WE'RE BASICALLY TWINS!!

So yes I received my "daughter" on Tuesday and we look so much alike...if I was a 4'7 Guatemalan!! My new companion is Hna Tirado and I have the pleasure of training her. Luckily she knows a little bit on how to be a missionary already because she served in Guatemala for two transfers while she was waiting on her Visa. She did tell me that she doesn't understand the people/language her which is funny because she's the native Spanish speaker in this companionship. Well it's a good thing that I speak the native language of PR, Spanglish!!

She's super little and I feel like a giant next to her. I've never really felt like I was super tall before, I kind of like it!! A little girl asked me if she was my "nena"... technically yes because I am her trainer!! She's so excited to get out and work, her attitude is contagious. She speaks absolutely no English but I know that my Spanish will improve a lot because of my time with her.

Haha some examples of Puerto Rican Spanish:

if anything ends in "ado" they pronounce it "ow". So if someone is busy they say that they are "ocup'ow". If a word has a double "R" in it they pronounce it like "ho" so if someone is talking about their car, they're talking about their "ca'ho". It's great fun.

This week was really stressful but so far we've had a lot of fun and I'm excited to see what these next 11 weeks of training have to bring!!

Les amo!!

Hermana Larsen

I AM GOING TO BE A MOM!!

We got transfer calls yesterday...I'm going to train!! For those of you who don't know, we call our trainers "mom" so hence the subject line. I'm so excited and so nervous but it will be ok. There's only two new sisters coming into the mission, one American and one Latina. I still don't know which one will be my "hija" but I'll find out tomorrow. My companion was called to be a sister trainer leader in San Juan with my trainer so I'm really excited for her and I know they'll both do great!!

This week it was really hot...like REALLY, REALLY, HOT. I thought that August was the only super hot month and then a member informed me that September is just as intense but then it gets better in October. I can make it that long, right?

We took our district picture this week and I also took pictures with some of the member and investigators that we have here.

I hope everyone is doing great and that you guys are enjoying the air conditioning!!

Les amo,

Hna Larsen

August 15 2016

Last week I sent a story about a lady that we have been teaching, right? Well after we were done writing, my comp and I decided that we were going to work  on being domestic and that we would attempt to bake/cook. Yeahh I still don't know what possessed us but we just really wanted to make lemon cupcakes and chocolate peanut butter fudge... so we did! With just the two of us in the house we figured that it would be a terrible idea if  we ate 20 cupcakes and a whole pan of fudge all by ourselves so we decided to take some of it to our investigator Sylvia (the lady from the story last week). We didn't catch her in the house but we did give leave our plate of goodies with her daughter. Well later that night we got a text from Sylvia saying that she was so touched by our generosity and that she will be coming to church with us on the 21!! We went to see her again yesterday and after the lesson she accepted to be baptized!!! Cupcakes=Baptisms.

This week has been fantastic and I can't believe how fast my time here is going by!! I hope everyone has a great week and here's some pictures of me and my comp from zone conference!

Hump Day!!

Thursday was my Hump day and to celebrate I got to wait in Doctor's and Dentist's offices all day!! It wasn't all bad because I did run into my trainer while I was in the mission home and I just love her. At the end of the day we found out that I have TMJ dysfunction which has been causing a bunch of random, seemingly unrelated, problems.

Something that really touched me this week was how much of an impact charity can have on people. On Friday I was visiting an investigator who has been having a really hard time and I grabbed her hand and told her that I loved her. She broke down and started crying. She told me that she couldn't remember the last time someone had told her that they loved her. It really touched me what an impact 3 little words can have on a person.

I love the people here and I'm really sad that I only have 9 months left with them!! I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you remember to say "I love you" more often!!

Here is an email that Hermana Larsen received from a friend that returned from serving in her mission in January:

Hola Mija!!

I want to share with you an experience that has happened to my mom the other week and I bet your probably just like why is she about to tell me this..

