NEW FAVORITE HOBBY

PAINTBALL!! jk my bruises have hurt all week but still, it was a really fun p-day. Lets just say stress was released. So the rule is if you get hit you put your hands up and go out. I snuck up and hit an hermana and she was supposed to leave, she just turns around and unloads like 4 shots on me and i wa sjust like woahhhhh gurl, lets just say i wanted to cry a little, but i was more mad than anything that i jsut remained neutral and shocked. Anyway, on to the WORK haha

This week was amazing for a few reasons. There was a broadcast for all the missionaries in the WORLD about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. Seriously it was such a good conference and we heard from elder anderson, bednar, and otherss. Something that caught my attenction was when someone said Always talk to everyone. always means always. so that is stuff that i could still work out. Literally talking to everyone when we are sitting down in the bus or whatever. 

THE WHOOPIE CUSHION: We went to pedregal this week and it i took the whoopie cushion cause usually we finish before president, and we were all playing with it. Seriously, no matter how many times you do it it never gets old. But like all good things it came to an end when a nice fat latino sat on it and it popped like literally a balloon. 

FAMILIES

we are teaching 3 families and it is the BEST! 2 of them are married, so even better. Eliana and Jose came to churhc for the second time yesterday after having been at a birthdya party until really late the night before, she said, that it was hard to come and she questioned if she should and felt like she needed to. She has the most willingness spirit to learn, and holds onto every last sentence when you teach.

Another family we found we started teaching the less active dad and his children (the wife wouldnt come out) but the daughter gave the prayer after and keep in mind it was her first one ever, and it was probably one of the most sincere prayers i have ever heard in my etire life, she prayed so her dad could have the strength to guide the family after all they have been through, and prayed that her mom would have a softer heart, just like so many things, that made me truly understand the purpose of prayer all over again. 

Families guys. they are the best. 

Went on divisions and i seriously love latinas they are the best, sometimes i think i should be one. They are so full of life and energy. It was crazy because Hna. Gil has been out 1 month in the mission, and when i was with her it was like a throwback realizing that i once was at that point that she was. 

Sup fam bam, debated even writing today because to be honest, i dont really know what to say if i am going to SEE YOU ALL SOO SOON!!!

But like all other weeks en la obra mision, it is full of beautiful spiritual rejuvenating experiences. With all the interviews we have, we get back to the area around 6 and work as hard as we can with the time allotted. I really really love teaching and so when we get back i just get so excited to see the people we are teaching. the majority are families! 

The other day a man was walking down the street with his little son and we said hermanas! We walked with him for probably a total of 30 seconds, and before he turned asked where he lived and when we could visit him, and he didnt really say yes, but said i live en house 18 maybe tuesday i will be home. So we went just in case and he was SO SURPRISED and he introduced us to his wife, and she is so receptive and like the scriptures describe, she recieves the word WITH JOY. I felt so happy just knowing that we were in the right place at the right time. They lost a baby that had 8 months, and they are looking for a hope and an answer as to why. We taught them twice this week, and came to an activity and sunday all three hours and just super happy to learn. seriously an answer to all my prayers. 

the other family we are teaching, they were less active and are in the process or activating and the dad isnt a member and he also has come 2 sundays in a row and to activities, he said in his prayer the other day that he was really thankful for the book of mormon and how beautiful the messages are. 

Also, last night we got back late, and i said lets just go find 1 person, and we took the directory and went to a member close and he hasnt been to church for 20 years and now is married with 4 kids and looking for a way to be a better dad cause he realized he doesnt put enough time into it. seriously, the lord guides this work and i feel blessed to be apart of it.

As far as going home, ya i am scared. not going to lie. more than anything i think i am disappointed in my faith. The lord does bless those who serve them, i just need to trust in his promises, and understand that even though i dont have any idea what i am doing when i get home, that he will provide the way for me. so we will see how it all goes. 

We FINALLY convinced a less active to come to the family history center with us and she kept saying, there are no birth certificates in my family and ....stuff. and so on the ride i was just praying that we would find what she needed to have a good experience, and we get there with her daughter, and she puts it in, and what do you know, we find her great gradpas death certificate and birth certificate, and when she realized she had tears of joy, and she sent the name to be done in the temple. It was so beautiful. She came to church yesterday.

