July 27th letter and pics-Rain is Real-Games-Mud, Mud, Mud!!

On Tuesday when I had exchanges with Sister Ormond (one of the Sister Training Leaders) we visited one of our investigators, Dina. She had come to church once, but then hadn't come back and had stopped reading the Book of Mormon. When we visited her on Tuesday she told us that she couldn't change her religion and that she couldn't be baptized. Then she told us that when she was younger she had been given a copy of the Book of Mormon and that she used to read it all the time. In fact, she would stay up late and her parents would have to tell her to stop reading and go to bed. And then when she got married and moved over into our area, again, she was given a copy of the Book of Mormon. And then when we started teaching her, she received her THIRD copy of the Book of Mormon. It just hit me so strongly in that lesson that Sister Dina is so important to God. Heavenly Father has given her all of these chances to accept the gospel. It also hit me very strongly that Sister Dina and I knew each other in the pre-mortal life. I know that she is one of the souls that I promised to help return Home. 

Later that week Sister Esirom and I returned and Sister Dina explained further that the real reason that she stopped coming to church was because her husband, siblings, and father had all told her that she could not change her religion. She told us that she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. I am not discouraged, I still firmly believe that one day she and her family will all be baptized. And that's exactly what I promised her. I felt encouraged by the Spirit to promise her that one day her and all of her family would become members of Christ's restored Church. I love this gospel and I know that God has a beautiful plan for each one of His children to come Home to Him again. I love being a part of that Plan. 

I love being a missionary! 

And I can't wait for my missionary grandparents to join me on my favorite tropical island! 

Sister Larson

and the rains came down! 

it has been raining so much this week. we got soaked!! the only dry spot on me was where i was wearing my bag. 

Momma's so proud! Our recent convert is growing up so fast! :) But it was so awesome to see him exercise his priesthood. Next week he's going to bless the sacrament! 

they played who's the pogi-est. or in other words, who's the most handsome. our bishops son won 

i'm just muddy now. like all the time. i'm gonna buy some rain boots. my favorite!! Heavenly Father knew how much I love the rain and mud when he sent me here!

awww...rainy/muddy season

Sister's funny faces:)

Sister Dizon's 4 day old baby

July 20 Letter-Week of answered prayers

This has been the most wonderful week! This was a week of answered prayers. Not only for us, but for our investigators. Our investigator's little two year old baby was sick. So she knelt down and prayed. And her baby got better. His fever went away almost immediately and she was shocked. It was a great faith building experience for her and a great teaching opportunity for us. We had a great discussion about faith and the power of prayer and at the end she asked us what she needed to do in order to be baptized. Her faith strengthens mine. She told us that even if her house is burning down, she'll still come to church. I hope her house never burns down, but I do hope that she keeps coming to church. We have another investigator that lives in the middle of the rice fields. Their house is far from the highway which makes it very difficult to find transportation to church. We hadn't been able to really reach a solution, but she committed to pray everyday (starting on Tuesday until Saturday) and ask God to help her find a way to come to church.  We shared 1 Nephi 3:7 and promised her that if she would sincerely pray, and if she sincerely wanted to come to church God would absolutely give her a way. He did! She came to church. She was about 45 mins late...but she was able to come! Sister Esirom and I also had our fair share of answered prayers this week. One night we were waiting for a jeepney and after about 15 minutes of no jeepneys we were getting desperate. We had another appointment that we really needed to get to and we were running out of time before curfew. I had prayed and Sister Esirom had prayed. But the thought came to me that we needed to pray together. So we did and about 2 minutes after our prayer a member of our ward drove up on his tricycle and offered us a ride. It was a miracle. I love looking for the little miracles everyday because I know that God is involved in the details of our lives and if we look we will see the tender mercies and little miracles in every day. 

This week we visited two families: one welcoming a new baby, and one saying goodbye to a new baby. The Dizon family welcomed a new baby into their life on Monday. We got to see that little piece of heaven only 4 days into his mortal journey here. The Spirit was so strong. It was refreshing to my soul to get to see such new life.  Two days later we visited the Duenas family.  Sister Duenas had her baby on Tuesday, he lived all through Wednesday, but her little boy past away on Thursday.  It was hard to see that little baby in his tiny casket with a half of a bottle of milk sitting nearby. It was a heavy contrast to see firsthand. But it was also a great testimony builder about the Plan of Salvation. When things like death and birth happen it strikes something within me and I have such a great desire for EVERYONE to know about Heavenly Father's plan for them. I feel the urgency in the Work. I don't want anyone to have to go through something like losing a child and not know about the Plan of Happiness.  I loved that Brother and Sister Duenas didn't wear black at the funeral. They wore white. They understand that they will see their child again and have the chance to raise him in the Millennium. I know that this life is not the end and that God does indeed has a beautiful plan for each of us. 

