spent the night teaching lessons and also trying to find our referrals people are giving us. This week in the last 4 days…we got 30 referrals. We don’t know what to do with ourselves! Everyone expects us to contact them right away too so we had to tell our Ward Mission Leaders to cool their jets! We are finally done eating at the Christmas parties for dinner which is nice- so now we are going to members houses. Here in Beaver we cover 3 trailer parks… and lots of houses/fields. We officially have 3 progressing investigators who we are teaching and hopefully one of them will be baptized this Saturday! He is an 11 year old boy. He looooves coming to church and loves reading his BOM. He can read it better than I can! Our other investigators will be in the next month.

We are working with this lady right now who was excommunicated from the church and got into smoking and other things :/ but we are helping her quit smoking. When we got to her she was smoking a pack a day and now she is down to 2 a day. We are hoping she decides to completely stop by Christmas. Wouldn’t that be a great gift to her family? She wants to go back to the temple and be on the right path again… I hope to see her get there!

Sis B and I are the only ones here in Beaver…. Alone haha …when we have meetings we have to travels about 2 hours to get to other missionaries. Sis B and I are the only Sisters around which is a huuuuge change! We have about 5 Elder companionships in our district. And guess who is in the area next to mine?!?!? ELDER CAPTIAN!!! Hahaha small world. He is a great elder and picking up his Spanish really well. My Spanish however…..ahhhh…. its soooo hard and confusing! I think the Lord is helping me understand it because I get what they are saying but I can’t speak back to them! I am learning convo words and a prayer right now. One of our investigators made me say a prayer the other night and I was soooo nervous. It was bi-ling! Hahah I looove it here in Beaver… It’s a whole new kind of missionary work around here. I actually get to be part of my community and I get to know all the people around me. Everyone knows where we live because that’s the “missionary house” Its soooo different than St.George. We have spider friends and lots of other friends we don’t like haha it’s a very old building – but I love it! It keeps us warm! All the people here in Beaver are soooo excited to preach the Gospel – it’s a little crazy! We had a man who went up to someone and told him ‘I’ll be back in 2 weeks to baptize you!” … aaaaah what!? It doesn’t work like that! We had to have a training yesterday for our ward missionaries on how to talk to people and how to share the gospel without scaring the person. It’s kind of funny and all we can do is laugh about it…but really it’s making it a little difficult to talk to people. I hope soon my Spanish might kick in…even though I’ve never spoken it before :/ hahha its fun though!

Well family I hope everyone is doing well and loving the season. I hope you all get to spend time together. Don’t take it for granted!

I was reading in the bible the other day (Romans 12:3)  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

…this world is a crazy place these days! Everyone is starting to only think of themselves. Now more than ever we must think soberly of our selves… become humble and meek like little children and be an example to all those around us. In the New Ensign this month… there is a talk that Elder Perry gave in there he says…. If we are living next to our neighbors and living a life that doesn’t make them question or be curious… then we are not doing what we are suppose. Many people here in Utah don’t like looking at the church because people think too highly of themselves or they are hypocrites. It’s sad really. For those of you who hold a Temple Recommend… don’t be afraid to live it worthily! Don’t be a afraid to be different! Live a life that makes people question why you are happy? Why you are different? Why you are a good person. Be that example so many people need!

Love you like the Nephites (people of 3 Nephi) loved seeing the signs of Jesus Birth… It saved their life! And that’s HUGE! :D

xoxoxoxoxooxoxox

"Pit-Stop" town & one stop light...loving it!

Welcome to BEAVER... where there is one stop light, one grocery store and miiiiiles of farms :) ‏      12/10/12

Hello Family,

Yes I am in a "pit-stop" town. We have one stop light and one grocery store and A DOLLAR STORE :) woooohooo! We bought most of our stuff there today :) I have never seen so many horses and CATS in my life!!! We have a cat that lives on our car. So Sis Bojorquez and I got a brand new car with 100 miles on it- crazy! WE drove it up here and the other night we came out and the whoooole hood of our car had been clawed by this cat. We called our Car Director and he said SHOOT IT! hahaha we could not stop laughing. So our poor car is all sad looking now.