I know that this work is a happiness you cant find in another place. The savior and his plan is perfect and marvelous. It is such a miracle that today we have the book of mormon, the prophets speak to our generation and warn us of pride and worrying about things of men. I love when I can see that others recognize that the Lord has restored the gospel because he loves us. 

love you all!!!

just some random photosssss

familyhistory4dayz

My comp Hna. Alducin is now home :( but she left happy and lookin good and feelin good so after droppin her off at the airport I went back to the mission home to organize a few things of family history with pres and hna zobrist. We had a zone conferences wednesday and thrusday to plan a part of family history, we did like a skit of people representing people in the spirit world who have accepted the gospel and are waiting. It is amazing how much a little thing takes a lot of effort to coordinate, but again i just pray that what i do will help the missionaries in some way. There was a moment when i was planning and president came in to see how it was all going and I just asked him a little about his reason for wanting to push family history and how he feels about his mission so far, and after I just felt like a huge wave of gratitute that I have to be able to do this work. The next day I got my comp Hna Anderson she is from Vegas and she is nervous/excited to be workin in family history, but she is already got full batteries and did great this weekend doing the trips to Ilo and Moquegua.

We went to Ilo and Moquegua doing like open doors for their stakes to come in and work on their family history. The hard part about doing it here, is the stakes have at most 1 computer to do it, hence us bringing down 4 laptops and going to town. My favorite part of doing it all is helping the old people because they get so so so thrilled if we find something it is the best feeling. I still have the problem of getting anxious not being in the area but when I start helping a person i truly do feel the spirit tell me i am doing what is asked of me, and the people are always so grateful, and when we send names to be done in the temple they ring the bell and then after is where I get to ask them how they feel and they usually end up sharing their beautiful testimonies. Family History will never really get old i think. When I was first assigned to the calling i was like oh great i am going to be stuck with this for seriously the REST OF MY LIFE, and it will probably be true, but it is a really cool spirit. 

Well all i can say is thanks for all the happy wishes of a merry christmas. More than anything I just feel really grateful for this year, really grateful for the savior and his role in everyones lives, a special pride being able to represent him this week especially. Here is to a very merr christmas! I will see you all on Friday!

hna. larsen

El comienzo de las ENTRAVISTAS

LITTLE MOMENTS make it AWESOME

So this monday me and my comp. split up during the night with members to visit more people and it was the FIRST time that we had a succesful division.  A lot of times we plan for them and then one member ends up bailing, but it worked out so perfectly and we were able to have such a wonderful night. I taught members grandson who isnt a member and I felt impressed to talk about the temple and family history and he understood everything perfectly, and it was just so cool to see that everyone truly can understand that families can be together IF we live the gospel of christ. #familyhistory

Wednesday, we prepared all the lists and stuff for leadership council which i wont go into details, but me and my comp presented part talking about family history and during the moment, I cant really describe it, but it was a moment where testifying truly the spirit was there with us during that time, and I realized that my testimony of the importance and reason for doing it is strong only when we understand what we are really doing. My favorite part and i am sure for many missionaries of the work is when you hear the converts bear testimony, and i get the same feeling when someone sends a name to the templ eand they tell me what they feel.

From there we traveled from to Tacna with president and his wife and the assistants to begin all the interviews with the missionaries. We were able to talk to each missionary about specific names of their converts and rescues and to see how they are using family history with them. It was from 8:30-12:00 and then from 1:30-6:30 we were sooo tired after but there were many moments during the interview that helped strenghten my testimony and the whole time, i was just praying that every single companionship could continue (or start) helping their converts and rescues. It was so sad to hear that many wards have had like 30 baptisms in the last year and only 2 are active, so family history is the best retaining source we have so we just tried to help everyone see that and have the courage and faith to DO IT with them! #familyhistory

We traveled back early saturday morning by bus cause pres. has stake conferences, but the bus made like a ton of stops and we got here around 6 p.m. it was pretty bad and hot but hey we made it. 

From there we were able to teach a few lessons again in the area. HALLELUJAH! seriously it was way cool because we taught a family who the dad isnt a member and they just moved from lima, and we talked about the restauracion and definitely felt the spirit and it was cool because he had read what we left and the kids are kind of less active but they all said they would go to church the next day and THEY DID! wahoo While in gospel principles we talked about the premortal life and what happened there and his eyes just lit up and he was asking questions, and said that he was more convinced that this gospel was true the more he learned. Anyway, I just feel really good when I get to teach after all those interviews, it is good to get back to the work work. 

good things happen every day when we look for the hand of the Lord. 

I wish you all a very happy week much luff

sorry about not having new photos from the week my camera broke......blehhh

hermana larsen