Chapter 26: "Thanks For Holding My Slobbery Apple, Mate"

Hiya!

So this week was really fun and had lots of learning opportunities. The first exciting thing was my new companion, Sister Dahneke! She's from the exotic land of Provo, Utah, did martial arts when she was younger, and likes to eat food. So basically, we get along really great. We both discovered one day while finding that we both love Les Miserables, and so now we sing that all the time and just have a blast together.

Sister Larson and Sister Dahneke, "in bad internet cafe lighting."

The majority of this week was spent street contacting. We have been looking and looking and talking and talking and walking and just trying to find someone interested in the gospel. It's been a rough week for finding new investigators, but last night a huge miracle happened! We had asked Ting Ting to invite some friends to FHE. She said she would try. Last night she calls us and asks, "So, four people want to come. Is that too many?" And of course we replied, "Uh, no, that is perfect, that is awesome, you are wonderful!" So now we have new faces coming to FHE and we are praying that at least one of them will be interested in learning more. It was so wonderful to see that after working and praying and trying to stay positive we had this wonderful miracle happen. Even if nothing happens with those four people tonight, it has been a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father answers our prayers, even if it's not right away.

Funny story of the week: We were sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday, close to the end, when a little three-year-old boy in the ward walked by us, stuck his half-eaten apple in my companion's hand, and then walked away to go play with someone else. We were cracking up because it was pretty gross but really cute at the same time. And then five minutes later he came and got it back from her, like "Hey thanks for holding my slobbery apple, mate."

That might have been a you-had-to-be-there moment. But it made my day.

Well family and friends, this week has been fun, it's been tough, it's been tiring. But I know that I am learning, I am experiencing, and that I came here for a reason! Alma says it better than I ever could:

"And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work."

This doesn't just apply to me, it applies to all of us! We all have the great blessing and potential to be instruments in the hands of God. So pray for missionary opportunities and go and serve others! I love you all and I'm so proud of all the missionary work you do. Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 25: A New Companion and Return of the Pictures

Dajia hao!

Well, as you might have seen, this week is transfer week. And to explain what has happened, I will use a scripture found in Alma 22:4, with just a few alterations:

And I said unto my friends and family: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called Sister Huang another way, she has gone to the land of Newcastle, to teach the people of China.

Yes, sadly, my mom (trainer) is leaving me. But she is going to the promised land of Newcastle for her last six weeks! And I am getting a new companion (of course) whose name is Sister Dahneke and land of origin is good old 'Merica. She is also a Chinese speaker and is dying soon. Sorry, I mean going home soon. So we will be together starting tomorrow! I'm excited to meet her and show her around Hull!

The Wilemans, aka our favorite family, threw Sister Huang a surprise dinner party yesterday. They decorated with Frozen characters and snow (we each had a Frozen character-- I was Anna, she was Elsa. of course!!) , because she's never seen snow but she really wants to. The table was all fancy and they gave her a gift of a t-shirt with some of the inside jokes we have with them. It was so cute, she was so happy!  I don't think anyone's ever really done that for her before. 

In other news, this past week we had a field trip! Kind of. We went to Huddersfield for a zone conference, which is where Sister Huang worked for 9 months on her mission! It was fun for her to point out all the places she'd been and where she lived and the university she walked around all the time. The actual meeting was good too, we learned lots of wonderful things, especially how to make these cute little cards that look like white shirts. We've been using them a lot with members and potentials, like if we have a meal appointment we sneakily leave one behind or drop them in people's mail slots if they're not in when we drop by. So that's been very fun.

Half of the mission.  Sister Larson is in the lower right corner.

Other than that, this week we got back into the normal missionary schedule where we're out all day. Yay!! I only have two and a half weeks left in my cast, which I'm very excited for, and we're still looking for some new investigators. We've got a couple potentials and the Chinese students are very slowly coming back. 

I hope you all had a wonderful week, Happy Pioneer Day for those who celebrate it, keep reading your scriptures and praying and looking for opportunities to serve! I know we are at our happiest when we are serving other people. Love you all!

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 24: On her feet again!

Hiya!

Well this week we have been picking up our work a little bit more. Yay! We've gone out every day and been out almost the whole day, just like normal missionaries. It's been great. My foot is getting better and I can walk on it a lot more now, which is just fantastic.

So this week we have focused a lot on working with our less actives and recent converts, since we still are searching for investigators. One of them that we went and visited was a Chinese family. The dad works at a Chinese restaurant and so he makes really good food. When we went and visited him, he made us baozi, which are basically bun things with stuff inside. My favourite one he made had butter and coconut in it, or so he said. It tasted like tropical heaven and I wish I could eat it all the time.

We also went and visited lots of members. One of them that we visit quite regularly is a Lithuanian woman. She has two little kids who just are starting school and they are quite the picky eaters, so whenever we go over there she loves to make us food. This week's dish was cold cucumber, beetroot, boiled egg soup. It was quite interesting. Not bad, but a little bit weird.