Wed. was our official first day in the area... and allll of our dinner appts have been the Christmas dinners :0 ooooh my! Not only do we eat the food but then they send us home with days’ worth. We had no need for grocery shopping this week. We have been full on meat and tators. Which by the way, is the only thing they eat around here. Groceries here are like shopping in Hawaii... it was a little depressing today trying to buy milk and bread and peanut butter. Milk is 4.99 and bread is 3.99 and PB is 5 something. You would think we were overseas!

 I have had squeaky cheese before...not here yet... and ice cream is everyone’s favorite around here so in the past 4 days I'm pretty sure I have gained 12lbs just from ice cream! Yesterday it was 19 and wind all day with flurries... it was COLD! I have one fleece blanket that I used in St George but here I think I’m going to need another one ;) I have to try and find a place first haha

Tell gramps and granny THANK YOU! I will try and write them too.

So Christmas.... I can call OR SKYPE! I would like to skype so I can see you all but if a call is all you can figure out ;) I am okay with that as well. Tell me when a good time would be for you and the family. I am on your time now with day lights savings. Let me know what you want to do. We have members here who are willing to help us out and are allowing us to use their phones and such :)

Mom, if you are sending stuff in a box like you usually do... can you throw in there my purple sweat pants that are in my closet. And if you can...in the mesh bag on top of closet.... in there is my good gloves and my head bands. We are told that everything is moving in the 15th and we just might get slammed for the month. I found boots on sale for $19 at Wal-Mart before I left St George soooo that is way good. I have been wearing them everywhere :) I think I am okay with the jackets that I have my suitcase is sooooo full so  I don’t think I can have any more clothes to try and transfer around.

Sooooo about my Christmas picture... there is NO place to plug in to even email one to you and the grocery store doesn’t even know what I’m talking about.
I will try and get that to you when I can. I was DEF spoiled in St George... I love it out here though, brings me back to what’s important instead of boats and cars.

Sis Bojorquez is my new companion. She is from Salt Lake and is teaching in Spanish. It’s amazing though... I can understand aloooot of things they say but I just can’t talk with them. I can have a small convo of how are you and such, but that doesn’t get me very far. I wish I would have learned it when I was in school. I pray that I get to stay out here up North for the majority of my mission. I love being able to do missionary work alll day. I loved the Visitor’s Center, but I love it out here more!

We have been trying to talk to everyone we possibly can since we are starting the area over and Sis. Bojorquez and I have officially found TWO new investigators that are ready to get baptized this month. WOOO HOOOO!

Well, more next week about Beaver :) Thank you for all that you do and that you do for me :D I loooove you all.

Mom, I love you like the people here love their new stop light ;) and that’s a looooot!

I hope next week we have more adventurous stories for you and maybe some baptism stories :)

Don’t forget what this season is really all about... it’s not about the gifts and toys.... it’s about families and being loved. You all our loved by your Heavenly Father and he wants you to be the happiest you can be. This is a time of service and love...think of those around you!

Xoxoxoxoox

Sister Larsen

Beaver, Utah... cows, ice cream, cheese & Spanish

Welcome to Utah... Where Sister Larsen has to learn SPANISH...FOR REAL THIS TIME! :)‏

12/03/12
Heeeelllllloooo!

