Feliz Día de Amor y Amistad

Wassup!

So this branch needs a lot of reactivating so we are working with lots here. The problem with the beach, is that everyone goes and parties on sundays so they forget to come to church. The members need a lot of support and us missionaries are kinda running a lot of it here. 

Fav moments this week

1. While talking in sacrament, i look back and see about 6 members from my old area and started to cry. I dont really know why but i seriously was so excited to see them. They told me unfortunately that they closed my area in Miraflores.......worried for the people i was visiting. but the Lord will help them.

2. We didnt have any plans one day and it was so hard to leave in the heat not having a secure house to go into. But we are here to work right? The lord provides a way for everything. We searched for a less active knocked the door and a woman invited us in. She wasnt the one we were looking for but the lesson was beautiful. She expressed to us that she hasnt been to churhc in a long time and feels embarassed and ashamed to come back because she is drinking and smoking. (The bad part of this lesson was that a member was with us that doesnt have much tact and just cuts her off and goes, your body is a temple why are you desecrating it) ....But anyays, i just looked at this just looked at her praying to heavenly father to help me show love and i truly felt her potential as a daughter of god and wanted to help her. She knows what is right but just needs the strength to do it. Everyone needs to be loved. 

3.  Lots of members here are passing through things that are hard and we have been trying to support them this week. I learned a ton of faith from a woman who has been assisting church solo with a huge stake calling and her whole family is mad at her for always helping the church. They told her to leave the church to be able to be with the family more. That would be so hard, but she was strong and said i can never leave the church, because we need it to be a strong family. She has the faith to move mountains.

4. LIFE AFTER DEATH

Taught this lady whose husband died a long time ago about the plan of salvation and she goes, ´´Thank You for teaching me this plan. I really like it, and it gives me hope, but i dont know if i can change my religion,´´ I asked her if she felt the spirit tell her that she could be with her husband again if she would be baptized and she said yes. She has cancer and we werent able to go back this week cause hse is in the hospital in Arequipa, BUT we are praying for her. 

More than anything, I love people. For Valentines Day we sang kareoke with the family that is our cook. It was so funny because she is just like Gloria from Modern Family and just screams and yells and is full of passion. And so when she sang, super off tune, i was lolling hard. 

luh u all so much! 

Feliz Día de AMOR

Happy Valentines day my loved ones!!

I AM STARTING OFF DEEP

One thing that I have really felt this week is HAPPILY submit to what the lord has in store for me. To trust that he knows what i will need more than i will. I know that the power of willing accepting and smiling through the heat, tiredness, and emotionally tiring times will shape me be the person that he NEEDS me to be.  

I think it is interesting the choice of words that Enos uses ´´wrestled with the Spirit´´ sometimes we feel the spirit tell us what we need to change but naturally we dont change it. I felt the spirit many times tell me what needs improving and I told myself that i want to work on willingly changing and leaving behind my old ways. I never want to be the person that I was yesterday. Everyday i want to work harder, longer, better. I am grateful to have my companion by my side help me and to be in an area that needs un monton de ayda!! haha It motivates me to push on. 

My theme when i started the mission was the one of NIKE ´´just do it´´ (shout out to big brodduh Z for starting me off with this the night of the setting apart) Now it is ´´just do it with a smile´´

SOME FUNNY THINGS

There are enough dogs here to make an army and for the most part they are all so gross looking. Anyway, during the day my companion grabs me and goes OHHH NOOO ´´They are making more doggies´´ and i look over and ya just laughed. she is funny my comp. 

I know i probably shouldnt think it is funny but we were eating lunch and JAS means young single adults in spanish, and there is a member here who helps us a ton and thinks he is a part of this organization even though he is like 60 and goes I may not be JAS but I am AS. and with their accent they kept saying AS and just about wet myself because i was laughing so hard. 

SPANISH ERROR

A member went to buy us dinner and he is around 30 years old and asks what we wanted and i just said ´´soprendeme´´ Suprise me. and right then everyone just looks at me and i knew i messed up or said something wrong. I guess this term is kinda hmmmm sexual especially when someone asks you What do you want. 

Other than that, spanish is pretty fun. In this area i use very little english cause i am not around it and we share a cook with the zone leaders and the family usually eats with us and it was just way fun for me to sit back and realize. I am in peru, just chatting normally with these folks in their language and i can understand and tell them what i want. It isnt perfect by any means but im so grateful for where i am with spanish. Studying and prayer is paying off. 

