Peru

Peru

Monday, September 21, 2015

Back to the Real Work

Wednesday and Thrusday I was able to work half days and so got to keep doing my job as far as training in the family history center. Then the weekend it is full blow. I would probably be lying if I said I was 100 percent but it was seriously soo good getting back. We met with a few people i havent seen in awhile and one lesson seriously went as follows: Manuel asks us ´´I have a question, Why do I feel so relieved and good when I read the book of mormon?´´Seriously it was a very beautiful time for me to appreciate seeing people feel things for the first time. 

I was thinking about how Christ was a kid i am sure he didnt quite understand his role as the savior of the world. He was born with all knowlege he learned ´´grace by grace´´ and I feel like he like all of us just wanted to know his purpose and do his fathers will. when we was baptized he heard the fathers voice, who knows maybe for the first time out loud with other people present saying that he was pleased with his son. There have been many times where I have felt like a million bucks because my parents were proud with a way that i acted or served someone. but more than that, there is nothing better than feeling like you have pleased our heavenly father. In many ways i feel like family history has helped me not only find my identity with people in the fam, but my identity as a divine daughter of our heaveylk father. 

Saturday was tough. I just remember feeling so beat and had chills where my rash is and at the same time couldnt stop thinking of how much i wanted to itch it all the time, and so I just kinda pushed through and members were like, hey you dont look good, so i told my comp ya i dont feel too hot right now and she is just awesome and just looked me straight, you need to seriously tell me how you are, your health will impede you from working well if you dont feel well. So i took a 20 minute power nap and the lord seriously blessed us with the rest. 

My bro sent me this quote ´´The atonement is not just to cleanse, but to complete, not just to comfort, but to compensate; not just to liberate, but to lift.´´ he seriously is the best. I know this amazing power is true. I have felt close with the savior and just trust him with all of this even though it is still kinda dumb to me that i got shingles. like fer real i am 20. haha 

The Lord has blessed us in many ways. This is my comps. last week in the mission so it is kinda a wake up call for me to see how lucky it is to be here and that time really does pass by too fast. So I am grateful for my time here. 

Pics include me eating salsa in the mission home. The best members ever that are our neighbors, and getting back to the room. 

Today a member is going to take us to some ``cool places`` and we will pass p day like that!

wahoo to mission wahoo to all of you reading this, hope i havent decined in my skill of emails.... 


peace love blessings

hna. larsen  

tal luegito





Monday, September 14, 2015

But I am 20 years old??

Interesting week. AFter moving the house the other week i told my comp that i was unusually tired the past few days and that something was going on with my back. asked her to check it out and she goes oh dear i know what that it. i think you got shingles. I just started laughing BUT I AM 20 YEARS OLD. We went to an internet cafe looked up the symptoms and stuff sure enough it matched up. So long story short I have been cooped up detained from the world here in the mission home for a whole week.

The first few days i didnt sleep much and it got a lot worse. After coming back from the hospital the second time president asked how i was and i just said tired was all. He kinda just goes Larsen just relax everything is good we have a new missionary and etc. everything is working out thanks to the lord so just chill dont stress and i dont really know why but i was so tired after getting a shot and the second trip to the hospital and overwhelmed cause the doctor was all this is going to take 2 to 4 weeks of rest and i was thinking i dont have that kind of time. Anyway when everyone was telling me to not stress i felt like i was more nervous so naturally i started to get teary eyes. That night was a humbling experience. I really had to accept everything and get over the fact that i couldn't beat this dumb shingles thing if i didn't rest. So the following 4 days i slept and slept and watched a few movies. I am feeling a lot better. 

 LESSONS I LEARNED

1. I was able to read the WAY TO Be book by Gordon B. Hinckley and I just want to recommit myself to being better. being true. smart. positive. clean. still. prayerful. humble. just everything. Anyway one thing i liked that he said ´´those who look forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out´´ Being contained to a bed was a good opportunity for me to read many great talks scriptures and books. I truly know that prophets are the mouthpiece of God and they say exactly what we need to be doing. 