 BIG changes around here... Sister Larsen will no longer be at the Visitor's Center in St. George!I have been transferred to BEAVER Utah. Where I will be "Pink-washing" and have to learn Spanish! I will be in a bi-Lingual area :) My comp is Spanish too. Her name is Sis Baroques(?) I think that is how you spell it :)  I will have a white Christmas!!!! :) woooohooooo! Just so you know... I will need to find boots today ;) .I’m am soooooo excited for a new adventure!!! Sooooo I WILL NOT be at the VC anymore as of now. I just wanted to call you and tell you :) ...but I have to wait. It will be a nice change ;)  It will be my companion and I and that’s it! :) ... apparently there is A LOT of pigs and Cows to teach ;) .... and a cheese factory with yummmy ice cream :) I’m going to be fat... Mexican food and Ice Cream :) hahaha I am not sure how long I will be out there, but nothing will change as far as mail :)

Sadly.... Sister Anderson and I have 6 new SOLID investigators that I have been dying to teach allll transfer. Sister A and I fasted for two particular people this past Sunday and then this morning... they called us separately and said they are ready to meet with us :D The power of the Lord is amazing!! But Sister A will have a great time teaching them. I hope that everything goes well for them :) ... it was reaaaaly sad to say goodbye to everyone :( I have been here so long I have made some pretty awesome friends! All the Ward Mission Leaders and Bishops were upset to see me go. It was a good feeling to know that they saw me as a worker and dedicated. The "Fields" now has a pretty high standard for missionaries. J

Other big News.... This past Friday we had a miracle baptism. We made our monthly goal of ONE by 4 hours :) ... We ran into this family and the dad said....where have you been?!? I have been waiting for you for two weeks! When are you going to baptize my daughter??? Sister A and I had no idea what to say we were stunned. We said well we would love to help with that, when can we start?  We Sat down right then and there and started teaching his daughter... we put her "on date" that night and then started to teach her every day after that. We had one week with her and she was baptized! It was soooo cool! JoDee is her name, she is sooo smart and always kept us on our toes. She asked us questions like " So Heavenly Father is our spirit dad...Who is Heavenly Fathers Father?" Or " ooookay so after we are resurrected and become perfect... What if in Heaven, My dad and I are out hunting and someone accidently shoots me... will I forever have that hole in my body?" haha It was sooo funny to hear her thoughts and see how her mind works. Every day we would go back...she would re-teach us what we taught her the day before. We teach adults that can’t even do that.

Heavenly Father has so many miracles up his sleeve. It’s amazing! This transfer has been a tough one for me learning how to find people and right when I leave... They all come... Lesson of patience? I think so.

I love missionary work!!! <3 <3

Sorry this is short... I don’t have much else to say... time to go pack J

I can’t wait to tell you all about my new adventures :)  I hope it lasts for a good while.

Mom and family... I love youuuuu like the Organic Peppermint Oreos from Trader Joes we got :) They were goooooood :)

 

Meeting President Uchtdorf!

Welcome to Utah... Where you just might see anyone!                    ‏                                             11/26/12

hiiiiiiiiii

 Got to spend the day at the temple today for P-Day :)

 Wellll it’s that time again…transfers are this upcoming week. When I said fields… That my area… I won’t be in Washington Fields anymore… sorry if that was confusing. I asked to be pulled out of my area and transfer me to another one. I have been in my area for a while and we have no one else we can talk to because they have all told me “no”. I am trying to leave my area to Sister Anderson and she can start the work all over again. I have been asking for a while now, but I’m not sure if it’s going to happen, I might go “full pros” which means that I wouldn’t be at THE VC anymore….well see what happens.

Mom, Sounds like you and grandma had waaaay too much fun together.

 Loooooooved the notes from everyone! It was so fun to read. Please thank everyone for me.
 I did get Paula’s card. Sooo fun to read. THANKS!

This week has been a roller-coaster… Siters Anderson and I have been spending way too much time together :/

 We both are stressed because we don’t have people to teach so we tend to argue a lot recently. I hate the feeling of being a good friend to someone and then all of the sudden it changing. I hope that once transfers come around that will help us both.

So Thanksgiving wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. We had a “healthy” Mexican breakfast. It was prepared by a personal trainer… hahaha. One of our members is on a “diet” …It was sooooo good.

