Chapter 56: Slow but steady and still in Newcastle

Hi everyone,

So this week seemed to be a bit slow in our area. Probably because it felt like the week didn't even start until Thursday. On Wednesday I went to Leeds to go get my new companion. It was fun going to transfer meeting and seeing all the new missionaries, as well as the ones going home. Plus, driving through the English countryside gives plenty of gorgeous views! So that night Sister Xie came to Newcastle! She's pretty great and we've had lots of fun together so far. She really likes to talk and her Chinese isn't bad... Hahaha it's pretty good having a native speaker for a companion again. 

My new companion, Sister Xie (pronounced shee-eh), striking a model pose. 

Let's see, this week we did quite a bit of finding and taught a few lessons. I think the highlight for me was when we taught Mandy. She is doing so well! We were reviewing some of the lessons with her and she knew all the answers. She is just too cute. I also had one of those really awesome moments on my mission. She gave me and Sister Chee little paper cut bookmarks from China as a thank-you gift for teaching her about the gospel and introducing her to this religion. It just melted my heart. Sometimes it's hard when you have to go out street contacting in the rain and no one wants to talk to you or you go knocking from door to door and no one bothers to answer or hear what you have to say. It's hard to stay motivated. But when I saw Mandy and Crystal at church on Sunday, when I teach our investigators or recent converts and they say, "I really liked this scripture that I read the other day...", I feel like what I'm doing is actually worth something. I'm not here to get paid. I'm not here to go on an adventure. I'm here because what I have is worth more than money or experiences or anything in the world really. This gospel is what I love the most, and so I'm here to share it with people. And when people accept it and they start to love it too... There's no way to describe the kind of joy you get when that happens.

Our really yummy Sunday dinner we had yesterday.
Dinner always tastes better on Fast Sunday. :)

So that was mostly our week. Sorry it's a bit of a shorter letter, but I'm sure there will be more miracle stories to tell next week! I hope you all are doing well wherever you are in the world and that you remember to SMILE and have fun!!! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

Sister Chee hid in the pantry.  I don't really remember why at the moment.
But it was funny.