Chapter 57: A Good Week to Eat Good Food

Hiya everyone!

So this week was the first full week with my new companion, Sister Xie. I discovered that she has this great talent of cooking really amazing, beautiful food. So we have eaten very well this week. I haven't eaten this well since I lived at home basically, so this week has definitely been a good one. :)

Just some of the amazing food I've had this week!!

We also had something totally wonderful happen on Sunday! It was our Stake Conference in Sunderland and it was really great. The best part happened after the conference though. 4 of our Chinese boys received the Melchizedek Priesthood and were ordained Elders. It was so amazing. I feel like I've seen these boys like grow up in the gospel, since I got here when they were all recently baptised. It's the coolest thing to be involved with someone who is progressing in the gospel and continuing to make and keep sacred covenants. I just love it!

A really not so attractive picture of me and my companion
coming back from stake conference. We were at the front
of the metro so we were feeling pretty fly. Haha.

This week we also went on exchange with Sister Holland and her companion, Sister Schmidt! It was short but good and we had an awesome finding blitz in the city trying to talk to as many Chinese people as we could! We met one really solid potential who is Christian and whose family is also Christian, which is quite uncommon. But hopefully we will see him this next week and start the work of building up our area again!

As I've been on my mission, I've seen how missionary work is not only finding people to teach about the gospel. It's also about strengthening each other as members and working with people who have lost sight of the gospel path they once walked on. At our Stake Conference, a lot of the talks were about the Europe Area Plan for this year, which emphasises spiritual and temporal self-reliance. As we work together, we can help to bolster our individual spirituality and strengthen our testimonies. 

Some of the gorgeous flowers starting to poke out after a long winter!!

It's been a good but tiring week, as usual! I hope you all are doing well and having fun! The flowers are finally starting to bloom here and the weather is slightly warmer! Yay for spring! Have a good week, love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

A picture of our shadows

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.

Chapter 55 - 新年快樂！Happy New Year!

Dajia hao, (Hi everyone!)

That's right, this week was Chinese New Year! It started on Thursday and kept on going until... I don't really know, it could still be going on now for all I know. Haha it was great because all the students were out ditching class and hanging out with friends and going out to eat, but then not as many of them wanted to stop and talk when there were dumplings to be made and devoured. Still, it has been a pretty good week.

Selfie in the bus mirror, so cute.

The highlight of the week was probably getting to go to Leeds for Zone Conference. It was a very fun day, we got to watch Meet the Mormons! Oh my word, so good. I loved how all of the people were so different and I loved hearing about their conversion stories. Because I'm a missionary nerd and I love conversion stories. :) Also, the whole missionary mom segment just made me cry tears. I swear no missionary in that chapel had a dry eye when that Elder said good-bye to his family. Ah, memories... Still it was a great conference and we learned a lot about how we can best improve our areas! I have seen a lot of growth in the mission since I first came out and I know that everyone will just keep on improving in the future.

Yesterday was also transfer calls!!!!!!! So here's the news: I'm staying in Newcastle. YAY! I've already been here for 6 months, but I'm still so excited to stay. I feel like there's so much unfinished business to take care of here and I would just miss everyone too terribly to leave. I am also getting a new companion. Her name is Sister Xie, she's from Sichuan, China. She was just in my old hometown of Hull so it will be really fun to work with her. But where does that leave Sister Chee you might ask? Well my beloved daughter will also be staying in Newcastle and working with Sister Salcedo!!! Yeah everyone was shocked. So she'll be in a different area technically but not too far from me. Wow, 6 months old in the mission and still living with her mom. Embarrassing. ;) Nah, it'll be a great transfer, I'm stoked!

We celebrated Chinese New Year with a ward talent show and dinner on Saturday night. It was super fun, all the missionaries did a fun skit and then my comp and I sang a Chinese song. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Then last night we made dumplings with Crystal! Oh man they were so good. And now I know how to make dumplings.

Me with all the hot pot stuff. I love hot pot!
But it was so spicy! She had this spice mix from Chongqing
which is famous for their spicy hot pot. Gah so spicy!

The process of making dumplings along with the delicious end result!

Well I hope that you all had a good week wherever ya'lls are. Happy Chinese New Year! Go eat some dumplings or other Chinese food. I'm so grateful to be a missionary here, right now, in this area. I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Larson

  

Beautiful clouds in Newcastle!!!! Love the sky here, so pretty.

Chapter 54: Valentine's Day Baptism

Dear family and friends,

So this week was basically awesome. I think I say that at the beginning of every letter. But it's true and I can't help myself from saying it! Missionary life in general is just awesome!!!

This week the highlight was Crystal and Mandy's baptism. They were both so cute and so excited to be baptised! The service went really well. Crystal told us as she was getting ready to go into the font that she didn't sleep the night before because she was just too excited to be baptised! Mandy gave a very simple but very heartfelt testimony at the end. She was just so grateful in it and kept saying "I'm so thankful to the Father for all the blessings He gives me." Man. I never thought I could ever feel this much joy. Missions are sometimes seen as a sacrifice, but to me this is no sacrifice. This is a blessing! 