Than we had our VC party and ate lots of food and watched BRAVE… it was kind of cute…but I fell asleep. Then we had a “district” activity and went to the member’s house, the one you got the pic from and we played games sat by a fire, etc… NO food involved! Hahaha we were all STUFFED! Even the Elders didn’t want food haha …most of them had to eat Mexican food all day so they didn’t want anything!

 It was probably the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in a while… since I’ve been away at school.

Wellllll Thursday was a good and bad day…. I don’t know what is in me… but ever since Thurs. I have been siiiick! I didn’t feel good at all but I kept working.

COOL STORY FOR THE YEAR!

 So Saturday since I was sick… I didn’t go to Brigham Young’s home to do tours, I stayed at the VC. Well we got word the President Uchtdorf was at the Temple. We all waited around to see what would happen. Well I went to the back of the VC and I ran into one of the security guards, we are good friends. He said hey Sister Larsen I want to introduce you to someone. It happened to be President’s grand-son. I got to be the one to take him around and show him the VC, he speaks English and German! As we were going around the VC we noticed there was a lot of people around…we realized it was a German bus. The only person in the building that knew German was him. So I asked him if he would help me and interpret for me… oh and he is 12! ;) So we went around and talked to the people. He was a rock star and answered all their questions and bore his testimony to them. He also gave out two Book of Mormons! He then had to go because his family was done at the temple…

About an hour later…. He walked back in with his mom! His mom was soooo happy and gave me a hug. She then asked me if I would go out and take their family photos for them …. Soooo guess who I got to meet?! Hugged Sister Uchtdorf, hugged some relatives aaaaand then I got to talk to President Uchtdorf! He personally thanked me for taking care of his grandson and allowing him to help me. He asked me where I was from and then thanked me for serving. WOW!!!! Talk about cool! It was so cool to see such a wonderful man of God. His whole family is juuuust wonderful and so pleasant. Some of the Sisters were acting as if he was a celebrity… which is toooootally NOT what he wants! I never felt like that towards him. I just couldn’t believe I was actually talking to him. It was such a peaceful and powerful moment.

I have thought about this experience a lot…. I’m not sure if I was cursed with being sick or blessed because I got to spend the day with such an amazing kid with such a powerful testimony! :) .... This story is better told in my journal so I will be sure to send it to you :) JUST THOUGHT YOUD LIKE TO KNOW :)

Not much else is going on around here in St George.

 Love you all like I loved seeing President Uchtdorf :)

 

 

 

 

Families of the missionaries…                                      11-25-12

We just had a wonderful evening at our home on Thanksgiving with all the missionaries in the district who came to visit. We thought you’d enjoy this picture of their district.

We love having missionaries over to our home. It brings such a great spirit here. It helps us to feel closer to our missionary son who is currently serving in Zimbabwe. 

Happy holidays,

The Stewarts

 

                                                                                   

Thanksgiving in St. George...How many turkey dinners can you eat in one day? :)

Welcome to Utah... Where Christmas comes before Thanksgiving                    ‏       11-21-12

Hellllo Hello.... feels like forever since I have written you. We had to switch our P-day for this week because of meetings.

So today is going to be a relaxing P-Day :)

Mom.... Looooooove the box! I loved everything in it. And I did find the $-- THANK YOU. Oooooh and the PJs are SWEEEET!!! :) Sis A was jealous! I will be wearing them to my Thanksgiving party too :) I can’t wait to see the family all together in the outfits. Sounds like a fun year planned.

I Caaaaaaaant wait to talk to you on Christmas.... :) I can’t wait to tell you about everything! I will see where I am and maybe we can find someone who will let us SKYPE. If I stay in the Fields there will be NO problem finding someone for that. I don’t think I will be here anymore though so I will have to play that all by ear. I think my time in the Fields are over, but I am not sure how the Lord feels about it.

