TEACHING IS FUN

So last week as you know nobody came to church, and throughout the week we discovered why. One person that we have been teaching (Walter, I know brothers I know start joking now) came but didn’t want to enter solo haha so when we went to see him Monday he goes, can you come every day until my baptism so I am prepared. He has been super fun to teach and this week I began to see a change in him. Things he has said.

1.       The other day I was thinking of Joseph Smith and he motivates me to do good and to be brave

2.       I couldn´t sleep in the night and I was about to turn on the TV and then I thought no I should read more of the book of Mormon instead 

3.       We told him of General Conference and he got the impression that Pres. Monson was coming to peru and when he realized that it’s a live broadcast he goes ahh man I wanted to ask him a few questions. Bless his heart. The good news is that all his questions and doubts and worries definitely will be answered this Saturday and Sunday if he prays to find them. I have been bouncing off the walls declaring to all of peru of prophets and priesthood and GENERAL CONFERENCE. 

I hope that he continues to feel of the spirit. We asked him what he has liked about the book of Mormon, and he goes well I am in 3^rd nephi right now and…I just bursted out laughing WHAT!! We have been teaching you for 2 weeks and you are in 3^rd nephi?! I truly couldn´t even believe it. 

FUNNY OF THE WEEK: My pensionista had a stomach ache this week (women stuff) and anyway she asked the elders to go buy her pads it was so funny. When the elders were gone we were chattin and I told her that tampons are better and she just looked at me like I had murdered someone.  #3rdworldcountries #nomodernization 

Things are good here in Mollendo. The only really bad thing is that like this strange warm winter in Utah, Mollendo has never been so hot. Normally the heat would decline right now and it has gotten hotter without wind….so ya #sweatyskirt  wetgarments  I wouldn’t change anything though, I love serving in this work.  There is a member Juan Carlos who is probably the most active member helping the missionaries I have ever met. Anyway, he came on visits with us and he began to explain faith with HARRY POTTER. Yes. I was in heaven. For my fellow hp fans he explained having faith with being able to produce a patronus, you have to really feel and believe that you will produce one. I was just flabbergasted. I truly do miss Harry Potter,  but that made me so happy. Hmmm what else is happenin, there has been a huge riot here in the town and sometimes we had to stay close to our house cause people were protesting against the mine. It was cray and they sent 1000 policemen from lima because I guess 4 years ago, the people from this town lit busses and places on fire, and threw rocks in houses and stuff. Real hoodrat stuff.  

My comp just cried for a solid 40 minutes Tuesday because she felt like I did last Sunday, and I just had to help her to see all the blessing and good things that are happening in our area.

PHOTOS: we teach walter on the beach. he is the one who has the doorag. he is so chill. the member is juan carlos 

luh u from peru! have a happy conference and try not to take a nap! Pray that i will be able to watch in _ENGLISH. god bless the language of the restoration. srsly. 

Durmingo

Dormir (to sleep) + Domingo (Sunday) 

Hemos trabado como negritas este semana. We worked super hard this week and we had 7 investigators who were planning on coming to sacrament. and guess what ALL 7 CAME. sike. a big. fat. 0 for 7 came. it was a shot to the heart. To top it off the 3 less actives that were going to come didnt either. So ya after sacrament i just wanted to cry. It wasnt exactly that they didnt come but rather, what can i do. Is it me? am i not working hard enough? I fought back a few tears in gospel principles class and wasnt quite ´´in the class´´ Like the grinch i was ´´wallowing in self-pity´´ ( side note: havent lost my quotes) For a moment though i was able to catch a glimpse of what the savior might have thought for us when we dont obey or when we dont reach our potencial. It hurts thinkink of disapointment. worse than any physical pain i think. All i could think of in this moment is that i need more patience. They will come with patience. After church, i was waiting for my comp outside of the bathroom and CHRISTIAN walks by. He is the less active 18 year old who i may have mentioned before. We will rescue him this next week. He is a rockstar. He works super hard to help his family and was working from 8 pm until 6 sunday and he still came to church. He told me ´´sorry i was late, but i needed to come´´ He is someone we met our first week here and from that first time, i had felt like ya i need to help this kid. He is super shy, but i am just my crazy self, and he is talking and sharing a lot now. I has seen a change in him. He like REALLY listens to me. We gave him a white shirt last week and when he came to church he wasnt wearing it but said that he was getting it fitted and the tailer had it. Just made me so happy. So even though ALL the people that we have worked with didnt come, there was a purpose.