After the baptism, there was also a ward Valentine's Dance. Not like a dodgy, bring-a-date-slow-dance-the-whole-time dance, so we got permission from our leaders to stay. And it was way fun. We basically just danced with the primary kids and got our Chinese friends to let loose and have fun. It was a super awesome ending to a super awesome day. :)

Along with that, we also had a new scheduled investigator this week, Martin! He is doing so great. He came to our lesson having read a chapter in Alma and showed us a verse that he really liked. He'd highlighted it and everything!! It may be a small thing, but this is a guy who's never read scriptures before, or prayed before, or believed in something higher before. So his progress is remarkably quick. I also know that he has been prepared by the Lord. Shortly before he met us, he had started volunteering at a charity shop. He later told us that he had no idea really why he'd decided to do that, but that he felt he should be doing something kind for others instead of just thinking about himself. SO PREPARED.

Well I could go on and on but I only have a short amount of time to e-mail. The gospel is true. Even if I hadn't seen all these miracles, I would still know it is true. Heavenly Father is there, He listens to each of our prayers. I love being a missionary!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and have a super fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Larson

Heart cookie from pday last week. so professional. 

Shield coins. On the back of each coin is a part of a shield,
and so I finally collected them all at the same time!
Cool, huh? The coins here are way cooler than in America, no offense.
And we use them more often.

Me and my comp and Mandy and Crystal!

Me and Mandy and Crystal

This one also has Freddie, our recent convert who introduced
 Mandy to the gospel and then baptised her, as well as
Elder Chidester, our crazy district leader who baptised Crystal.

Me and Sister Wu. She goes home next week! :'(

Chapter 53: Meagan went to England on a Mission, and you won't believe the awesome things that happened next!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been quite good overall. We were super busy with lots of teaching and finding and even a service project, (yay!) but we managed to get lots of things done. We had quite a few really awesome things happen, so I'll just list them all below.

Awesome Thing #1: Crystal and Mandy both passed their baptismal interviews!!! They were both slightly nervous but of course they did just fine. Everything is coming together for their baptism this Saturday, so I'll tell you all about it next week!

Awesome Thing #2: We met with all of the guys from the hot pot party a few weeks ago this week. In separate lessons, haha. One of them, Li, is in China for two weeks now but he had a really great lesson that turned into a huge long discussion. It was really great and he seems so eager to learn more and read the Book of Mormon. Another one, Huang JinBo, whom we renamed Stefan*, had a great lesson as well and we scheduled him for baptism in March! He's really funny, he's like a big kid. But he's very willing to learn more as well. And the last one, Yang Yi (English name pending, any suggestions are welcome) brought his friend, Seralyn, to the lesson with him! They seemed pretty interested, not as much as the others, but they still would like to see the baptism on Saturday, so that is good news!

Awesome Thing #3: Martin, our BBC investigator, is doing super well. We had an amazing lesson with him and Darrell, a recent convert here. It was so great, they got along really well and Darrell answered all of his questions perfectly. Martin also came to the senior missionaries' house with us yesterday and really liked seeing what an LDS family dinner looks like. So things are looking good for Martin.

There are honestly so many awesome things that happened this week, I could go on forever and write an entire epistle about them. But I'll spare you guys and just share one last really cool thing that happened.

So on Saturday, I had a kind of bleh day. Good things were happening, but I was feeling sort of lonely and whatnot. My heart was just aching a little bit. But I kept on throughout the day, always asking Heavenly Father to please comfort me and help me do the work I needed to do. As we were finding, my companion pointed to something behind me. I turned and looked and saw the most beautiful sunset ever. The sky was still pale blue but the clouds were fiery pink and orange and it was so amazing. I felt at peace and had the clarity of mind necessary to sort through my problems and find out ways to solve them. It was a very tender mercy of the Lord and showed His love for me. I know that our prayers are answered in personal ways so we can understand them.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love, 

Sister Larson

*Yes, Stefan is named after a character in the popular TV series, the Vampire Diaries. We have a Chinese member here named Damon, who is also a character in the aforementioned programme, and we just couldn't resist. Plus, he just looks like a Stefan. :)

Ice cream selfie with my comp, our investigator Fang Fang, and me last P-day.

Me on a cute little bridge whilst finding in a neighborhood. 

Me with the BYU car we found this week, haha!

Chapter 52: One Year Out and More Miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, this is the real week 52. On the 5th, I'll have been a missionary for one whole year. What the heck? Where has the time gone? Didn't I leave like just yesterday? Wow my life is just flying by. It's been a very tough year but a very rewarding one as well.