2. I was definitely humbled a few days into the whole shingles business that i just really had to pray to the lord. In that prayer i felt like my understanding of christs atonement was broadened and that he truly knew my pain not only physically but just being sad and lonely. It hasnt been fun being by myself while everyone gets to work. Anyway, i just remember more than anything being really grateful for the gospel in my prayer and all the help i was getting. 

3. I know the priesthood power is real and that blessings exercise faith. During part of presidents blessing i felt like dad was giving it to me. 

I guess i dont really know this whole thing happened, i dont feel stress, maybe it is just an exhaugtion thing from my body, but through it all, i do have an even greater desire to be heathly so i can go back and help bring others to the knowlege of the atonement as i have felt it his past week. I am grateful for the knowlege that one day everyone will get the gift of a resurrected body. Can you imagine how amazing that it. and its free. we are all getting one. I have realized how important a functioning healthy body is in all of this work. But in a way, i feel like if we didnt have these moments of pain we wouldnt appreciate it so ya we are grateful here for everything. so that is where i am at. love yáll

Oh we opened the family history center to the public and had an open house for the stakes to just come check it out and it turned out great. Some guy from the 70 came and said that we are the first center in the whole area meaning like peru ecuador bolivia and 2 other countries which is so amazing. he said we are apart of something big and that we will be the example for many others to come, so huge opportunity i am really excited. Many people were able to send names, stake presidents, new members, it was all very beautiful. So i was able to escape on sunday a little to help. 

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

tha work in progress

How we doin back home family?
Started the day off well with a nice service project. we literally lifted up her house and moved it 180 degrees so her door was facing the other way. I dont really know why she wanted it like that but it took team work from the zone and it was just a good morning. 

highlights of the week

I dont really know how to explain how fun it is being with pres. and hna. zobrist they just remind me of the family life and maybe that`s why i think it is fun. we see them just about everyday as we do these trainings. So the center is up and running and we have already asked for more computers because we are thinking that we are going to be needing more which is awesome. There was a missionary that sent names to the temple, and i just was like probably overly happy for him, but still i feel like this work is such a neat opportunity. It is hard trying to balance it with the area, but we are doing the best we can. 

Something i read in the bible dictionary that i really like was about miracles,it is a natural results of the Messiah’s presence among men. We have spent the week taling about turning hearts. The theory that i have come down to is that it is when you decide to act on the spirit that touches you and it works in such a way that you have no more desire to do wrong (mosiah) Changes like that are so amazing. The lord asks us to change in such a way that we need to be born again. That is so big and i feel honored to be here inviting people to recieve this change, even if they dont completely understand it, they feel it. 

I feel like i am where i need to be. My pensionista is severely depressed with things that have happened in her life and has distanced herself from the church but she said that we are helping her by bringing happiness back to her life. She really opened up to us and i just told her that she has a purpose and that she can still have a happy eternal family. 

I heard from Jorge my first convert who was baptized in october and he wrote me saying that the church is like his second home and it just made my heart so happy because i hadnt heard about him since i left. Prayers are answered , sometimes delayed, but answered. 

As i do all this family history my appreciation for all of you family members has definitely aumented. I hope you know that i love you all and appreciate all the sacrifices you have made to make our family a happy eternal one. Love my three brothers who have taught me how to be fun, how to work and plan, and how to care. Thankful for my parents who have prepard me well to love and serve these people. dad during my interview iwth president he basically just talked to me about golf. Then he said if you beat me i will buyyou a car, what will you give me if i win? I told him i would take him and his wife out to eat at his favorite restaurant so pray that I remember how to play and hit em straight!!! haha seriously i am nervous now. 

FOTOS

Sucess at the Family History Center
Today we moved a house. just took everything out and then moved it around to the other side of her lot. 
pres and sister zobrist trying out the desks of the family history. 





