Chapter 33: Meagan Learns Math: Faith+Work=Miracles!

Hello everyone!

This week has been really really great. All of the new students have finished arriving here in time for school to start today! So our finding efforts have been really good. We met one Chinese girl on the street on Friday and within five minutes of talking to her she said she would come to church with us! She loved church and had a great experience, so that was one miracle.

Sister Rossi, me, Sister Monroy, Sister Lu -
They said make a funny face, i apparently missed the hidden meaning of
"Make a funny face, but make it look cute."

Also at church on Sunday, we had our Chinese sacrament meeting, where we go into a different room and with all the Chinese people have the meeting all in Chinese. I was asked to give a talk for this meeting - and I was super nervous. But I think it went well. The best part was that all of the speakers spoke about the Book of Mormon and how it can change lives.

Me, Rachel, Sis. Monroy, Lee, and Sister Lu -
Rachel is our investigator and Lee is a member. They're both so great!

Which leads into the biggest miracle - last night, we called an investigator to invite him to an activity and said we missed him at church. He said he was sorry, he slept in, but then he said very excitedly, "I read the Book of Mormon and I felt something really different, it felt so good! When can we meet and have another lesson together?" Sister Lu and I were pleasantly shocked - this investigator earlier had flat-out rejected our invitation to be baptised, and then here he was, wanting to meet with us, excited about the Book of Mormon! It made my week and truly testified to me of the power of the Book of Mormon.

Me and Sister Lu, waiting for the bus and trying to keep ourselves entertained. :) 

In sacrament meeting, a speaker talked about how the Book of Mormon is like the textbook for our lives. We can learn so much from it and we will find ourselves truly prepared for all that lies ahead, if we first just crack it open and study it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know its lessons apply to all of us. Reading it every day truly will bless our lives and allow us to feel the love of God, just like it did for our investigator.

I love you all and hope that this week went well! 

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 32: Come, Let Us Anewcastle

Hi everyone!

So this week something finally exciting happened to me: I went to Newcastle! Yay! It has been so fun being here already. There are so many more Chinese people, and a lot of great Chinese members to get to know and teach.

First off, we had a fireside this Sunday where our mission president came and spoke. He was pretty great, but the highlight was our potential investigator, Anna, who came. She said that she loved the hymns and that she feels safe and calm in the chapel. It was so great! We are probably going to start teaching her this week, and I'm just so excited. Yay for a bigger teaching pool! 

Me and Sister Rossi, a sister in my flat, wearing our super-cute onesies. :)

We also got to work with some recent converts, Freddie and Paul. They both were baptised in August and they're both really amazing. Paul just gave his first talk in sacrament meeting this week, in English none the less, and he did so great. His testimony is so strong and simple. My favourite thing he said was that he felt happy when he passed the sacrament for the first time, and that he knew it was because he was serving others.

Me and Sister Lu, my new companion!
She's cute and she's really good with being bold and finding people.

So of course I miss Hull, because Newcastle is a lot bigger with more people and I'm a lot busier. But I love it! I know my e-mails have been lackluster lately, probably because I was in a rut with being stuck in my old area. But with the new area, I've found that I've been trying even harder to be exactly obedient and improve myself. 

It's the same with living the gospel: sometimes we get stuck in a rut and we don't know where to go up. We just have to figure out a way to change something, even if it's not as drastic as moving to a new area, and then we will be able to be on the up-and-up once more. 

I hope you all have had a wonderful week! Love you all!


Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 31: Bound for the promised land!

Dajia hao! (hello everyone!)

That's right, it's transfer time and I am leaving Hull to go to NEWCASTLE!!! I am super duper excited. That is the area where the video I sent last week was talking about. That will be the ward I will serve in. And the Asian missionary is my new companion, Sister Lu! 

Me and my comp with our hair braided together.  We're so weird.

My farewell party with the Wilemans! They decorated the kitchen with a Beauty and the Beast theme, so cute.

