Chapter 73: Welcome to Sunny Leeds!

Dear everyone,

This week has been good! Last Wednesday, I got to my new area of Leeds 1! It has been great so far and we have been working like mad trying to find people and teach people. Our most promising investigator right now is named Emmanuel, who is from the Caribbean. He's way cool. He loves Christ and has made so many changes in his life already to follow Him. He's still struggling with some things but overall he is progressing. He's such a great guy and he is so humble and sweet. I love working with him! 

Sister Ribera, my new French companion, and I have had some interesting experiences the past week while contacting... basically, it's always an adventure to be a sister missionary. People like to hit on you. Crazy people. All the time. But I guess that's the price for being nice and smiling at people. We've also met some way cool people! We got the number of a pizza delivery guy the other day while knocking. I wish we could have had the pizza too, but not so. 

Anyway, Leeds is huge and it's been experiencing a heat wave recently. It's been so hot and muggy lately. Probably not as hot as the dry deserts of the States, but hotter than usual for England. So hopefully I won't melt today.

Well i hope you all have a good week! Enjoy the fireworks and freedom! I'm so proud of my country but I love living in this one too and coming to love a different culture and way of life. Love you all!

Love, 

Sister Larson

me and Sister Ribera!!

 here's me with sister chee and elder wheelhouse, from our old newcastle district. 

here's me with the senior couple from newcastle, elder and sister marsh!!! they're super cool.

me with my old pengyou, elder chan! crazy asian. haha.

the view from my new flat (a step up from my old one)

this is a gorgeous rose by my flat (i smell it every morning) 

Chapter 72: Transfer week!!

Hi everyone!

Well, like the subject line says, just last night we got our transfer calls. For me, this is the last one so that is pretty weird. But anyway. It turns out that I will not be staying in Newcastle for my last six weeks. I'm moving to Leeds tomorrow!! Woo! I'm going to go work in the uni area there with a lovely sister from France. So lots of changes. Sister Chee is moving as well, but she's going to Sheffield. So the change is a bit unexpected, I didn't think I'd leave, but that's how life is. Sometimes the unexpected happens!

Other than that, this week was a bit more on the boring side but that's okay. We're still finding and teaching. We taught a new girl named Helen a few days ago, and that lesson was really good! At the beginning, she just wanted to chat and was like "What sort of stuff are you guys wanting to push on me here?" But by the end she was listening really closely and was really excited to receive her own Book of Mormon. She was also excited because it was free haha. But it was a great lesson and probably the highlight of our week, since it's been a struggle to teach new people.

Sorry this letter is a bit shorter but I've got lots of errands to go run today! I have loved living in Newcastle so much, it's pretty much my second home now, and I'm really sad to be leaving. There are so many amazing people here that I will miss like crazy! But I know Leeds is going to be a really fun adventure and it's going to be a fast and furious six weeks.

I hope you all have some fun this week! Don't forget to smile! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

All the sisters with Rachel and Angela cuz they left me this past week. :( So sad! 

These are pictures from the BBQ last week

Chapter 71: The Fruits of our Labours!

Hi everyone!

Well this week was pretty awesome for many reasons. The first and most important reason is that Paul got baptised!!!! It was so good, the service was really spiritual and he looked like a million pounds! (A million pounds money, that is. Haha.) The whole experience of teaching Paul really testified to me of how prayer really works. I have prayed a countless number of times for him to have the strength to overcome his challenges, to progress towards baptism. Sometimes I felt like giving up. "What's the point?" I would think. "It's never going to happen." But it did, and I was humbled, and God lives. :)

Also this week, we had a really fun BBQ activity with all the Chinese members and our investigators! It was super fun and good to just play outside and have everyone bond together. The thing I've noticed about serving in the Chinese area in Newcastle is that everyone is so unified. This is why most of the new converts stay active. This is why we get referrals from them. They love each other (deep down) and they care about each other. It's a built-in support system and it really works! If every unit of the church was so united, then there would be a lot less lonely people in the ward and a lot more people coming to a knowledge of their Saviour. 

And of course, this week wouldn't be complete without a funny story. I actually have one thought up already. It happened last p-day. It's called "Sister Larson is Victoriously Triumphant but also Shows her Clumsy Side." So basically, we were playing capture the flag as a zone. It's where you have to grab a flag from an opposing team and run it to your side. So, the flag of the opposing team was near the fence in the back of the field. It was being guarded by two tall Elders. A lot of people on my team were surrounding it, trying to figure out how in the world we could manage to capture this flag. Suddenly, those two Elders got distracted. No one was doing anything. So what did I do? I grabbed the flag and ran like the wind, mate! It was amazing! It was glorious! I was running! I was sprinting! I was flying! And then I was falling and tripping and hurting. Don't worry, no broken foot this time. Just broken pride. However, happily a teammate managed to grab the flag from me when I was down and our team eventually won. (Thanks to me.) Haha! 