The 3rd Companion



Strong Teaching Moment: So we are teaching this woman Marcia and she is telling us about how she is open to do the Lords will for her but that she is like a Trunk in the catholic church. We had explained the restoration and everything and she just has recieved answers for years that every church leads you to god. As i was praying on what I could say or share to help her understand i just decided to share my testimony. In that moment I felt the Spirit there testifying with a power that isnt mine. There is 1 church that jesuschrist himself established, and after years of being lost it is here again in full glory. She said later in the lesson she knew that ``gods presence is here`` She is willing to pray again to ask the only one who knows everythign if this church is true. 
 

One of the best things that I love about the mission is that we get so much guidance and many opportunities to learn and then put it into practice. The General Bishop came this last week Bishop Stevenson and it really was a great talk. He is incharge of buying the temples and all that stuff so things are looking good for the Arequipa one. I am guessing another 3 years until it is all built. Most of his message was about the importance of having the Spirit with us. Then, create an environment in which the spirit can testify and speak. The spirits role in every persons life is so important and that is why we need to be sensitive to what we feel, and try our best to act on those things. I cant really describe how I felt but then we had leadership meetings with the president that night and the following morning. 

After a few meetings we got back to the area, and my whole body just ached and i was so extremely tired. I was so ready to make changes and teach with more power but my body was just wasted. I went bedside and said a prayer just asking for strength and just waited got up and then used my faith and got ready go. May have taken an IB proufen as well haha my comp asked. are you not tired? i told her that I prayed and felt a lot better and invited her to do the same. The area is lookin up. 

Even though we dont have a ton of time in our week spent in the area we are seeing miracles. 3 investigadors came to church. 1 we hadnt been able to find in over 3 weeks. He stayed all three hours and then at night time we went to the church to help with the choir and he was in there haha he cant even. His name is manuel and is missing his pointer finger, but that doesnt slow him down cutting wood for a living. He came to choir practice cause he heard there was one, nothign else. When I walked in I just smiled so big and jsut yelped MANUEL!!! I love teaching and just helping the members. 

HAPPY FAMILY HISTORY MONTH OF SEPTEMBER (seriously church wide) we are going to train all the missionaries this month in the center. Please pray for us and that we can have the spirit of elija and all that jazz. haha and for better internet. 

luvsssss

hna. larsen






Here comes the BOOM



WE HAVE APPROVAL FROM THE 70!! So, President and sister Zobrist called on Wednesday, and told us that we are going to make some plans because we the okay. Thursday, we went to see the family history center where it will be located. Right now it is just a church building that they used as an institute but it was so small that they built another one. needless to say, it is going to be perfect!! 

The month of September we will be training Every. Single. Zone. so 15 zones. The honest truth is that I was feeling a little super worried for our WARD. How in the world are we going to help people progress if we aren`t in the area, but I have the faith that we will be able to use the time wisely and still help this ward progress. 

Yesterday, we went and visited a less active who is coming back to the church, and she said that she doesnt feel that she is clean and has completely repented. We walked through the steps of repentance with her and I truly felt the spirit of repentance. I know that it isnt a punishment but rather a way to feel lighter and happier. i am thankful for this time that I have as a missionary with the proper authority from god to declare repentance and help others chose a better way to live. 

We also met a 16 yr. old who is a convert for a little over a year and less active. The poor thing jsut started to tell us all this stuff going on in her life. and i felt like i needed to ask her how her relationship was with her parents. She began to just trust us with EVERYTHING and is passing for some real struggles, and doesnt feel like her parents are an outlet. I know that there is a reason we have parents. No matter what type they are, there is a commandment to honor them. They dont give her permisson any more to come to church, but I know that as she is prayerful and hopeful, the Lord does and will provide a way for her to keep his commandments.  I love helping these people in times of sorrow, find hope and a reason to be happy. My favorite part of the mission, is feeling like ii am helping people find solutions to their problems and to help them find solutions for themselves. es the best i loove it. 