Aside from the interesting international food I've eaten, I have also had the time to think on trials. Especially since being on a mission I've seen the harsh trials people are put through and sometimes it makes me wonder why such things happen to good people. Then this morning I was flipping through the hymn book and found the fifth verse of Hymn No. 85, "How Firm a Foundation." It goes:

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
Thy dross to consume ... and thy gold to refine."

So basically, trials aren't given to us to hurt us - they're there to help our strengths get even better and our weaknesses to either become strengths or go away. I know that it is through the grace of Jesus Christ that this can happen. I've seen it in my life and in the lives of others. So if your pathway is going through some fiery trials right now, know that when you rely on Jesus Christ, His grace is always in supply for you!

I hope you have all had a great week! Lots of love from 'Ull*!

Love,
Sister Larson

*Here in Yorkshire, the accent is to drop all "h" sounds at the beginning of a word. So Hull is pronounced 'Ull. If it's hard to imagine, just picture Hagrid saying it. I'm pretty sure he's originally from Yorkshire.

Chapter 23: Flat Fever

Hey all,

This will probably be a bit short because we are still stuck in the flat all day. We've been able to get out a little here and a little there, but unfortunately my broken foot came at an awkward time - right before we baptised our investigator and right before our other investigator left on vacation for a few weeks. So since we have no investigator pool, Sis. Huang has been going out with the other sisters in our flat while one of them stayed with me. It's like I'm 5 again, having to be baby-sat! But it's been fun and I'm still alive. :)

The one time we saw Leah and Ting Ting this week, after having a lesson with them, Ting Ting made us wonderful Chinese food. Somehow we got onto the topic of tongue twisters. I taught them one in English, the one about selling seashells I think, and they taught me one in Chinese. It goes: "Chi putao, bu chi putao pi. Bu chi putao, dao tu putao pi." Translation: Eat grapes, don't eat the grape skin. Don't eat grapes, spit out the grape skin." It makes literally NO SENSE but it was fun trying to say it as fast as I could in my less-than-stellar Chinese, haha. 

Well, other than that, I've memorised the lyrics to almost every song on every CD we have, I've read every book in the flat at least once through if not twice, and I have cleaned and organised my room every day. Hopefully within this next week we'll be a bit busier and I might be able to get out and walk around a bit more! 

This week I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants about why we go to church on Sunday. The reason given in D&C 59:9 is that it might keep us more "unspotted" from the world. I thought about how we shower and brush our teeth regularly to keep ourselves physically clean and healthy. Likewise, we attend church weekly and read scriptures and pray daily to keep us spiritually clean and healthy. If you didn't shower for a week, people would notice and you will feel icky. So make sure that you're keeping up with scriptures, prayer, and church, or else you might feel a bit icky on the inside. 

I love you all! Thank you for the prayers and encouragement, I appreciate it so much. Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 22: Meagan discovers the magic of Cinderella weddings

A bit of a slow news week from Meagan, as her foot continues to mend.  She confirmed in other messages that she is off crutches and able to get around a little bit in her "boot."


Hello everyone!!

Well I would like to say that this week has been eventful.... but it hasn't. Haha we've been stuck in the flat a lot. However, we've managed to get out and do something worthwhile every day, which has been awesome.

The best thing we did last week was have Ting Ting be our member present for a lesson with Leah! It was awesome, we kind of told her last minute, but she did so well. She was eager to share her testimony, make comments, and just be a friend to Leah. Oh my goodness she is doing so well. Leah has been doing pretty good too, I think it helps that the YSA here have really reached out to her and have fellowshipped her. She's leaving soon unfortunately, but I know that miracles happen and so we'll keep trying to bring her into the fold of the gospel!

Other than that, this weekend I went to a wedding of one of the members here. In England, by law, you need to have a civil ceremony before you go to the temple to be sealed, so we went to the ceremony. The most cultural thing was the fact that like all of the women wore funny looking hats. Like hats that the Queen would wear, or that Princess Kate would wear. Yeah, that's not a stereotype, that actually happens. I thought I was in Cinderella or something. 

I hope that you all had a great Independence Day weekend! I had to be careful about what I said, because it's not exactly a popular holiday around here haha. But I ate American pancakes for dinner that my companion made for me (she's awesome) and I sang the national anthem. By myself. :)

Real quick spiritual thought that Sister Huang found today during personal study - 
D&C 42:51 - The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap. 

She thought it was hilarious, and it was pretty funny, but just remember that it is by faith that every miracle happens! In Chinese there's a saying that goes, "You xinxin, you banfa!" Which means "Have faith, there's a way to make it happen!", roughly translated. So exercise that faith and move some mountains! Love you all!

Love,
Sister Larson

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