If anyone wants to send me anything for Christmas. Tell them music ;), tights, or whatever they want. If they are going to send me a gift card... I would say either Target or Walmart is fine. We have both close and we tend to go to both often. That’s only if they want to :) I will be fine this year. I feel like I have a ton of stuff... but then I look at the other sister ;) haha

Thanks for sending the Forget-me -not picture! That was a good reminder for me.

Well Sister Larsen had one heck of a week! I have been going on a lot of ex-changes and Sister Muir and I got to be comps again ;) That was a blast! It so fun to be around those I served in the MTC with. I’m pretty sure after all the both of have been through... we are going to be friends for a long time :) I love serving with her.

This week we found the OLSEN twins! :) yeppp that’s right we are teaching Olsen twins in our area hahahah not the real ones but close ;) ... They are both Down Syndrome and hillllllarious! Sis A and I have a blast teaching them. They are not severe so they still qualify for baptism :)

Then last Tuesday...this lady called us and told us about her exchange student who will be here for a whole year. She asked us to bring over a German BOM for her to read... so we went over there and talked to the girl... She has really good English. She said I read the BOM with the family in English, but I really want to read the book for myself! ... Wellll there ya go! We are going over to her house tomorrow to have dinner with them and see if we can start to teach her ;)

 Then we went to go contact someone and the next door neighbor caught us and started talking to us. At first he was talking to us about life and asked us the typical questions about our lives. We asked him if there was anyone we could go and contact. He didn’t really have anyone, but at that moment his wife walks out and starts talking to us...he asked her if she knew anyone we could go and talk to... she gave us 4 people to go talk to. FOUR! We were so happy. J

We walked away and went and contacted the original house we went by for... as we were walking back to our car... the couple came out again and said Sisters... actually all those people we just gave you will be at our Thanksgiving. Come have dessert with us and teach the family. We will have 4 investigators for you there. We couldn’t say no... So there will be another house we will be visiting tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We hope we can start teaching at least one person we meet that night :)

Sunday night we had a meeting with one of Bishops and we talked about all the people in his ward and people that may be potentials for us to teach... we left really excited! We went out and found the houses ... we knocked on this door and this man answered he welcomed us in. Introduced us to his family and then sat us down...it was calm.... then all of the sudden he says, “Sisters where have you been?!" very upset like. We looked at each other and said...uuuh well we have been here in the fields... what do you mean?  He said I have been waiting for you to come over for TWO weeks now! When are you going to baptize my daughter?! ... oook so if you don’t remember- Sister Anderson and I haven’t had anyone to teach for the past 4 weeks.... so we looked at each other and said well when would you like her to be baptized? He said yesterday!  He is a convert so none of his kids were baptized and so he was referring to his 9 yr old daughter. He said she knows all the lessons so do what you have to do and then baptize her.

So there it is... The Lord just handed us someone to teach :) That night we spontaneously came up with a lesson and taught her about baptism of course and then asked her to be baptized this month. This is such a miracle!

So we know have 2 people on date for baptism for Nov 30th :) I hope I get to see both of these kids get baptized before I leave the Fields! That would be so awesome!

This week was such a growing experience for me and taught me more (again) about patience and how I just need to give everything to the Lord and NOT STRESS.... I am such a stressful person and I hate it. Letting things go to the Lord is so huge!