So this past week was basically just stressing about transfers, trying to get everything ready, and saying good-bye to the members and investigators here. I've been going through ups and downs of sadness and excitement, but I know that the Lord will send me where I need to go. I'm also way excited to improve my Chinese because there are so many Chinese members in Newcastle. 

Me with the young single adults: my comp, Vania, Toni, me, Victoria

The other highlight of the week was talking to Tina, one of the Chinese less actives here. She has been pretty great and we've seen her almost every week, but this past week she really really opened up to us and we had a wonderful conversation with her about life and how to deal with the challenges she's facing. We basically just pointed her towards the scriptures and prayer because we both know that those are the only sources of true peace and happiness. Heavenly Father wants to talk to us and bless us, but first we need to approach Him and ask humbly for His help. 

Well I hope that everything has been going well for all of you! Remember that there is always one you can turn to for any problem or trial, and He will always listen to your prayers. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Larson

Me with the districts in Hull and Beverley

A few extra notes from Meagan's letter to the blogmaster (dad):

They call it the Promised Land because there's so many Chinese people and lots of investigators all the time. It's where Sister Dahneke jsut was, I'll be serving with her baby, Sister Lu, from Guangdong, China. I will be taking Sis. Huang's place. So I'm just following my mom all around. but i'm way excited and kind of nervous.  my chinese is going to improve so much, so yay, but I just hope i can keep up and know what's going on! i know i definitely can't get lazy and need to be remembering how to teach the lessons. 

Chapter 30: Meagan's Companion is Famous

Hello everyone!

Yes, you saw that right. My companion is a celebrity on lds.org. Check her out in this awesome video about a Chinese guy (who she didn't really teach but worked with afterward as a recent convert!):

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-04-017-unto-all-the-world-noahs-story?lang=eng

Man I am so lucky to be able to say I knew her. :)

In other news, Lionie and Ellie both got baptised on Sunday! They were so cute in their little white dresses. They both just kept smiling the whole time. It was really fun to teach them and get to know them. This past week we had lots of fun acting out scripture stories and the plan of salvation with them. They made us act out the whole Joseph Smith story, like until he finished translating the Book of Mormon. It was way fun.

We also went and saw one of our Chinese less actives, Jenny. We've been seeing her almost every week since I came to Hull. Every time we've always gone when her kids are asleep, but this week we went when they were awake. It was so fun to play with them, they are adorable. The little girl who's almost 2 just kept saying "xie xie!" (thank you) for everything: if you gave her something, she'd say it. If she gave you a toy, she'd say it. It was so cute to be with this wonderful family!

Speaking of families, I know that they can be together forever through the plan of salvation. This week the plan of salvation has been on my mind a lot, and it's really comforted me to know that life goes on and that I know that happens after this life. It is sad to lose someone we know and love, but I know I will see them all again one day and that I can be with my family forever.

I love you all! Have a fantastic first week of September! (Where has the time gone??)

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 29: A totally "aresome" week!

Hiya everyone!

Some of you might be thinking: "Wow, Sister Larson, your English spelling has gone downhill. Do you really not know how to spell awesome? I mean, come on." Well let me explain a bit. Our investigator, Lionie, who is 12, has been practicing her American accent with us. She automatically puts an "r" sound whenever there's an "ah" sound in any word ever. Therefore, "awesome" becomes "aresome," even though that's not actually how we say it. It was so cute though. :)

This week we've been working a lot with Lionie and Ellie, her sister. They are both getting baptised this Sunday, the 31st! We are so excited. It's been great teaching them because they know so much already (they've attended church for 3 years) and because they are younger, it's forced my companion and I to be really basic in our teaching.

That got me thinking about how the gospel is really quite a simple thing, and that oftentimes we try to think of something new, something clever, something different to learn that we don't know already in our study of the gospel. But really, we don't. Everything we need to know is in the basic principles of the gospel: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism and renewal of our covenants, using the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It is in a study of these basic principles that we get a deeper understanding of what the gospel means to us.

