Thanksgiving.....Liver?

Wow what can I say? Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico was quite the adventure!! Well I guess I should start from the beginning.

So last Tuesday we had a tri(that means 3)zone conference with the area President of the area, Elder Gonzalez. It was so fun to be able to see some of my friends and past companions that are serving in the Toa Baja and San Juan zones. We were taught about following the example of Christ and teaching people as individuals, but still testifying of the Restoration of the gospel. After the zone conference we had a couple hours until all of the STLs and zone leaders were to meet and the mission home to have another meeting with Elder Gonzalez, so we decided to go on splits with the sisters in Trujillo Alto. It was great! It rained the entire time and we looked slightly homeless by the end, but I enjoyed my contacting experience with Hna Garcia!

I just thought it was really cool that I was able to be in two meeting with a general authority! It was something that I will never forget and I learned so much that I wish I could have known at the beginning of my mission!!

Ok so Thanksgiving. Here it is really common for people to eat a Thanksgiving lunch instead of a Thanksgiving dinner. Well we ate thanksgiving lunch at the house of a cute little less-active members house and then later that night we decided to go visit one our investigators where we were then fed thanksgiving dinner. Hahaha ok so for dinner our 'gator' was explaining all of the typical Puerto Rican food that she had prepared and she mentioned a dish that I had no idea what it was. Well me being the curious person I am, decided to try it. Have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat? So yes we pray and start to eat and I realized that what I had served myself was LIVER. Yes, you read that right. I had given myself a good helping of Liver. Well our investigator sits across the table from me and tells me that she hopes that I love it and that she is known for her liver-dish.....friends, I had to give all of my effort to eat all of it!!! The rest of the food was delicious but I will never forget my Thanksgiving '"Liver" in PR!!

I hope you all had a great Turkey day and that you stay warm!!!

Les amo mucho!!

Hna Larsen

Transfers!!

Buenos Dias!!

This week I arrived at my new area, Guayama, and started working my Hna Keith. It has been an adventure to say the least. I have so much to learn about the members, the investigators, the area, and how to be a STL. It's a good thing that my comp. is so patient!!

I had to say goodbye to my trainer last week which was sad but I'm really happy for her. I'm sure that her family is really happy to have her home! I also had to say goodbye to Hna Tirado but I'm now her STL so I will still be able to see and work with her!

The members in Guayama are awesome and I know now why this area is known as Zion! They love the missionaries and they work so well with us. I'm really excited to spend the next part of my mission here!

So this week is Thanksgiving and I've been thinking of all the things that I am thankful for. The list is too long to write out, but here's a few.

I'm thankful:

To be a missionary for la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los últimos días here in Puerto Rico.

For the restored gospel

For the atonement and the chance to repent and become better

For my cute companion and her superhuman patience.

The Leaders of my mission and of the church.

And for My family and all of their support and sacrifices.

Feliz dia de pavo/acción de gracias/thanksgiving!!

Hna Larsen

(Mom note:  This email has been translated from its original Spanglish format. Some words were intentionally left in Spanish because I think she meant to do those!)

Caguas

Last day in Caguas with Hermana Tirado

Saying goodbye to Hermana Garcia, my trainer

Me, Hermana Keith, Hermana Allan

First Sunday with Hermana Keith

Is this Real Life?

This week has been an exciting one but I just skip to the good stuff! Last night was our transfer calls right? Well I was sooo nervous because I knew that I would probably be leaving. I managed to make it through the entire work day without having an emotional break-down (I really love my area) but as we were starting our nightly planning session, the phone rang. I looked down to see that it was President Boucher! My companion and I began playing a game of "hot potato", passing the phone back and forth, trying to convince the other to answer the phone. Finally Hna Tirado answered the phone and shortly afterwards she passed it to me. Well I have been called to be a sister-trainer leader  in Guayama!!! I'll still be in the same zone which means I'll be able to visit Caguas during exchanges!

I'm so grateful for my time with the Caguas ward and I have learned so much! The members here are amazing and I will never forget them!! I'm still really nervous but I know that the Lord will provide a way for me and that my time in Guayama will be a great experience!

I hope you all have a great week and that you remember to help the missionaries! (That means more than just feed them, mom)

Here some pictures from my week!

my abuela

My going away dinner from Elba

My going away cake from Elba

District photo

Lizmyra and Helen Lebron

Hna Caraballo

Elba and Marcos 

Elba and Marcos

One Year Down!