OTHER HAPPIES OF THE WEEK

1. It was the birthdy of relief society and of course they had a fiesta here. Unfortunatly, everything isnt planned super well and there was  a huge gap in the program waiting for music and dancers so i just took the mic and livened the place up a little bit.I live for the spotlight #dorothy4eva It was super fun. My comp was just laughing at me, she didnt think i would actually do it. It felt super good to just be myself and still be missiionary. sometimes, we get caught up being missionary robots but i know that god called ME to be here, not some image of a serious missionary. 

2. MIRACLE of the WEEK

Wednesday night we were in the chapel, which usually we arent, but this woman walked in and said she wanted to know more of god. We showed her around and chatted with her for abit. She left her house with the only intention to come to this church. She is awesome and was such a cool experience. We chatted with her a bit and here are a few things i remember that she said. ´´When i walked through the door, i felt like someone hugged me´´ We asked her to pray after giving a lesson and she said, I have never ever prayed in my life. She said {´´Forgive me forall the days that i havent thanked thee´´ Just so sweet. Unfortunately, she doesnt live in our area...but we will keep an eye out for her. It was just a way amazing experience to see someones true desires.

 FUNNY/SAD

I was playing the piano in sacrament and the poor peeps cant follow a tune at all. Half of the congregation was a solid 3 seconds behind the other half and i was just on the piano half laughing half thinking do i pause and wait for them to catch up. IT was super bad. #welcometoperu #perusgottalent

Anyways, i love you famil and friends. Wish you a good week. LOVE

hermana larsen

Sweating like a sauna

Well the beach was supposed to cool down this month but it has been just the opposite. Hotter than ever. 

Friday evening and Saturday i dont know why i felt a little weird and while my comp was showering i just prayed with sincerityand then after i was just able feel better. I do know that god listens to us. 

PEEPS

1. Cristian the less active young adult: We met with him yesterday and talked of the plan of salvation. I shared with him the scripure in alma 34 that this life is the time for men to prepare to meet god. I asked him what he would like to do to prepare and he was looking at the scripture for a while and then looked up and goes i want to pass the sacrament again and i really do want to go on a mission. He then asked us what motivated us to be here. It was a really special experience. We also got him a white shirt to wear on sundyas because he has been coming for just about 2 months now. I know that the branch has been wanting missionaries and i do know that he will be a great one if he sticks to his plan to prepare. 

Something i learned.

Pray like everything depends on God and then work like everything depends on You. 

Basically, i feel really good about being here in Mollendo, i just want to find a way to help the branch be more dependant. 

We had a talent show and we said come at 6:30. Want to know what time it started 9....so we didnt get to see much. we just had to do our part and leave....but it was super fun none the less. 

Had a huge bowl of broccoli and just about died of happiness. Only bad thing, my bod isnt used to these vitamins haha

luh u

hna larsen

sorry that the email wasnt super good but next week will most likely be better 

FUN FUN FUN

Last pday we went to this beach and ended up having to cross this tributary to get to the other little pueblo. So ya the whole zone was up to chest water crossing this river. My poor comp is so tiny that had to get a piggy back from an elder because 1. the current would have swept her away adn 2. she doesnt know how to swim. But it was pretty funny. 

The week started off with exchanges. Hna Klinger came to mollendo and it was just so fun. I felt like i was just running around peru with my best friend sharing the wonderful news of the restored gospel. Katerine prayed for the first time with us and the whole lesson was just super sincere. We just listened to her tell us her feelings for 2.5 hours and she figured out everything on her own, just needed people to listen. When she prayed she ended and just criend and me and klinger just hugged her and it was one of the sweetest lessons i have had in the mish so far. 

This week, school starts so all the people that came for summer are leaving, along with some of our investigators....but ya we are teaching a FAMILY! my first family and they are so so sweet. They are still in love which is so so rare here in peru. It is crazy to find a married couple that still love eachother. #utahbubble Anyway, his name is Hugo and hers is Adela. They have a desire to know if this church is true and he said the only thing i can do is have an open heart. He is bomb. He said that he prayed but jsut needs help recognizing how he will recieve an answer. 