You will know why in just a few minutes

So my mom and dad took some family friends out to dinner and when my mom went to go pay, she pulled our her debit card to pay, the restaurant only excepted cash and checks! my mom was so furious and she left her check book at home...As my mom was trying to think of ways to come up with cash in her purse, and old man behind her politely said I will pay for it..The awesome Man payed. My mom decided to get the mans information so that she can be able to send him a money to pay him back, so when my mom was going so, the man called my mom and said thank you, and that he didn't think she would really pay him back.  Then they started to get to know each other. My mom mentioned me and that i served a mission and the nice man said where did she serve, and my mom said PUERTO RICO...my mom told me that over the phone he heard the nice man had a change of tone in his voice as if he was trying to hold back on something, and he asked when did i return and my mom said in January, and the man said My grand daughter is serving there right now she left in november, and so your gramps called out to your grandma and told her about it!!  

hermana Larsen! the world is getting smaller! and i just bursted out in tears when my mom told me the story and had told me his granddaughter is hermana larsen! i told my mom i was there when you started your mission! I miss you and i am forever grateful for you and your family!! always looking out for us. haha 

We're Not Going to Fry It!

Lately me and my comp have been playing this really fun game with the food people give us called "We're not going to fry it". We take food that you are expected to fry, and we try baking, toasting or boiling it.... It's been an adventure and so far it's worked out 90% of the time! This week we took alcurporia (I have no idea how to spell it), which tastes great when fried, and we baked it... It didn't turn out great but now we know! We also received a pana (only found in PR) and we boiled it and prepared it like you would a mashed potato and it turned out great!!!

We had a couple people warn us of a storm which we slightly ignored because it rains almost every day here. Yeahhhh they weren't kidding, It rained and rained and rained yesterday and I'm sending a picture of me and my comp getting ready to face the storm haha.

Other than that, life has been really good lately and I LOOOOOOVE my mission, It seriously is such a great experience! Have a great week and enjoy this next little bit of summer!!

Study/Journal Entry:

Yesterday for intercambios yesterday I stayed here while Hna Beutler went to the sister trainer leaders' area.  We had all of these great set plans for yesterday and it was supposed to be very stress free and we were supposed to have a bunch of great lessons with members, but a half an hour before the sister trainer leaders got to our house, everything fell through and everyone cancelled on us.  I just had to trust that there was a bigger plan at play here and that Hna Keith wouldn't mind contacting all day with me.  I started out the day looking for a reference that the Zone Leaders had given us.  They forgot to write down the exact address but they told me more or less where the street was and that she lived on the 2nd story of a gray house...  There were 4 houses on that street that fit the description and I contacted ALL of them and still couldn't find them.  While we were looking for the house we were able to find and help a woman who was fighting with her husband.  That must have been the reason were were lead out there. Later we had an appointment with someone but we got there early and she still wasn't home.  We decided to say a prayer and go contacting.  We prayed specifically that we could find a family and we set out with faith.  Everyone rejected us until we got to the final house.  We saw a young mom with her 4 year old son playing inside and to our surprise, they warmly welcomed us in and let us teach them.  She told us that she had just moved into the area and hadn't settled into a church yet.  We shared a message with her about how families can be together forever and then invited her to church which she accepted.  She also let us set a return appointment.  Haha it was really sad when we were leaving because her son was begging his mom to ask us to stay and play hide-and-seek with him and he started to get teary-eyed when she told him that he couldn't play with us because we had to go help other people and he had to finish eating his potatoes.  It broke my heart!!  I feel confident that we completed the plan that God had made for us.  What's that saying?..."We make plans and God laughs"  Yes that is the theme of not only my mission but of my life!

July 25, 2016

So this week has been really good!! We found 8 new investigators and we were able to find a new place that hasn't been TOO overly contacted by the past missionaries of Caguas and it's right by a Krispy Kreme's so I think it will work out great for us haha. We also had zone meeting and we learned more about how we can work more effectively with the members which I loved because members really are the key to missionary work. We were able to talk to President Boucher and one thing that he told me and my comp. that I really liked was that as missionaries we are here to help the members do their part in la obra misional.

 

So yesterday was Pioneer day I guess and I totally forgot until 9:30 last night when I was getting ready for bed. Haha ohhh well I guess we'll just have to do something super fun next year to make up for my lack of pioneer spirit ;). OH! so we have been working with an investigator that is super chevere! She has 4 little kids and the 5 of them came to an activity that we had at the chapel a month ago but she hasn't been able to make it to church on Sunday since then. Well we called her up on Saturday and asked her if it would be alright if we should up to her house on Sunday morning to help get her kids ready for church. She agreed and was really excited. Yesterday we left the house early and walked the 30 mins to her house in the already blazing heat just to find her house completely locked up. We could her people inside but no one would come answer the door and our investigator wouldn't answer her phone. It was very discouraging and we had to call around to find a member who would be willing to come and grab us on the way to the church which resulted in us being late. It was an adventure but if she's not ready to accept our message right now, there's someone else out there who will.