So for Halloween last week my companion and I decided to decorate pumpkins, right? Well about half-way through this process I noticed that my companion was using a lot of Yellow and white paint. After about 30 minutes of painting her pumpkin, Hna Tirado looks up at me triumphantly and declares "Mira, es usted!". Sure enough she had painted an Hna Larsen Pumpkin, it looks just like me!!

As the title of this email explains, I've officially been out for one year!! Wha, what? I'm actually kind of sad about it!! Here is a list of a couple things I have learned is this last year:

#1 The celestial language, aka Spanish. If you don't believe that Spanish is the celestial language just ask any Latino missionary and they will tell you off.

#2: To love eating rice.... lots and lot of rice.

#3: How to live with a companion 24/7.

#4: How the gospel changes lives.

#5: To consider Crocs as socially acceptable footwear.

#6: Patience....haha yeah I'm still working on that one!

#7: How to love the people here with my entire being.

Like I said, I'm sad that I only have 6 months left but I'm also really excited to see what else I will learn from the people of PR. Here's a couple pictures from my Halloween experience and of my one year mark.

Feliz Lunes!!

Hna Larsen

Hermana Larsen pumpkin

Feliz dia de Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!! 

For all of you who do not already know this (cough cough Katie) PR does in fact celebrate Halloween. Today we had an activity with our zone where we went and played soccer and ate pizza, it was great!!! While we were out frolicking around on the soccer field, one of the elders saw an iguana and so naturally he had to go try and tame it. He was unsuccessful but he did manage to pick it up and one of the animal rescue workers that was in the park with us helped me hold it.... I was terrified and trying really hard not to drop it. I will never attempt to hold an iguana ever again but I can now check off "take a picture with an iguana" from my bucket list.

This week we were able to see many miracles and find a lot of old investigators from missionaries who have served here in the past. One lady told us that she had been really looking forward to getting baptized but that the missionaries never came back to teach her. I'm really excited to see how this next week goes!! 

Feliz dia de Halloween a todos and eat lot of candy for me!!

Hna Larsen

La Gran Caida (The Great Fall)

Buenos Dias!!!

Every 3rd Thursday of each month we have to do 3 hours of service to the house where we are living. Well last Thursday it was our turn to clean the screens and windows. Simple, right? I know that compared to my companion I appear to be a giant, but my 5'5ft self was unable to reach the top of the 6ft windows. I had the brilliant idea to stand on top of a metal chair because we don't own a ladder. I failed to take into consideration that my shoes were wet and as I was reaching on my tip-toes to clean the top of the windows, my foot slipped and I went tumbling down. The actual fall didn't hurt me but I did get a pretty bad bruise from the chair that was mixed in there!

This week our investigator Anna Maria accepted a baptismal date and she came to church with us yesterday!! She's actually our neighbor and she's in a wheel chair so we left early yesterday to help get her ready and then we wheeled her to church. She loved it!

Here's some pictures of the sisters in my zone, cleaning day, 

as well as a picture of my attempt to make "home-made" brownies.... yeahhhh box brownies and store bought frosting just aren't the same!

Tengan Buenos dias!! 

Buenas Tardes!!

I really wish that it was acceptable to walk around in bright colored rain boots, it would just make my life 10x more comical!! So yes, there is a hurricane in some part of the ocean and it has caused us to receive a little bit (aka a lot) of rain!! It's great fun!!

This week was really great!! We had to get creative but we were able to find new investigators and they want to keep their commitments and everything!! It's amazing how the Lord works!! I'm not going to lie, I was terrified to start fresh with basically no one to teach! Monday night we had a FHE with some recent converts and I felt discouraged because we had no investigators to invite. As we were talking to the sister whose house we were at, I noticed one of her neighbors was outside. I felt impressed to ask the sister about her neighbor. She explained that this neighbor is passing through a hard time and then turned to me and said "Let's go visit her together on Wednesday!". Well Wednesday came around and we had a very spiritual lesson and she even accepted to be baptized!! I'm super stoked!!!

We had a mission reunion this morning and we were able to share our testimonies and thoughts about general conferences and I was able to see all of my companions and friends!! So I hope you enjoy the pictures from that!! But yes that's basically the gist of my week and I hope you enjoy the rest of yours!!

Les amo!!