June 29th Pics

Baptism of Christopher John Aguinaldo

Beautiful Scenery in the Philippines

We found a rainbow!

Another Week...

Another great week! Of course, because HELLO all weeks are great weeks. 

CJ was baptized! It was awesome! One of his best friends got to be the one to perform the actual baptism and it was so AWESOME! He is doing great and one day he is going to be a great missionary. 

I just really love Sister Esirom. She's like...a gangster. But also really spiritual. Like a spiritual gangster. She was baptized about three years ago and I am so impressed by how deep her understanding of the gospel is. She really helps me realized how much I take for granted having grown up in the Church. She has a super powerful testimony. And I just love her. She's from Guam but her parents are from Chuuke so she speaks fluent Chuukese and English, knows some Chamorro (the native language of Guam) and now Tagalog. She's a rockstar. 

So yesterday we had a neat experience. We had just finished with one lesson and were headed to another house kind of far away, and my foot started killing me. It was the ankle I sprained a few months ago, and all of a sudden it just started hurting so bad that I could barely walk. So we stopped. And we prayed. And we asked Heavenly Father if we should continue to the appointment that we were headed to or if we should turn around and go visit a different family. Both Sister Esirom and I felt that we should turn and go the opposite way. So we did. And my foot immediately stopped hurting. We took that as a confirmation from God that our decision was correct. When we got there, the family was dealing with a huge problem and even though there wasn't much that we could do to help them, I know God sent us there to comfort and reassure them. There was no explanation for why my foot started hurting so bad or why it stopped just as suddenly as it started. But I know that it was not a coincidence. It was so powerful to realize that God really is in charge of the Work and I am one of His servants. I am so glad that we stopped to ask Him where to go and what to do. And I am so glad that we recognized His answer. I know that God answers prayers because He loves us and knows what each of us needs. And I love Him. And I love being one of His missionaries. 

Mahal ko kayo!!!
Sister Larson

June 29th pics

 we were walking next to them on the road so of course we started talking to them about the gospel and then when they reached their house we took a pic with them. it was the first time I've introduced the Church to someone riding a caribou. 

me and sis Martino at their last zone conference. Pres and Sis Clark are now here

i chopped our little pineapple like they do at the market! i was so proud 

Package from home!

New Companion-Sis. Eisrom

this is our cow friend.

and this caribou is NOT our friend

our area is gorgeous!!

Saying goodbye to Sister Acosta

June 22 pics

Sister Pam and Josh- active members that we are really close with 

and cj (he's going to get baptized this sat) and his cousins.

June 22-Goodbye Sister Acosta, Hello Sister Esirom

This has been the most wonderful week! Danny and Aurelio received the gift of the Holy Ghost and were confirmed as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was so amazing. Also Sister Esirom is the coolest missionary ever. She is seriously like Ammon. I love being her companion and I'm going to take advantage of these coming weeks to really try to learn everything I possibly can from her. I not only want to learn from her but also follow her example and apply and develop my Christ-like attributes. Our lessons have been so great this week. I have to admit that for the past while it has been a struggle for me to really feel the Spirit all the time. But in our lessons we were all able to feel and learn from the Spirit. I know that there is so much potential in this area and that it depends a lot on our efforts as the Lord's servants here. We have plans to better coordinate with our ward mission leader. He is an older man who didn't serve a mission, but he does have great desires to serve the Lord. Sister Esirom and I are excited to help him magnify his calling. We have had a drop in our LMP's (lessons with members present to investigators) because our ward missionaries, most of whom are students, have started school again. So we have faith that with the help of our ward mission leader we will be able to coordinate our efforts with members and really get the whole ward involved. We are really trying to apply the things that we learned in MTC and in our past areas. I believe that as we get more members involved in our lessons, it will help our investigators feel more comfortable in coming to church. I am really excited, but I know it's going to take some real work. I look forward to growing a lot in the next 8 weeks.  And that's about it. 

