Chapter 21: Meagan finally gets her big break!!

Hello Everyone!

Well, this week has been nothing if not eventful. But I'll start with the most exciting news first.

Ting Ting got baptised yesterday!!!!!! It was so awesome, especially since it was my first baptism since coming out on my mission. It was early in the morning and it was POURING rain outside, to the point where she probably could have been baptised in a puddle, but it was wonderful. During the first hymn she started crying and I asked her what was wrong. She only said, "I'm so happy!" Oh man, it was just awesome. She got confirmed less than an hour later and she was just glowing the whole day. I really felt like a missionary at that moment, remembering the first time we met her and also being able to see a different future for her, had we not stopped to talk to her on the street one day. IT WAS SO COOL! :)

Me and my companion and Ting Ting, and all of us with Elder Baird, who baptised Ting Ting

The other major event: On Wednesday night, after nightly planning, I started chasing my companion down the stairs in our flat, because she was being annoying. I tripped on the last step and fell and my foot started hurting really bad. The senior missionaries in our area came to look at it and said they'd take me to the hospital in the morning if it wasn't better. Well it wasn't better in the morning, long story short, after 3 hours in an English ER, (they call it an A&E), I found out my foot was broken. So.... the past few days have been me and my companion at doctor's appointments and stuck in the flat. Thankfully, I don't have to go home because I'll be able to walk on my cast in a week or two, but until then, my life became super boring.

But, it has also given me the chance to catch up on my journal, read lots of books, and the members have all been so good to me! Plus, when I get to go out finding again, I can use my cast as a finding technique! Haha, so it's all good.

That's me in the A&E the morning after i broke my foot, and that's my foot.
If you can't see it, there's a massive bruise covering most of it.
It has now spread to the bottom of my foot and on the opposite side.
It's so gross and so cool. :)

Quick spiritual thought: during personal study this morning I saw D&C 18:15-16. "And if it so be that you should labour all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring save it be one soul unto  me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father... How great shall be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me." I read this and thought about how happy Ting Ting was yesterday and how it made me happy as well. These are the moments when all of the frustration and challenges are worth it. The point of missionary work is to bring people happiness and I'm so glad I have a part in that!

Keep smiling everyone and have a wonderful week not having to go up and down stairs on your rear end. It's not fun, but my upper body strength has increased rapidly. Love you!

Love, 

Sister Larson

We got to take a picture with a helicopter to send to our mission president.
He has this thing about challenging us to get pictures in fancy sports cars,
so we figured a helicopter would beat that any day. 

  

 Me and Sister Moore, an old lady. We have matching crutch/cane things.
And there's only like, oh, I don't know, a 70 year gap between us.
Whatever. We raced, I won, is that such a surprise?

Chapter 20: Helping Hands and Wearing Trousers

Hellooo everyone!

Well this week has been pretty busy actually! We have had lots of fun and lots of wonderful exciting things! 

First off - The World Cup... yeah, England didn't do well at all and so the overall mood of the country has been rather sour. But I think the US won one of their games so, Go USA!! If I said that out loud here, I'd get punched or something, so I don't think I'll do that.

Secondly - updates on Ting Ting. Well, she has literally progressed so much! She is ready for her baptism next Sunday (the 29) which was different from our original plan but oh well. She passed her interview, (yay!) and the coolest thing happened at church this week. Relief Society was over, Sis. Huang and I were trying to chat up people to get them to come to the baptism and Ting Ting just turns and says to us, "I really want to be baptised." We were like - Woah, what?? Uh, yeah, okay, we can totally make that happen! It was amazing because she has been struggling to have a desire to be baptised. All this week she has told us that every time she prays, she gets a confirmation that she needs to join the church and then that response in RS- basically WOW. It's been a great week teaching her and preparing her for baptism!

This is half of my zone. There's my district, the zone leaders (Elder Trassierra and Elder Baird)
who are in our ward and we work with a lot, and the sister training leaders who are both so wonderful.
 There's also some elders from Beverley.