July 13 Letter-

So this week was pretty awesome. Every week is always, of course, awesome.  Sister Esirom was sick on Tuesday so we weren't able to go out and work. There's been a few times in the past 10 months that we haven't been able to go out and work because of sickness. And I really don't like it. It is a yuck feeling. And that's how I know it's going to be really hard for me to take off my nametag. I want to be a missionary for the rest of forever! Good thing I can. And will. But then as the week went on we were actually able to visit and teach and meet so many people. It was amazing how Heavenly Father was able to help us overcome the time that we missed when Sister Esirom was sick. He really is guiding and directing this work. And He is involved in the details of each of our lives. Just little things that happened this week made me smile. Like stopping to talk to someone and then as soon as we started on our way again we ran into a former investigator that we had lost contact with. It was perfect timing. 

We taught a young family in our ward who are starting to prepare for the temple. I love them. And I can't wait to see them in white being sealed as a family for time and eternity. We need the temple. It has been almost exactly one year since I received my endowment in the temple. I am so grateful for a family that knows the importance of temple covenants and a mom and a dad who work to stay true to those covenants and promises that they've made to each other and to God. 

My shoulders have so many knots right now, it's amazing. Sister Esirom is a great companion and tries to rub them out, but I'm pretty sure they are permanent. We are both kind of falling apart. Hopefully with a little ibuprofen and ice we can keep it together for 8 more months. haha I guess we really are serving with ALL of our might, mind, and strength. 

Also my clothes are falling apart! I thought the clothes I brought with me would last forever...but that was before I knew that we wash our clothes by hand. All is well in Zion because there is a beautiful thing here called ukay-ukay. Which is like a better and cheaper Goodwill/D.I. so that is our plan for today. Yay for P-Day! 

Sige, I love you. If you want to know stuff you could like email and ask me some questions or something. 

Mahal ko kayo!! 

Sister Larson

Our little casa and beautiful area

July 6th Pics

A beautiful sunset in my beautiful area!

I love my beautiful island!!

these are the really really loud bullfrogs. i thought they would be bigger because of how loud they are after it rains, but they are actually kind of small. 

and these are some really weird flowers that no one knows the name of.

This is our room

and this is our study room

so last Monday, we went out to proselyte like always at 6pm and we were almost to our appointment when I realized that something wasn't right... I forgot to put on real shoes! what the heck Sister Larson! we rode a jeepney and everything before I realized my mistake. 

don't worry. we went back and changed before too many people saw :/ 

Baptism of Christopher John Aguinaldo

July 6 Letter-Happy Birthday America!

So this was the first 4th of July in my life that I didn't get to watch fireworks. Also the only time that I spent Independence Day with NO Americans. That's right. I'm the only American missionary in our house right now so.. I think my fellow missionaries were a little bit annoyed of me saying "happy birthday AMERRRRRICA!!" But they really shouldn't complain because I shared my Cheezits with them to celebrate the monumental day. Oh and we had weekly planning, but that was the extend of the festivities over here. But aint no thang because it's 100% worth it. We had some really awesome experiences this week. 

One of our new investigators came to church! And we love her so much! She is a young mother of two of the cutest little Filipino boys I've ever seen. And she is starting to understand! The first few times we taught her she didn't really understand. But she is starting to really get it. She told us that before she met us she had had bad dreams and had a hard time sleeping but then after we taught her to pray she started praying before she went to sleep and she hasn't had a problem at all. I love teaching people to pray. It's probably one of my favorite things. If there's one thing I'm learning over and over on my mission, it's that there is so much that I have taken for granted growing up as a member of the Church. I don't remember a time in my life that I didn't know how to pray. Sometimes I just can't fathom that there really are people who don't know how to pray. Sister Esirom is also really helping me to understand that people really don't know that they can become like Jesus Christ. Sister Esirom was Catholic before she joined the Church and she never understood her relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before she learned of the Restored Gospel. She looked me in the eyes earlier today in our companionship study and testified to me about the relationship that she now enjoys with them. It was so powerful. I want that. In fact, I'm pretty sure there is nothing that I want more in life than a more complete and personal relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. I know that they love me but I want to feel it more deeply in my soul. I don't want to even recognize the person I was before I left on my mission. I want to be so founded in this gospel that I can say with conviction "I'll never, no never, no never forsake" my Savior and His teaching. The Second Coming is just around the corner. I can feel it. We must be ready. I feel that urgency as I help God's children come unto Him. This is the most important work, it is His work. 

MAHAL ko kayo! 

Sister Larson