We had a meeting with all the people who are going to help us get the cetner up and running, and someone said, we need to thank god for this great privelage we have to be apart of preparing the people of arequipa to recieve the temple. This is a huge step in the preparation. One thing is clear to me, i am not the best at recognizing blessings, and i really do feel lucky to be apart of this. Many times I think wow i dont really feel like a missionary when all i do is think of how we are going to arrange the tables and computers and stuff, but i know that God has a purpose for me with this calling. I am no expert, but i do feel of the importance of doing it and the spirit behind it. 

Working close with the president and his wife is a blast and they just keep me laughing. 

I love my family, and baby randy there are prayers comin your way. 


fun things about peru:  Anytime you see a patch of grass or a tree it is called a park. No matter if it is just 1 tree or  5 feet of grass it is automatically a park. 


xoxo 

if you are bored and want to listen to a crazy spanish song type in michilala corazon cerano and you will have a good time. we heare it EVERYWHERE and it is making me crazy

hna. larsen



Personal Interview



1 YEAR DOWN and tears have been shed. So normally people tell me they write a big everythign that they have learned in a year but...sorry i am going to talk about his week. just so much.

UCEDA EXPERIENCES-he is the area 70 and a great servant of the Lord
1. So he first talked to the missionaries in Arequipa for 5 hours. What i learned was that there is lots to improve. which is good. We all got to shake his head and tell him our names before the metting. During the meeting I responded to something and he said, gracias hermana larsen. That really surprised basically everyone that he remembered my name. It was a moment to me that i realized that this gospel is personal, like we all know, god knows us by our names, and that was re-emphasized to me in that moment. One thing he asked us to think of is how we are praying. AFter that day I was able to really focus on making my prayers effective and I have seen the blessing that have come from that. 
2. All the leadersof the mission were called yesterday to have another meeting with Uceda. Just so great. He made a great point, he asked why would God call people with no teaching skills to preach the gospel? None of you have had experience teaching. I said, well it is the same with Joseph Smith, he had desires to serve God and God was able to mold him into a prophet. He then proceeded and said excellente ejemplo hermana larsen. He REMEMBERED my name. jsut nuts. He then interviewed 5 people and you called it. It was a great opportunity for me, he told me things that I needed to hear, nad just made me realize that as a missionary i can make promises to people as they strive to do what is right. 

He asked us all about 50 times to repent, at first i was like what in the world but with time i was like duh he just is inviting us to become better, to change. We all need a little of that. If we are comfortable, we arent progressing. 

RELIZATIONS

1. Talking is not Teaching :  People need to see the happiness that his gospel brings us.
2. OLA Orar, Leer, Asistir (pray read and go to church) You cant explain spiritual things. It is so hard to explain to others the spirit. THey way they feel it is by DOING. We learn by experience.

about 50 billion more things but i wont bore you.

I love this work way more that i ever thought. It will never run out which is a good thing :)  #spiritjunkie Ricardo is the father of a recent convert who has come to all activities that we have invited him to and 2 times to church. The coolest part for me was to see how happy his son was to have his dad at church with him. He has never been super religious, or read the bible, but as we teach, we see he is welcoming this way of life with open arms. Grateful for seeing small acts of faith every day. 

SPECIAL NOTE FOR TODDY: you wil be so proud dad, i won in MINI golf against the office elders. Then, at the end when it was the one that in sucks up everyones ball I made it into that little hole that is like 2 centimeters than the ball itself, and won a free game. Thanks for all the practiced, it really payed off. 