Study/Journal Entry:

Mosiah 24

I love a lot of things about this chapter and it's a great example of the power of prayer. The first thing that the people of Alma did once they were taken into captivity was to start to "Clamar Ferarosamente a Dios" After they were commanded not to pray out loud, they continued to pray in their hearts.  God heard their prayers but instead of taking away their burdens he helped his people carry them.  He did this as a test of their faith and patience.

Alma 1

In this chapter the church is undergoing heavy persecutions by those who do not belong to the church.  There were many members who were puffed up in pride and chose to contend with those who were persecuting them.  Eventually these people ended up falling away from the church.  This chapter is a good example in how we should choose to respond to persecutions and it's with HUMILITY.  We need to focus on being examples of Christ, helping the needy, feeding the hungry, and sheltering those who have no shelter.  We will come out the better for it.

Alma 2

The 2nd half of this chapter really stood out to me because it shows us that the Lord will always strengthen his people.  All we have to do is ask in faith.  The numbers of the Laminites and Amlicites is compared to the sand of the sea when the Nephites saw the Lamanite/Amlicite army marching towards them and they chose to turn to God. While Almas was battling Amlici he turned to the Lord again and prayed aloud for their faith and obedience they were given the strength to overcome their enemies.  Hoy en dia.  We are not necessarily fighting a physical war but when (not if) our trials come, if our first response is to turn to our Father in prayer, we will be given the strength to overcome our challenges.  This goes along really well with Philippians 4:13 which says: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".  Alone we are weak but with the strength of the Lord our strength is endless.

July 18, 2016

This dog was bigger than me!!

Hey so this week has been really hard but a really good learning experience.

There was another set of sisters living in the house with us but they took out the other companionship with this last transfer. It's been really lonely in the house without them but at the same time there's a lot less stress on Monday's and when we have to set up rides and appointments. Our area is sooo big.  Now we not only have our own investigators to worry about but the investigators of the other sisters and all the references that we have be receiving from the Elders... We have been very busy this week!!

So something fun that happened this week is that a member took us out to eat tripletas which are giant sandwiches with 3 types of meat, potatoes sticks, and fry sauce inside. I highly recommend them, they're delicious! You might gain an insane amount of weight but it's totally worth it!!

I'm doing great and I'm really loving my area. The members are so willing to come out and teach with us, give us rides, and give us food.... It's great!!

Study/Journal Entry

Purification Process

This week I read a talk that was given to the missionaries a couple weeks before I arrived in Puerto Rico.  It describes the story of a missionary who realized that he would like to better himself in such a way that when he spoke the Spirit would fill the room.  After seeking council from his leaders he realized that there were several little things that he was doing that could be offending the Spirit.  He was told to pray and to fast and think of a list of things that he wanted to change.  After doing so he spent 40 days trying to avoid doing the things that were keeping him from having the full companionship of the Holy Ghost.  After reading this talk I realized that there are several things that I am doing that are keeping me from having more spiritual lessons.  I decided to follow the example of this missionary and pray, fast and list the things that I am doing that I feel are offending the Spirit.  I absolutely love the talk by Elder Larry R. Lawrence from the October 2015 conference called "What Lack I Yet?" He teaches us that we need to be constantly seeking and fixing that in our lives that is hindering us from progressing.  I know that these next 40 days won't be easy but by the end I will be a more patient, charitable and focused missionary.  I will be able to have the Spirit more strongly in my lessons and in my life.

Here are a couple of pictures of me frolicking in the forest!

July 11, 2016

WE'RE STAYING TOGETHER!! So Hna Beutler and I have been praying really hard for the last week or so that the Lord will allow us to stay together and it worked!! We have one more transfer together in Caguas!! They took out both the other sisters that were here with us so it will be a little lonely in our house but I'm so excited!!! Nothing too amazing happened this week, I mean miracles happen every day but it would take me wayyy to long to write them all out. We did catch the little mouse that has been plaguing our house for the last week. I hate mice. So Gross. But yes, everything is going great! We're really hoping to have two reactivations this month with the less-active members that we have been working with and than hopefully another baptism as well!!