MAHAL KO KAYO!!! 

June 15th- What a Week!!

This week Brother Danny and Brother Aurelio were baptized. But they have not yet been confirmed because we had Stake Conference this Sunday. So we are going to make sure we help them stay far away from Satan's temptations this week so that they will be ready to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and be confirmed members of the Church. I know that what it says in our call letter is true. This is the happiest I've ever been. I know that as we serve and love God's children and help them come unto Him, we will be able to feel just a little bit of what They feel for us. I know that each soul is precious to our Savior and our Father. In adult session of Stake Conference they had all of those who had received their mission call to bear their testimonies. It was so humbling to think of the many things they had sacrificed in order to serve the Lord. They had put off personal desires, education, family, and everything that stood in the way of giving the Lord their heart, might, mind, and strength. They were courageous and felt the necessity of the Work that each one of us needs to be engaged in. It made me appreciate this time I have to serve the Lord with everything. I know that the only way to really be happy in life is if we lose ourselves in the service of the Lord. Which I am trying daily to do. It really is a daily struggle. Missionary work is NOT like learning to ride a bike. It takes constant effort and a constant desire to be better, reevaluate yourself and improve. It's rough, but it is so worth it! 

Sister Larson

9 Months!! Time flies when you're having fun?

Looking good at the 9 month mark:)

Aurelio and Brother Danny get baptized

Aurelio is 18 years old. His girlfriend is a member of the Church and so he started coming to church with her. At first she told us that he didn't want to listen to our lessons. But by the second time he came to church, he had changed his mind. He has a very quiet voice so it was hard to communicate at first because we were struggling just to hear what he was saying. But as we continued to teach him, his confidence increased and his voice grew stronger. The youth in our ward embraced him and his little brother (who will be baptized later this month) with full friendship. They both participated in the Excellence Night and were a part of the interpretive dance that our ward presented. Aurelio is just so humble and so willing to change. He bore his testimony after his baptism and the Spirit was so strong. That, mixed with his quiet voice and shy personality made it somewhat difficult for him to express himself. All he could say was how happy he was to be baptized and to be clean. He recognized how much his life has changed...and this is only the beginning. 

Brother Danny is a miracle. His wife passed away in April. He had a serious problem with the Word of Wisdom and his son, who is 14 years old and a recent convert, had started to become less active. When we first met Brother Danny and his wife Floresa, we talked with them about becoming a forever family. Brother Danny told us that he was supposed to be baptized when his wife was baptized about a year ago, but because of his work schedule was not able to attend church. When Sister Acosta and I came into the picture Sister Floresa was not doing well. But she was able to attend church the week before she passed away. Her influence played a great part in Brother Danny's conversion. He knew already that he needed to be baptized. It was just a matter of preparing himself to make that sacred ordinance. He quit drinking. He started coming home early from work so that he could attend church. He has changed his life because he knows that baptism is the first step for him and Sister Floresa to be sealed for time and all eternity. He is a different man than he was when we first met him. He is happier and he understands more completely Heavenly Father's plan for him.

View from the top of a Jeepney...Now I now why Uncle Jonathan let his kids
 ride on top of the car-he served in the Philippines!!

Another trip to the waterfall...No, mom, I won't get sick from drinking this water:)

the jeepney. our stake young mens president lives in our ward and his job is driving a jeepney. he' s the one that took us up to the waterfalls. and sometimes at night when there's no tricycles he'll take us home. we call him Uncle Nilo :) 

June 8 letter-I love being a missionary!!

What a wonderful week!  I have been trying lately to reevaluate and really find ways that I can improve and be more obedient. Being a missionary carries with it a great responsibility and I know that many people are depending on me to have the Spirit with me so that I can help them come unto Christ. So I will continue to seek for ways to be more obedient and have the Spirit of the Lord with me always.  My companionship with Sister Acosta has never been super easy, but I am learning so much. I know that there are things we are learning from each other and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to see my flaws and work to change and overcome them. I have also learned the great importance of eternal companions. I know that there will be disagreements sometimes, but as long as those disagreements are handled with a spirit of love it will all be okay in the end. I know now how important it is to find someone who sees eye-to-eye with me on the "big things", that way we can get over it when we don't agree on the little things. 