Next up- this past Saturday was our ward's Helping Hands day. We went to this outdoor adventure centre/camping place and pulled out a bunch of stinging nettles and then laid new woodchip down on the paths. Let me tell you - stinging nettles flipping hurt!! Like you barely touch it, you just look at it and it stings you. There was also a swamp that I'm pretty sure were the dead marshes.  I swear I saw faces underneath that murky water... *shudder* But we had lots of fun and we took Ting Ting with us and she loved it AND I got to wear trousers. (Translation: pants.) It was wonderful and fun and did I mention that I got to wear jeans? :) 

Me on the rope swing, hard at work... haha.   I'm really cute.
  Me and Joann Wileman, my best friend.
Again, I'm hard at work. Okay i actually worked! I promise!

 So this week I've really learned a lot about getting to work! If you want to be able to run a marathon, you can't just watch videos or read books about them and then expect to run a full marathon, you have to actually go out and run! Likewise with missionary work, and anything in life really: thinking about it or studying it will only take you so far. You have to actually practise and do it to get things done. 

Here is the Liahona I got for this month... in Chinese characters.
Seriously, who do they think I am? I'm not THAT good yet. But it made me feel nice inside :)

For just a few Rather English Things:

• Trousers = pants. Pants = underwear. I've already embarrassed myself several times by mixing them up. "Hey, I like your pants!" 
• Weird flavoured potato crisps. Like prawn cocktail, roast chicken, worcester sauce, etc. And those are like the normal common flavours. 

I hope you're all enjoying the summer! I've learned to enjoy every moment of sunshine I get because I never know how long it will last... Be nice and remember to read your scriptures. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 19: She's a Big Girl Now!

Hiya mates!

So you might be a bit confused about the subject line. Well, it is because I am no longer a baby, I'm a big girl! I'm not being trained anymore! YAAAAY! But, I get to be companions with Sister Huang for another transfer, which is super awesome. So yes, transfer calls were this week, nothing major happened, I still live with all the same people... moving on.

Updates with Ting Ting: She is now tentatively scheduled for the 27th of June! She seriously is doing so great, she shares experiences with us all the time about how she has felt the Spirit. She also is very serious about her dedication to things. She has told us that she doesn't get why she can't drink alcohol or why she has to obey the Word of Wisdom, but that she knows it will bless her life. Wow, she is so awesome!

Other than that, last week my flatmates and me and my companion went to the Deep, this supposedly awesome aquarium... it was £11.50 and I would have paid maybe 4. Haha but we had lots of fun together and we had very much fun being lost in the rain trying to find the flipping place. I took lots of pictures as well, so I'd say it was a success.

Us in the dismal England weather, me and my companion, she is so weird :)

Don't we look so healthy and normal skinned?
This was us in the underwater tunnel that was literally like a metre long or something.

Dcuks are really cute. All of the ducks said dcuk. i thought it was funny. This isn't even China or anything.

I found Nemo, did you?

GeneralPpenguin standing erect and proud of his country,
 with his second in command and the lazy guy who
does nothing but lay down and order people around.

I have eaten two things I could not identify on sight this week: one was cow stomach (which wasn't too bad actually, but I wouldn't eat the intestines) and the other was chili. Or chilli, if you want to say it like a Brit. Yeah I was at a dinner with all the missionaries in the ward and the bishop and his wife, and there was an awkward silence and I wanted to say something, so I asked "Wow, this is good, what is it?" and Sister Sanderson was like, "It's chili." And I said "oh" and everyone laughed but hey, it tasted good so no harm done.

Ew intestine.

For some Rather English Things:

Crumpets are real. That's not a stereotype. They're pretty good. They're like thick pancake things but they taste like a crepe.

The English umbrella manufacturers have got it figured out. The umbrellas here stink but it rains all the time, so you always have to buy a new one. I'm on my third.

Well that's about it for this week. Remember that only he who hath clean hands and a pure heart shall be able to live with the Lord again. We have to do good things, AND we have to think good things as well. You're all so great! Have an awesome week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 18: Missionary Story Trek and Rather English Things

Note from editor:  Many weeks the internet cafe in Hull is run by a nice guy who lets the missionaries pay for an hour and then actually use the computer for additional time without having to pay more.  This was not one of those weeks, and everyone's messages were a bit shorter than usual as a result...

Da jia hao!

Well this week has been... rather uneventful to be perfectly honest. We're still working with Ting Ting, who is doing wonderful but has decided to push her baptism back. We're working with her on getting a desire to be baptized. She isn't taking the decision lightly and we're really grateful for that. And she is keeping all of the commandments and loves coming to church and activities. She's so awesome!

