SO! New Years is a HUGE deal here. Bigger than Christmas and it was AWESOME!!! Everyone, including our neighbors were lighting off fireworks. And not like the wimpy sparklers, it was like the real thing. Basically we were in the middle of a war zone. Afterward there was smoke everywhere. Nuts. So needless to say, I didn't exactly get to sleep at 10:30 but I tried really hard! It was just that our house was shaking because of the constant fireworks. No big deal. But don't worry, we were perfectly safe. Promise. And some of our neighbors even brought over food! Pancit and spaghetti (the best spaghetti that I've ever had in my life!) It was a great time. And the rest of the week flew by!
I keep forgetting (Mom) that you don't know the details of my life. Just read the White Handbook and you'd know, geesh :) joke lang. So let me break it down for you. We wake up at 6:30 and exercise. Which for me, means yoga and some lame pushups and situps and such. Then we have breakfast. I ususally have oatmeal with a fresh mango or toast. Then personal study for an hour, companion study for 2 hours (because I'm still in training), and then we go out and work. For only one hour. After my training is over we'll have 1 hour of comp study and work for 2 hours in the morning. Then we come home, really sweaty, and eat lunch. Pancit (which is kind of like ramen noodles without the broth) and bread (tinapay). And then language study for an hour and then out to work from 2:30 until 8pm. We just visit anyone we have appointments with or that we have scheduled to visit and when we get "punted" (punted: verb. meaning that you try to teach someone that you probably had an appointment with but they say that they are too busy or they are not home or they send their kids out to tell you "wala sila daw" which means "they said they're not here".) and we try to talk to as many people that we can that we just pass by on the streets or whatnot and if they have a few minutes to spare we share a message about the Restoration with them . Then when we get home we update our planners, solidify our plans for the next day and update the area book. And then eat something for dinner. I usually eat popcorn. And then journal and bed. The end. Pretty glamorous.
If you want to know specific things you're probably going to have to ask me a specific question...
But as for this week... Honestly, yesterday was probably one of the best days so far on my mission. For a lot of reasons that are just hard to explain. Just know that I am loving life. But after the New Year, we found out that as a mission we exceeded our goal for baptisms for 2013 (which was 1350, yeah one thousand three hundred and fifty souls) there were actually 1368 souls that entered the waters of baptism in 2013. And our goal for 2014 is 1650. No big deal we're just baptizing more than the population of St. David. AND ...We had a Gospel Principles Sunday School class for the first time since I've been in the area! We had one investigator and one recent convert in attendance. It was a great lesson and it will be even greater when we get all of our investigators to come to church. Church attendance is the hardest thing for most of our investigators. But we're working with them and hopefully the more they understand how sacred our covenants with God are it will be easier for them to go to church.
President Martino asked each of us during our last interviews if we would commit to become a "sanctified" missionary and I guess I just assumed that this was like a missionary thing. I don't know why but I seemed to have missed the concept of sanctification until now. It's everywhere! I have found teachings of becoming sanctified in the Book of Mormon, in our Hymns, in the teachings of Isaiah and other Biblical prophets, in the words of our modern prophets, and even in the name of our Church. We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SAINTS. According to a footnote in Isaiah 13:3, the words "saints" and "sanctified ones" are synonymous. As my eyes have been open and my desire to become a sanctified missionary has increased I have been able to see the call for sanctification over and over again.
I relish this opportunity to give the Lord my all as I strive each day, each hour to become who He needs me to become so that I can help Him hasten His work and His glory.
We each have our part in the work of salvation and we have to be one. So get out and help your ward missionaries and share the gospel with others!! Mahal ko kayo (like a lot, a lot)
Sister Larson
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