Ooooh and I had a crazy dream this week :/ ... I had a dream that I got sent home but I still had my name tag on. It was like I teleported to the house. Except it wasn’t your house you have now... it was a random house. I was so confused why I was home. But I was walking around and I figured well I don’t really know why I am home but now that I am I should enroll back  in school and get things going again. So I went to school and got a new ID...under my name it said "Sister" ...I thought whaaat how did they know I was a Sister?! What is going on? .... well then I found myself hanging out with friends and doing all these crazy things... and we found ourselves at an ELLEN show and I was having fun but I knew I was still a Sister and I couldn’t figure out why I felt so funny. I couldn’t figure out why I felt like a Sister still.... then all of the sudden three men walked into the ELLEN show and came and got me. One of them said to me "You know you’re not supposed to be here." I just broke down and started crying uncontrollably and I said I know! I don’t even know why I am here! Why did I get sent home?! Why am I here?! and and then he walked away ... I followed him to the car and so these three Elders and I were in this car driving away... and out of no where... the man spoke to me and said... sometimes, the Lord teaches us in unusual ways... and then he disappeared and I woke up... I woke up to the middle of the night not knowing what just happened. I was scared and weeping. I couldn’t go to sleep for the rest of the night because I couldn’t figure out what the dream meant. Why would that happen? Why would I have a dream like that? I have never had a dream like that! It was so real.

That is my biggest fear while being on a mission is being sent home. We have had several people this transfer go home. I know I won’t do anything to get sent home, but that dream was crazy.

Well family.... I miss you lots and I hope you know I pray for you always.

Buddy, you’re a stud. I want to see pics of the pizza oven!  Good for you! I hope you aren’t working too hard and are spending time with that little girl of yours. Got any new things going on? Any new pics??

Leah… How are you? How are the girls? How is school going for Miss B? I hope you are feeling better each day and staying busy with your photo shoots. J So happy you are back to doing that!

Well I gots to go.... time to go play ;)

Mom... I love you like our 50 lbs turkey we have for dinner tomorrow :) annnnnd allll the pies :) that’s a ton!

xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxox

 SISTER LARSEN

 

 

Eating Ethiopian Food in St. George

Welcome to Utah... Where I get to eat Ethiopian Food?                     ‏                                       11/12/12

Hiiiiiiii (with some chattering teeth)

Loooooove loooove the weather outside. It is cool and the nights get really cold. We have had some snow but it’s been specs. All of our mountains have snow on them. It’s a pretty sight. Up north it got slammmmed. I am soo jealous...I want to see Flagstaff!

oooo I can’t wait to see what’s inside my box! :) ...thank you. Grandma sent me another one too. She keeps sending me things that are year supply status... I think she thinks I’m starving around here ;) hahaha I loooove all the goodies she puts in there though and so do my sisters :)

Stake conference sounded like it was pretty awesome!!! Lucky you to hear from those special men of God. Elder Holland is a funny man. He was here not too long ago.

Sister Larsen’s week:

 Monday (last P-day) Sister Anderson and I almost got rear-ended :/ soooo scary we had to pull over and say a prayer because we didn’t. St. George drivers are craaaazy :/

Than on Tue .... So on Sunday we gave a ward our rides/dinners list and we needed a ride for Tuesday morning at 10 am ...we got a call Tuesday at 8 am saying we didn’t get a ride for today... Whhhaaat?? aghhh that’s really tough for us because our area is 7 miles away from where we live. So when we don’t have rides it makes it difficult for us to get into our area. Well last week one of our members told us we could borrow their bikes anytime we wanted. Scoooore! So we got creative!! Stopped our studies and went to find helmets... grabbed a senior sister missionary and asked her to take us to our area and drop us off. For the rest of the day we got on bikes and off we went. LET ME TELL YOU! Riding a boy bike in a skirt + wind = difficult. I picked out a pretty great bike it was perfect for me and the seat was soft. Sister A didn’t choose so well and her bike was messed up (didn’t find till after riding) AND the seat was hard! So the whole time she was complaining about her bike. I jumped off mine gave her mine and I jumped on hers. The seat was wicked! aaagh I have been riding bikes for how long now?? I had such a hard time but I just kept going. We went 5 hours on this bike and about 4-5 miles around. ...we finished our day in our area and I hopped off the bike and could NOT walk :/ my bum hurt sooo bad. We started walking home, hoping to find someone to give us a ride back and low and behold Sister Murray drives out of her street and sees us... she says what are you doing and why are you walking?? We said we were walking home ha-ha...she said no way Jose! Get in! .... So we got our ride home :) ...she even bought us lunch. The Lord loves us and blesses us :)