And on a fun note, we got to bake up a storm yesterday for p-day! We made so many snickerdoodles I lost count, some truffles, some no bake cookies, and a British favourite: banoffe pie. It's bananas and caramel and whipped cream in a cookie crust. It's quite delicious, and it is a favourite pudding, or dessert, over here.

Well I hope that this week has been good for everyone! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and is willing to help you with anything if you just ask Him!! I love you too!

Love,
Sister Larson

Chapter 28: As the Weather Turns...

Hello everyone!

As you can see from the subject line, the weather here has taken a turn for the colder. Like, I've had to wear my winter coat out finding. Uh, what month is this? But at least this also means that there have been more Chinese students out and about that we can talk to! We have met lots of wonderful potentials and have talked to lots and lots of students. This week was filled with tons of finding, but it has been pretty great.

In other news, Ting Ting left for China yesterday very unexpectedly. She'll only be gone for a month and then she'll come back, but we will miss her so much! We always had lots of fun with her and she is doing so great in her spiritual progression. 

 This is me and Ting Ting and we both look super good in this photo

We also are teaching two investigators! Crazy, right? Probably because they're the adopted children of a member who are just now able to be baptised due to legal things, but still. They are so excited to be baptised they can hardly stand it and their enthusiasm is infectious! 

The one last bit of really exciting stuff is that last Tuesday was my companion's birthday! Yay! Sister Dahneke is now a big 22 year old. One of the Chinese members baked her a cake and we had a little party for her. She also got a package filled with exotic American treats, like pop tarts and tootsie rolls. :)

Happy Birthday Sister Dahneke!

Our district leader also made her a cake. It was chocolate and it was delicious.
The excitement I felt at being able to eat this cake is apparent in my facial expression.

The American package filled with American candy. And poptarts.

Well this week we have been working so hard, I come home every night exhausted. But I know that our hard work will pay off and that we will see miracles because of it! I have learned that you can't just sit around and expect awesome things to happen - you have to go make them happen! The Lord will help those who trust Him and then go get to work.

The four flatmates

 Humber Bridge with the epic full moon in the back

I love my mission, I love England despite its interesting weather patterns, I love the Lord, and I love all of you guys! Have a crazy amazing week!!

Love,

Sister Larson

Chapter 27: New Investigators and New Superpowers!

Meagan needs a superhero name in honor of her new powers... please leave a comment here or on Facebook if you have a contribution...

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty great. First off, we have a new investigator! She's one of the friends Ting Ting brought to FHE last week. Her name is Lina, she's Chinese, and she lives in the same flat as Ting Ting. She's living with her son, who's a student at the Uni, so she's an older woman. She's great though, we've taught her a bit of lesson 1 and she's excited to read the Book of Mormon. When we asked her if she'd read it, she said, "If it gets me closer to Jesus Christ, then of course I will!" So she's doing pretty good.

Other than that, we've just done a lot of finding this week. Of course, there was one other exciting highlight of the week: I GOT MY CAST OFF!!! Finally! It's pretty weird walking around without a boot, but it's doing okay. Not only that, but because I broke it, I have a new superpower: my foot gets achey when it's going to rain. So, I can finally predict the English weather that is notoriously unpredictable. I need a superhero name... I'll have to think of one. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

My companion and I have also had fun this week rewriting the lyrics to classic hits. We make the lyrics more applicable to missionary life. Like, "Finding in the Rain," a rewrite of "I Set Fire to the Rain," or "What Makes You Spiritual," a rewrite of "What Makes You Beautiful". We'll get the full album out eventually. :)

Well this week has been full of little miracles and hard work to make them happen! I know that miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but that it is only through faith and hard work that they come about. So be faithful, work hard, and watch those miracles happen! I love you all! Have a super awesome week!

Love,
Sister Larson

Meagan also sent some pictures this week but they didn't come through the ether properly... hopefully we'll have lots next week!