This week we had a lot of members from other parts of mollendo ask us why we werent in their area because they dont feel like the missionaries there are working. It was just a demonstration to me that people are always watching the missionaries. Members know if we are working, but more importantly heavenly father wants us to always be working. It was a wake up call to me to know that ya i am a representative of Jesus Christ in every single moment and that my behavior needs to fit that model. Grateful for the wonderful calling of mine. I was able to teach a less active of missionary work. We have been working with him and think he would be an awesome missionary and we were talking of the priesthood. It was way cool to share with him the experiences of growing up in a family full of preisthood holders who are worthy and amazing men. It was a lesson very special for me. 

Everytime i study, everything just makes more sense. The plan that god has or us, the way he restored his gospel, and the importance of prophets and the priesthood. The church is just so true erryone. EVERYONE DESREVES A LITTLE TASTE!!!!

much luv,

Hna. Larsen

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER

Funny o tha week: We found out that we are going to have divisions this week and HNA KLINGER who was in my last ward is going to come here for a day. It will be weird to be in the area without my comp and i told her that and she goes´´vas a estar con tú Baby Girl´´ haha you are going to be with your baby girl. she said that cause one time i answered the phone call from hna. klingler and said that. i laughed sups hard.

I think this week i learned to just DO THINGS! Like all the prophets in the book of mormon, especially nephi. they dont ever question, complain or ask for what purpose, they just trust in god and DO what he asks. Nephi didnt say why do you need a ship? We are in the desert...he just said okay ya i will build it, just show me how. If we just truly love god, we will follow and do whatever the lord asks.  I love that we have a prophet. One thing i read in general oconference talks was that when we sustain the prophet, we commit to pray for him, and follow ALL of his counsel, not just the things that are convenient for us. LUV that. Church is true my loved ones. 

The coolest experience this past week would probably be the following. Let me paint a picture....

Katerine is less active and feels guilty to go back to the church because right now she enjoys certain things like drinking and smoking that she knows are against the commandments. She even feels guilty and not worthy to ask god for help and for his blessings. The other day we came to her house and her son was a little bored so i gave him a pamphlet on the plan of salvation. His mom loved the idea and was like READ IT, it will help you. We started teaching her son where he came from and why he was here on the earth, and then he asked us a question and his mom (katerine) began to teach and it was just so beautiful. I just was sitting there smiling and had tears in my eyes watching this mom teach her son. This truly is what the mission is all about. Sharing the gospel with families. In this moment i just felt like ya this is what i want to do when i am a mom, teach my kids of the plan god has for us. Shortly after, the mom went to the kitchen to feed her other daughter and we finished teaching the boy to pray. We said a prayer and the mom walked during it. She then looks at him after and goes ´´You beat me. I havent prayed in awhile´´ The spirit was super sincere and it was just a moment that i wont forget. 

que les vaya bien!

tenga buen día

hna larsen

tha Beach

Coolest thing we have done here so far happened this week. We cleaned up trash on the beach and handed out bags for people to put their trash in and it was just so fun! We hear from everyone how bad the problem is so we decided to do a service with the whole zone and turned out well! It was perty nice to get our feetsies a little wet and just run around for a little while. My poor toes got burnt though cause they havent seen the sun. 

I really dont have much to say this week. sorry haha but something that i have learned that i like to do now is to declare repentance. Not to say hey you are not living right. but i have seen how repenting has helped me in the mission and just how much i need it that now i like to help others feel the same. 

We had no fixed appointments one day and had many temptations to just stay in the room with a fan or do laundry or something but we both were talking during our study that if we leave that god will help us find someone that needs us. It is true that god is in charge of this work. I dont do anything. we found an 18 year old kid juan who went to seminary at the church every night and was preparing to be baptized but the elders had a change and then the next elders didnt follow up with him. lo and behold, he told us that he remembered he could be forgiven completely of his sins. We were able to talk of repentance and baptism. super cool experience. he is ´´un buen muchacho´´ like the people say here. He says he wants to be better so that his little brothers grow up well. 

 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

This scripture made me happy. it is so true. we dont have to be doing anything bad to repent. we just realize that we love god and have a stronger desire to do more good. 

This branch needs a lot of help and not going to lie sometimes it is pretty frustrating. If missionaries werent here i dont know how they would function, but we are trying to help them the best that we can. 

Love you family

Funny of the week, someone said the other day about a member. ´´They call him osama bin ladin because his bombs are atomic´´ hahah referring to farting obvi. lolz love you all

hna larsen