PHOTOS:
got to play football which was fun last p-day.
The group made it to a year
Made pancakes for a family night :) so delicious. it has been awhile. 

love you all prayers comin your way and for baby randy

hna. larsen






CUZINZ IN PERU :)

Yesterday, during ward council i truly felt the worry and sorrow that our bishop has for his flock. 71 people came to sacrament meeting. Now more than ever we truly need to help him, bring in the forgotten and lost sheep. The less active are the forgotten and we are the less actives for not going to show them love.  It will take more than just us, and i know that together we can help.. Something i read that I really enjoyed and thought about is that as it talks of the grand council god had in the premortal life. It seems to imply that he did exactly that COUNSELED. I realized thats why we have leadership counsels, to see how we can bring about the work of our heavenly father. Obviously, god expressed his desires of having all his spirit children progress and his way of seeing the plan, so when satan said I will MAKE EVERYONE OBEY and I will get the glory it just makes me super grateful for the savior who said thy will be done and the glory be thine. He understood the importance of agency to our father in heaven. 
My mom has always said there are too many chiefs and not enough indians in our family. For a second this made sense. Jesus christ is the best at fulfilling the desires of his father. I hope that i will be a better person as to better help the Lord accomplish and fulfill his plans. More than anything i just want to keep developing my testimony in the savior throughout my life.. Sometimes i think it is just something in the mission, but NO it is a life thing that i want to keep. 

That was super fun to see the nicholls here in peru. Fun to have a classic peruvian meal. That was actually the first time i tried Cuy (guinue pig) here on the mish. not too bad. It was so great seeing them I hope i wasnt too weird, it felt just like they were coming to salt lake or something and they picked me up from school to go to cafe rio or something ahah. we are seriously so blessed to have the best family every. One thing i realized that makes us so close is that our family sacrifices things for each other and puts a lot of effort into everything we do. I have recieved an unreal amount of postcards emails packages from so many of you. Thanks so much. This family history thing is just making me super sensitive to realizing how unique my family is. I love you guys. forever and ever. happy tears for days. 

as for the work, we have had some really cool lessons with amazing people here that really want to change their lives.analcoholic for example read the restoration booklet and as we explained, i asked what do you feel as you hear of this plan god has brought back and he said, i feel like 25 kilos is over me. super sweet guy just wanting to change his life. Another one, at the end of the lesson he prayed and asked Help me to know if this church is true. I felt the sincerity of his plea and felt the little spark down the spinee. THE SPIRIT ALWAYS TESTIFIES TO A SINCERE HEART. Missions are the best. so blessed to be apart of this amazing and glorious time in the world. 

This week we will be enlightened for 5 hours from elder uceda who is in the 70. wahooo i`ll be sittin in that spirit zone 

love you all. 

1 peter 1
 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of lambwithout blemish and without spot:
 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation ofthe world, but was manifest in these last times for you
the atonement needs to become personal 

PHOTOS:


so our mission leader is a  little person and i love him
cuzinz foreverrr and whereverrr
i couldnt attatch a video of me sillystringing rach for graduation but you can all image it.

LIBRES DE ESCOGER

Que tal?

So we finished all the conferences FINALLY. I have to admit i was fightin myself in the last one because i had heard it 4 times but in every single one they were a little different and i have learned so much about myself, the person i want to be, and how i can teach better. aka SPIRIT. the spirit does it all. There truly is no better feeling that the spirit am i right or am i right. So after one conference we made it back to the area and were pretty wiped out but i was just filled with the faith that god has people waiting for us. there is a family that we are trying to get married so that they can be baptized, and they have been in the process of getting papers for about a year withougt really getting the papers. So as we went ther ewe felt we needed to talk of the proclamation to the family. It is amazing when people understand and feel the power and purpose of family. I asked the dad after the first two paragraphs why the fmaily is important. He said, they are ordained from god so in a way it is a commandment. I could see it just click within him. We didnt read the whole thing, but the spirit was strong as we talked of the power to have families sealed for the eternities. I told them of the day all of us larsens went to the temple toghether before i left for the mission. I remember distinctly asking myself in the celestial room, why inj the world am i leaving them. The answer was reconfirmed once again while here in the mission that I am here to help others have this same blessing. Baptism is a great step, but i know that those peoples joys is SO much better if they stay strong and go to the temple. Pres. Nelson said, start with the end in mind. I have committed myself to focus more on this perspective of every parent, child, and person, and to help them feel and trust in god more. 