Hope you all feel a ton of love and love from your savior and more importantly GIVE LOTS OF LOVE!!

those beach bums thou

Becuase it is hotter than hades here and we havent stopped sweating since we arrived, the clothing here is very scarse. So many short skirts that show just about ...ya you get it. Hece the title of my email. beach BUMS.  The downside to the heat is that even though it is super hot, we drink hot hot tea, and soup. We eat it happily though cause we are super hungry haha

Overview of Mollendo:

Seriously like the town of Bloomington as far as everyone knows everyone and the gossip of their great gran dad. haha Pros of this: The whole town knows that there are SISTERS in mollendo and they are all freaking out! Our pencheñista told us that the Young Single Adults always wear pants and polos to church on sundays but this sunday they changed because the heard that there would be hermanas. haha I know that we can do a lot of good here.

PRESIDENT ZOBRIST

He is the best. Seriously saved us. Bought us a fan and brought it to us Tuesday. He also told us of why we are here. He said I thought sisters should be in mollendo, and i prayed for what sisters could do it. I know that your names specifically came ot my head. You need to be exploded to all of Mollendo. You are not just going to work in your area but going to help everyone here. How cool is that. We have a way cool calling, we can enter in all zones. Basically the sister zone leaders. haha gosh my humor has gone downhill sometimes. I am actually laughing as i typed that. Now, we are just planning how we can attack the area effectively.

The area if you arent going straight up you are going straight down. so basically it is physically demanding. It´s normal to feel tired in the mission, but this heat is just draining me. I was having a really hard time yesterday paying attention well while we were fasting. I told my companion the other day that i was used to feeling tired, but here it is a whole different type. 

At the beginning of the week i was overwhelmed a little. Where in the world do i start here? We dont know any members. The elders before us didnt leave any information of who or where they were teaching. BUT i was reading the book of mormon and i just knew that the physical things and all dont mean anything if i just love god. I am here to serve and it doesnt matter what little things are inconvenient or anything. He is priority always. 

I luh u my fam and friends! 

LETS GO TO THA BEACH

TRASFERS brought me a change--MOLLENDO! 

La Area

1. There have never been sisters here so we will open the area. Reason: It may be a little dangerous at night with all the drunks by the beach, so our curfew is 8:30 haha

2. We dont have a room....YET

3. The beach is FULL because it is super

4. Is there a word for more than scalding hot?

but i am super excited to start fresh in a new area full of new people new experiences and all.

LEAVING MIRAFLORES HIGHLIGHTS

1. They know how to throw a wicked party. It was really cute, so many ward members were there and all said some way nice things. One thing that really made me happy was someone said ´´everyone has said how happy and joyful you are. It is true. and I know that it comes from your testimony´´ When we know why we are here, and how we got here, we have EVERY reason to be happy. 

2. My less active that i helped rescue (hna. nilda) i was sitting with her in Sacrament. Bishop said thanks hermana larsen for your service and the people you have helped bring to the church. NIlda grabbed my hand with tears in her eyes and says, ´´thanks hermana, i am here now thanks to you , i will never forget about you´´ Sometimes it takes leaving to realize how much god was able to do for you in the area. I love this work. 

3. I am going to miss my family here a ton but there is a reason for change. It is an honor to be the first hermana here. I am here to set a good image i think. 

3. PASTOR BOY. The whole week was awesome. Wednesday he had his interview, passed. Then, we went friday in the night and he started with ´´Hermanas i need to talk to you´´. Sign right? He expressed that one of the churches he was in charge of kind of broke down and the pastor isnt doing a very good job and that before he gets baptized he wants to leave it all in order. We explained that becuase it isnt the correct and true church it will always fall. The lesson was powerful and I was way more bold and strong than I have ever been. I made promises that i didn{t know or had ever thought of. I shared a scripture in Alma about those who reject the spirit after it has testified of truth is sin. He was very attentive and we recommited him. He said okay, you will come pick me up then at 5:30. Then the day of his baptism, i just never felt super peaceful. When we went to pick him uop and his mom said he was preaching we went anyways to the baptism of our zone and me and my companion just went to the chapel and may have shed a few tears. Mostly i was trying to make jokes and we were laugh crying. I learned a ton of about AGENCY the past week. IT is the only thing that is ours. everything else, our bodies, our talents , our lives is from God. At first i was confused both with my teaching with tito and with God. Felt a little stupid for having faith in him. But i know that god has a plan for him, and maybe i was just here to plant a seed and help him to know what is true. He will learn to make the decision right in the future.  

When i told him i was leaving he was really sad and was embarassed to come to the chapel for fear of the members that he wasnt baptized. He gave me a ring. Dont know how to feel about it. haha MORAL OF THE STORY there is still hope in TITo

OFF TO A CRAZY WEEK! prayers always 

 "In this life we are all just walking up a mountain and we can sing as we climb or we can complain about our sore feet. Whichever we choose, we still gotta do the hike.

xoxo

luh u all

HNA LARSEN