Conference Weekend

Buenos Dias!!!

This week was full of the usually ups and downs of the missionary life!

Ups: We had General Conference and I was able to see a couple friends

from Utah!! I loved the conference and I was able to receive a lot of

answers that I have been seeking.

Downs: we had to drop all of our investigators and start from

scratch... this week will be a great week of contacting!! I know that

by doing this we will be blessed and led to the people who are willing

to accept us and listen to our message. I know I should be worried for

this week but I'm actually really excited to see how it goes!!

Here's some of the pictures from this weekend!! I hope you enjoy the

rest of your Monday!!

Friends from Utah

The District

Dual Survival

Well this week was an adventure!! The power for the entire Island went out due to an accident in one of the main power plants. Some areas only had to go with out light for 24 hours but we had the joy of going without light and water for 3 DAYS!! Yeah everything in our house is electric so I felt like I was on one of those survival shows that my brother always watches!! We had to find our our food (aka walk to Costco) for lunch and dinner for those three days and we lost everything in our freezer. It's also the end of the month and we're super poor so I think this weeks theme will be "the hunger games". During those days without light we were able to see the stars so clearly, it was amazing. I learned that I can live without power and water but I will be perfectly fine if I never have to live that experience again!!

Today we had an awesome activity with the sisters in my zone. We went to a nature reserve and had a scavenger hunt and then went out for lunch. We focused on the importance of "opening our months" and preaching the gospel and also what Elder Uchtdorf spoke on during the women's conference (which was awesome and I think everyone should go read his talk). But yeah that's basically me week in a wrap!! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week and that you never take running water and power for granted, it's a wonderful thing!!

Les amo!

Dual Survival

Well this week was an adventure!! The power for the entire Island went out due to an accident in one of the main power plants. Some areas only had to go with out light for 24 hours but we had the joy of going without light and water for 3 DAYS!! Yeah everything in our house is electric so I felt like I was on one of those survival shows that my brother always watches!! We had to find our our food (aka walk to Costco) for lunch and dinner for those three days and we lost everything in our freezer. It's also the end of the month and we're super poor so I think this week's theme will be "the hunger games". During those days without light we were able to see the stars so clearly, it was amazing. I learned that I can live without power and water but I will be perfectly fine if I never have to live that experience again!!

Today we had an awesome activity with the sisters in my zone. We went to a nature reserve and had a scavenger hunt and then went out for lunch. We focused on the importance of "opening our months" and preaching the gospel and also what Elder Uchtdorf spoke on during the women's conference (which was awesome and I think everyone should go read his talk). But yeah that's basically my week in a wrap!! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week and that you never take running water and power for granted, it's a wonderful thing!!

Les amo!

Trials

These last couple weeks my companion and I have been studying the attributes of Christ. We decided that in the transfer we want to strengthen the attributes of Obedience and Diligence, not because we're disobedient but because we know that blessings always come after we demonstrate our obedience. Lately, it seems like every time we start to have success something happens and our diligence and obedience is put to the test. Sometimes the Lord allows us to be tried so that we can become stronger more refined.

This week we saw a miracle! This man that we had contact last Friday accepted a baptismal date for the 8th of October! We have a lot of work on our hands but he really loves the gospel and he's willing to change his life.

We also had Stake conference and my comp and I took a couple selfies ;) It's not really a mission meeting if you don't take at least one picture haha.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand... or forgot her umbrella at home!

This week we have been working on trying to find new investigators and working with the members. People are more receptive to the gospel when they are hearing it from their friends and family and so that has been my main focus in this week, helping the members share the gospel. I never really understood how important members are in missionary work before I left and now I see that they are EVERYTHING.

Also yesterday we left in a hurry and accidently left our umbrellas at home. Well it rained, and rained, and rained and we got soaked!! Luckily we were able to run to the house of our mission leader and help his wife with her family history. It was a great experience and we ended up having a really nice lesson with them. But I learned a great lesson!! I will never again leave the house without my umbrella!!

Also here are some pictures from a mission meeting that we had last week! I was able to run into to some of my other companions and take a 3 generation picture with my trainer and my "daughter".

Well yep that about sums it up!! I hope you all have a great Monday!!

Hna Larsen

Crickets...

Quote from Mary's brief email "This week was pretty normal and I don't have anything too profound to share haha."

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