I love driving in the car with president and his wife. I always feel super at home. He calls hna. zobrist ol`lead foot cause she drives just SOO fast. He was telling us aboutwhat is happenin with the world, and donald trump and mexicans and all this stuff. One thing i admire about pres. is that he is just super real with who he is and trusts us all a ton because he knows that we have to learn to be obedient for ourselves. He understands agency perfectly. The way he corrects people also, is super cool. Just lots of love and lets them spill it. haha AFter having seeing all the missionaries in these last two weeks, i have seen that there are miserable missionaries and happy ones and it is a choice. We are doing the work of salvation and we have every right to be on cloud 9 every single day. 

For anyone that wants a good read 2 Ne. 4 keep in mind that this is Nephi one of the coolest prophets ever and even he felt weak sometimes. I love how real he is with himself in this chapter. Trust in the lord, deposit your trust in him, and everything else follows. 

I got to see people from my group again. Owen was my comp in the CCM. This guy gave me his police hat when we helped him move houses all day saturday :)

thats a wrap.

xoxo 
hermana larsen



Traveling Traveling

There once lived a girl in a land called Logan who was trying to make a decision. She prayed and prayed and waited and waited asking the Lord what she should do. She takes after her father and is very impatient so one day as she left the temple she said, okay lord I am going to do it, just let me know if i am making the wrong choice. That girl is now so thankful for that moment that she decided to go and cant even fathom the idea of not having come to this beautiful place in Peru. 

I was able to travel to Tacna, moquegua, and Ilo learning even more from president, and other missionaries. Basically, our new goals, is to work with families instead of individuals. our talk came together well as we continued to work int he time we had and it evolved into what we felt our mission needed. 

Got a STACK of letters and postcards. Thanks to all the faithful letter writers out there, you keep making me look popular. 

AFter all the traveling we wer excited to get a FEW hours in the area to gt to know a few more people, and the lord seriously blessses us as we are faithful. The members are so excited to work with us and it just seems right that we are here. We had a famiy history activity on sunday night and it was the same thing we did in mollendo but this time we had adults representing their dead ancestors. As they presented the spirit was so so strong. You could tell that they really were thankful for the people that did their temple work and it was a good time to reflect on why we have temples. It is super rare to see strong families here i think anywhere actually and just the way they treated each other it was th emost sweet sincere marriage i have seen in awhile. 

presidnet made a big spanish woops htat made us all laugh during one of his conferences he goes ´´tenemos que pensar fuera de la caca´´ We need to think outside of the poop haha he was trying to say box which is (caja) right after he just goes okay that was bad. He is a good guy i have learned to just be a real person with him, not try to be anything that your not around different people. It was kinda weird because as we traveled it felt like a famiy road trip. Something that tickled my heart strings was when he was talking to the zone in tacna about feeling the spirit he said when we were coming down here larsen and kuhn were singing in the back and i told sister zobrist i feel like our kids carley and katie are in the back, and i felt the spirit of elijah. haha it made me feel good like i was part of the family for a sec. 

This week we will have 3 more conferences and then finally be able to turn that page and get the acutal center up and going. 
I love this stuff!

D and C 138  12 And there were gatheretogether in one place aninnumerable company of the spirits of the justwho hadbeen faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived inmortality;
 13 And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of thegreat sacrifice of the Son of God, and had sufferedtribulation in their Redeemer’s name.
 14 All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hopeof glorious resurrectionthrough the grace of God theFather and his Only Begotten SonJesus Christ.
 15 beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness,and were rejoicing together because the day of theirdeliverance was at hand.
I want to be one of thos just people, faithful in my testimony of jesus and who sacrificed something to understand the power of the atonement more in my life. I love you and the lord odes too! 

love hna larsen