We have two investigators getting baptized this Saturday!!! Brother Danny!! And Brother Jhun!!!!!  As I was thinking about them the other night I was about to say to myself about one of them, "He's my favorite investigator!" But then I realized that that wasn't true. Honestly, ALL of my investigators are my favorite investigators. I can feel the Lord's love for His children and I know that no matter how stubborn they are or how many problems they have, the Lord loves each of my investigators the same and I do too. I love them all and I am so grateful that the Lord has given Sister Acosta and I the sacred privilege of helping them come unto Christ through the waters of Baptism. I love being a missionary!

Also what a great Monday! I just love my family!!! I want to be with you guys forever! As in forever. I know that Heavenly Father is listening to our prayers and I know that He will never leave us alone, even when we are far away from each other. I know the Savior lives and that He atoned for us all. No matter how big or little the sin, or how heavy or light the heartbreak.. the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers it all. I love learning more about His Atoning sacrifice and doing my best to use that Great Gift every single day! 

MAHAL NA MAHAL KO KAYO!!!! 

Sister Larson

June 1st- Hello Junio!

So it's June. How did that happen? Time is flying by! I don't know how I feel about it. So have I told you about how I've been really trying to improve my personal prayers? Well I have been. And who knew how much work sincere prayer was. But it's really so worth it. I feel like I've been able to improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father and I really do feel like He is listening to me. This month is all about becoming a "Visionary Missionary" here in the Angeles Mission. And President Martino's last month!! But President Martino asked us all to write down our plans for where we want to be in the next month, the next year, and the next three years. So I did that. And then I talked to Heavenly Father about it. I thought that I had it all figured out. I had decided that when I get home I would just take online classes from BYU-I and stay at home find a job, maybe find an internship, work on family history, ride bikes with Reo, be able to visit Sara and Daniel and their childrens, and basically live the dream. But when I was talking to Heavenly Father about all my great plans...it was like being really really excited about something, but the person you are talking about isn't excited at all. :( Not cool. I don't know why but I just don't really want to go back up to Rexburg right after my mission. But I reluctantly asked Him if that's what I needed to do. And I received my answer in the form of Pres. Eyring's voice from his talk "Where is the pavillion?" a few conferences ago. He too was asking Heavenly Father about whether he should stay or leave Rexburg. And the Lord told him, "I'll let you stay at my school a little longer." Well that's what the Lord told me too. Stinkin Rexburg. So I don't know how (because I have absolutely no monies) but I know that's where I need to go when I get home. Oh personal revelation. 

Also we have an awesome new investigator, CJ. He is 16 and is just smart! He read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon once and remembered a ton of stuff about Moroni and the plates and even that he appeared in September to Joseph Smith. His mom died when he was little but apparently she was a member. He lives with his aunt now, who is an active member of our ward. I don't know why he hasn't be baptized yet, but I feel really grateful to be one of the missionaries that gets to teach him and help him get ready for the sacred ordinance of baptism. I'm learning way more from him than he is from me. 

I love life. Even when it's hard and even when I get slightly homesick... I love being a missionary. I feel like I was blind, but now I can finally see. This missionary thing is way more than just 18 months. This is the beginning of the rest of my life. And trying to live everyday with my heart and hands ready to serve the Lord. Oh how I detest the natural man. But I'm trying. And that's all that matters. I love you! I miss you guys!!!! 

Earlier today we caught a whiff of freshly cut grass and it made me so happy! Sister Acosta on the other hand plugged her nose because she said it smell gross. Well that's life. 

Mahal ko kayo! 

Sister Larson

Pics of our place