Lately in our finding, we've had a district challenge of gathering family stories from people, about them or their ancestors. More people than not just kind of stare at us and are like "I don't... have any." And I'm always like, trying to prompt them to think of something, to get them to talk.Most of the time that will work, and then people get happy when they talk about their family and they feel the Spirit and it's awesome. It's helped us talk to more people for sure!

One of the people we talked to for like almost an hour was this guy named Hessan. He's from Sudan and was telling us about how his dad was really rich when he was young, and how he had a car and a telephone and so therefore was way posh and way powerful. It was like something out of a storybook! People all have really interesting stories to tell, it's just getting them  to tell them that is the issue.

This is me and my spiffy English flag. Now, this is the flag of England, mind you, not the United Kingdom. Because people here do not refer to themselves as British or associated with the UK. They are English. They are from England. Not British. Oh no. don't mix it up or you will suffer some consequences... they're very big on national pride here. Also, don't mention Independence Day. They say that it's the day they got independent from us and finally kicked those stupid Americans out. Oh man it's so fun being from America here... :) Haha, it's just the English sense of humor.
They're mostly kidding but also a little bit serious.

For a little bit about some Rather English Things that occur only in England (as far as I'm aware): I might have mentioned that people LOVE to gamble. If not, then the little gambling/gaming shops are dotted all over every street. Also, they love this stuff called custard. It's like pudding, but runnier, and it doesn't have a strong flavor, it's just mildly sweet. And they put it on any and every dessert.

2 Nephi 32:3 - Feast upon the words of Christ, for behold, the words of Christ will tell you ALL things what ye should do. If you're having difficulty finding an answer, feeling peace, or dealing with any trial, read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon! So many times, my answers to prayers have come through scriptures.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Keep the faith!

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 17: New Contacts, British English, and Jaredite Herbs

Da jia hao!

So this week went by really quickly. And we had the most amazing miracle happen! On Tuesday I think, we were going to visit a less active from the ward. While we were on our way there, Sister Huang remembered that a bus contact she found a few weeks ago lived near the area we were in, and she suggested we call her to see if we could stop by. The less active wasn't home, so we stopped by our potential, who was a 16 year old girl. Both she and her mom listened to the first lesson right then and they both agreed to be baptized if they came to know the gospel was true! It was truly amazing. We have met with them twice since then. We can already tell that their progression will be slow, because they are confused a bit about which Christian church is the true church, but we are going to try to just serve them and let them know that we love them and that Heavenly Father loves them too. It was just so wonderful, they are both so great! 

(By the way, in the previous paragraph, both the words "mom" and "baptized" have little red lines underneath them telling me I spelled them wrong. It's supposed to be "mum" and "baptised". Oh British English.)

This is a picture drawn by Jevara, the little member whose
house we visit every week to do FHE with her and her brother and mom.
Her mom is Lithuanian and so sweet. And i'm teaching Jevara
 a bit of piano every week as well, which is fun.
It says to Sister Larson and Sister Hwong. Eh, she got close on the spelling. :)
It's a picture of a princess sister missionary, haha!

Anyways, other than that we are continuing to teach Ting Ting, who is still so fun and progressing so well! She is truly one of our miracles as well. She will be baptised next Saturday on the 14th! So excited! She is so great with keeping commitments and being willing to come to church. She sat through Stake Conference with us on Sunday, even though she'd stayed up most of the night before studying for exams.

As for the spiritual thought of the week, I wanted to share a quote from conference about courage:

"Everyday courage has few witnesses, but yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name." It was in President Monson's talk, and I thought that it was really remarkable. It is easy to want to blend in with the crowd and be accepted by the world, and it is much harder to stay true to your belief. But I've learned that every little act of courage makes you a little more confident, and every action done in faith will strengthen your testimony and deepen your conversion. "Be not afraid, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest."

I love you all! Have a marvelous week! 

Love,
Sister Larson


Bonus story from a personal letter:

Quick funny story: so here in Britain they have another name for cilantro. They call it coriander. So I was telling Sis. Huang that, and she was like "They call it coriantumr?" And I was like, "No, coriander!" But it was funny. So now you can call cilantro Coriantumr, in my honor. Honour, sorry spell check. The other day I said car park of my own free will! I was horrified. I'm speaking British! :)