I hope you all have a great sunny week! Don't forget to smile and just let those peaceful, happy moments roll! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

These are real wontons. They're amazing. But we ate them with this garlic sauce thing that had so much garlic in it... I think I can still taste the garlic on my breath. Basically, I had halitosis for like the rest of that day. The ward mission leader commented on it at Paul's baptism. #embarrassingbutistillreallylikegarlic

Chapter 70: When the Wind Stops Blowing, Start Rowing!

Hi all!

Well first off, don't be confused by the subject line: the wind has definitely not stopped blowing here. (See attached picture of us at the North Sea last week). It blows all day every day. The wind, that is. Missionary work is still cool. Anyway.

This week was a week of some small miracles that would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been looking for them. Miracle #1: Paul passed his interview WOOHOO!! His baptism is on Saturday and I am just so excited for him. Seriously, he is one of the greatest miracles that has ever happened to any missionary ever. He's the best. He's also become our good friend, so that is just a bonus. Miracle #2: We managed to get in contact with our investigator who hasn't been picking up the phone because he's been so busy. And we taught him about the Plan of Salvation yesterday. And it was just a good lesson. Unfortunately, he'll be travelling a lot this summer, but we'll see him when we can and we'll take what we can get. So those seem like small things but were the sprinkles on the cupcake of our week. :)

... Yeah, that analogy was pretty weird. Well I'll move on to how I grew spiritually this week. So over the week, we did have many discouraging moments. By the time Sunday rolled around, I thought that I had hit my limit. I had had enough. Nothing was going anywhere I thought and nobody wanted to listen to us. I started feeling empty inside. That's when I realised something was probably wrong. I don't know many things, but I know that missionaries probably should not feel empty. So I evaluated what had gone wrong. I realised I hadn't been putting my heart into the work. I'd gone through the motions but the love behind it all was missing. So I read my scriptures and prayed until that empty feeling started to go away as it was replaced my a feeling of love and peace. And that is when I decided I never wanted that feeling of emptiness again. 

So this week, if you feel something is missing from you life, ask yourself honestly what you might need to do differently to fill up the emptiness. And then do it. It will be so worth it, I promise. Thank you all for the encouragement and prayers! You are all amazing! Love you!

Love,

Sister Larson

the beautiful north sea! look at that sunshine and white sand and oh wait it's not that kind of beach. it's really pretty though, in a different sort of way. it was really windy and pretty cold and the sand would hit our legs. also don't look at my legs in any of these photos because you might be blinded. you can tell i've lived in england for a long time.

these are my footprints and my name. it's cute.
and i didn't even need pinterest to help me come up with the idea! haha.

me and sister hurst by the water!! we're both too cute. :)

england has pretty beaches and pretty flowers. and really good chocolate. now if only they could work on perfecting the mexican food here...

my companion made me really yummy noodles that were both tasty and nice looking. she's talented.

i can never resist getting pictures of the gorgeous english sky.
taken from angela's flat, so i get a nice view of the city too.

sister xie cooked dinner one night for me, angela, and rachel. it was super delicious. also we put the cabbage in the shape of a heart. angela and rachel were very proud of that, you should know.

this is steven. he's my friend. he's a bird. he joined us for a lesson with paul in the park last night. he was just too cute so i took like five thousand photos of him but i'll just send you guys the best one. 

Chapter 69: The Week of the iPads

Hello everyone!

So as you can see from the subject line, the biggest change we had this week was that our iPads finally came to us! We can't do a whole lot on them yet except look at cool stuff on Gospel Library and use these super cool interactive pamphlets, but I'm sure we'll use them more and more as we learn more about them. So of course I have included a portrait of me with Harriet, my new iPad. :)

Sister Larson and Harriet

Other than that, this week was one of those harder weeks where it seemed like not much was getting done. However, we did get to meet with Paul a lot this week, and he is still doing fantastic. He is so great and I still just smile every time I think about how far he has progressed from the first time I met him all the way back in September. The gospel really can change people and make them better than anything they or I could have imagined. I love being a missionary, it's just so cool!

Another thing I learned this week was the lesson I've had to learn time and time again: that things sometimes don't work out the way you planned them to. I'm sure you've all had days similar to this one: You wake up excited for the day, with lots of plans to get things done and also have fun. Then one by one, new things come up that you have to do and your other plans fall through and you come home feeling exhausted and cheated at the end of a long day. I've had several of these on my mission, and it is at this time that I am tempted to ask, "But why? Why couldn't I have had it my way this once? What are you trying to do to me?" And it is then that I am faced with a choice: continue to complain about the situation, or take it in stride and learn something from it. There is always something to learn. But even better, there is always someone who is there to comfort us and say, "I know how you feel. I know it's hard. Thank you for doing your best. I know you are trying." Jesus Christ truly understands our frustration, and He can help us be healed, no matter what our pain or discomfort. I know this to be true.

Well everyone, I hope you all enjoy the last week of school before summer starts! Remember to smile and be happy! I'm so grateful for all of you!

Love,

Sister Larson