Thursday we got to eat dinner at the Stucki family home. They have 8 kids from Ethiopia :) .... they cooked all day long and cooked us authentic food! It was sooooo good! Everything is lentil based and is fulllll of FIBER! hahahah JUST WHAT I NEED! :D it was the best meal I have had since I have been here :)

Our area is dying down more and more each day BUT Sis Anderson and I are still working hard to find people to teach. This week was a tough one for me - I hit a wall (mental block) and for some reason I just wasn’t able to function in the area. I think because I have been here for so long and have talked to everyone that we possibly can ... I just broke down. It was a tough moment for me and I wasn’t sure how to get out of it. I got a blessing and everything in the blessing was just what I needed. The things that came out were directed just at me. Now I know that’s what blessings are for, but it was just a different kind of blessing. I know that the more and more I am out here I will see what the Lord really wants me to do. I think day by day I can see my purpose. I just have to push forward and not give up :)

One of investigators... he is a spoiled kid and gets everything he wants. He only cares about himself and doesn’t care about other people’s feelings. It’s really sad. We have been teaching him about faith and how it can grow and how we need to take action. We asked him what are some of the things Faith can lead us to do.  We then talked about how when we have faith it leads us to do good things for others and our self. He then told us how he got kicked out of his class because he cussed out his teacher for telling him not to text anymore... ooooh boy! That didn’t really make mom happy so along with faith we added that faith leads us to be obedient. When we are obedient we can see the good and in the end our faith strengthens...this sounds crazy/ confusing I know...  But anyways in the end we made a deal ...we said if he stopped texting in class for the whooole day we (sis A and I) wouldn’t wear make-up for a whole week. It’s a sacrifice and we are learning how to be obedient. He agreed! hahaha Sis A is crazy and I can’t believe we are really going do it! So this whole week are NOT wearing any makeup and praying that he learns to be obedient :) haha  yeeeah for 10 more min in the morning?! hahaha

Today for P-day we went hiking again in  "Snow Canyon" it was a beautiful place! Lots of red rock and lava rock :)

 Well St George is great place to be! I love being out here and I love meeting all the people.

I still never would have thought I would meet these types of people. There are some pretty amazing people that walk in the doors of our VC. I have talked to people from all walks of life. I talked to this lady the other day that came from an LDS family but got into drugs and now it trying to get her life back on track. It was really cool to hear her story and help strengthen her for one more day. She told me she didn’t want to come in because she was feeling bad but she knew she needed to... she kept fighting herself and finally she said I walked in the VC because I didn’t want to let myself use.... I wanted to stay clean for just more one day. I spent about 45min with her and just talked... many tears were shed and in the end she walked out feeling like she could go out and be a better her. I think this is one of the reasons why I am here at a VC... People just come to me and I never know what to say to them...but I listen. I listen to what they have to say and I am there for support.

The spirit of our Heavenly Father is sooo strong and works miracles. Anything is possible if we allow them to.

Many times prayer can feel like you’re just talking to a wall. But I know that our Father really does listen and he will answer... we just need to give him the time and the chance to.  All He wants for us to be is happy... If we can let go of ourselves for just a moment... we can see all that is around us. There may be bad in the world right now... but I promise you that there is a lot of reaaaallly good too!

Family I love you! I hope you know I pray for you always :)

 Holidays are a little weird this year buuut I know I still have a huge family around me :) Sis A and I have SEVERAL appointments for Thanksgiving: 0 we are going to be FAT!

I don’t know where I’ll be for Christmas...Transfers are the 4th of December.

Thanksgiving we have a HUGE party at the VC :)

Mom...thank you thank you for the package :)

I love you.... like I loved riding my bike ;) hahahahaha

PS...IM GETTING A HAIR CUT TODAY!!!! :) I can’t wait!

Sister Larsen