Secondly, as you can see from the very enthusiastic CAPS LOCK message subject, we had the hugest miracle in the history of ever this week. So do you all remember Crystal, the super golden investigator we've been teaching for like ever whose parents would not allow her to be baptised? Yeah, that one. Here's what happened this week.

Begin super amazing epic miracle

Well, we had a lesson with her this week that was great. We taught her about endure to the end and then brought up fasting with her for her parents to soften their hearts a bit in regards to her being baptised. Then she surprised everyone and said, "Well I've been talking to them recently, and they say that I am old enough to make my own decisions, and that they trust me to do what is right for me. So while they don't believe in God or think that church is super awesome, they will still let me get baptised." And Sister Chee and I were like ".... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" And the member that was with us, Angela, was like "... EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" And then we all were excited and happy and immediately began planning her baptism on the 14th of February, Valentine's Day! She will be baptised with Mandy, our other investigator who is super prepared and ready for that day. SO MIRACULOUS! Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

End super amazing epic miracle

Along with that miracle, we also had a great hot pot dinner on Saturday night. Hot pot is super delicious. And we ate it with our potential, whom we named Stefan, and his three roommates. At first, we were a bit nervous because he pulled out a bottle of white wine. But then as he tried to open it, I said a quick prayer for what to say and just told him, "Hey, we don't drink alcohol, so is it okay if maybe we put that away?" And he said, "Yeah no problem!" and gave us soda instead. Phew. Then during the meal, we were talking and the conversation naturally turned to church. We ended up teaching them most of the Restoration, the Word of Wisdom, and about keeping the Sabbath day holy! Angela, our member present (again) did a great job of being a missionary with us and explaining lots of things that we believe. So that was also a great miracle. And two of the roommates ended up coming to church with us yesterday! It was so awesome.

Here is a picture of my comp, Sister Davis, Sister Holland (stl) and me. we are so cute!!
I actually really love this photo. We had an exchange this weekend which was way fun. 

Yeah, I still make faces. This one's a gem.
We were waiting for someone to come and open the
chapel gate because we were a bit early to a meeting.
So we took selfies that made us look like prisoners. And weirdos. Heehee.

So basically, this week was rockin' for me and my companion. We were working together in unity, finding and teaching and planning and loving our lives as missionaries. While missionary work is not always this outwardly successful, I am still always very happy and at peace with the work I am doing because I know this Church is true and that Jesus Christ lives. It is He who I represent and I am so glad I have the opportunity to do so. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 51: The Best Text Ever

Dear family and friends and everyone,

Hiya! This week has been pretty fantastic, we had lots of exciting things happen. Continuing of from the miracle of last week, we had a lesson with those two girls, Sherry and Fiona, who are now our new investigators! It was a great lesson, and we think they have lots of potential. Also, we had a miracle last p-day, right after we e-mailed and grocery shopped. 

Begin miracle

Once upon a time, my companion and I were street contacting a few weeks ago. We stopped this one guy who looked Asian. We're like chatting for a bit and finally we ask, "So how long have you lived in England?" And he's like, "Uh, since I was one?" And we said "... Yeah, that makes sense. So you're a BBC, cool!" It was awkward because I thought he was Chinese. That happens a lot actually, it's part of the daily awkwardness of my life. But anyway, we kept talking to him, he didn't seem super interested, but we gave him a mormon.org card with our number. Fast forward to last p-day. He sends us a text saying that he'd like to meet with us sometime and/or go to activities!! So we had a lesson with him last Monday, he went to the FHE for the Chinese students and loved it, and we're seeing him again today. SO AWESOME. BECAUSE HE TEXTED US! That never happens. Miracle!

End miracle

This week we also went to a few parties. One was for Rachel, one of the members here. She just turned 19 - so young. Haha. It was a surprise party and a few of our investigators went, so it was really fun. It's pretty awesome how all of the members and investigators here are good friends and hang out with each other all the time. 

The other party we went to was at an elderly member's house. She lives in like an assisted living centre thing and we go over there all the time, because she's so nice to us and we love her. So we were there for tea this past Saturday and while we were chatting, like four old ladies came in and out to chat with us too. It was funny because at one point, they were all moaning and lamenting about their many medical problems (I'm not being sterotypical, but the older generation tend to do this) when one lady talked about her thyroid problems. And my companion, Sister Chee, just joins in and says (in effect) "Tell me about it! My hyperthyroidism has caused me so many problems!" And she thus joined in on the medical conversation with all these old ladies, talking about medications and surgeries and the like. It was pretty funny. 

So this week has been great with the missionary work and with everything else, really. I find that when I have a positive attitude about things, like missing our Metro and therefore having to walk all the way to the chapel on a windy Sunday morning, life is happier and more fun. Missionary work is FUN! It's hard work, but the most rewarding work I've ever done in my life. Love you all, have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister Larson

Me and Rachel

All of the girls at Rachel's surprise birthday party!

This is my zone. Girls don't know how to make funny faces. But I do.

This is my more normal zone.