Soer Larsen: Part II

FAMILY!!!! and friends!!

 

I love you all! Thanks for all the letters and packages! I felt so loved!!

i don't even know where to begin, this week has been so full. So, I've been humbled for eagerness of last week, and I am here to announce that my body is TIRED. Oh well, it's a good tired.

Sunday was AmAzING. The sisters all get to listen to music and the spoken word and then we had relief society with Sister Doxey and it was so cool just to be in a room full of sisters! There's a lot more than I expected. And there's a whole bunch of sisters from india and pakistan, which is wonderful and the word is definitely being spread. Sunday night we had a fireside that was so good, and all about how Satan likes to push our buttons and we can't let him! Buttons like, I'm not worthy, I'm tired, I don't like my companion, I can't speak the language, all that fun stuff. But guess what? You can't speak the language. And you won't always know what to do. And you WILL mess up. But you were also called by God and he knows what he's doing. So there, Satan. Oh how I love the gospel. Also sunday night is MOVIE night in the MTC so we got to watch Joseph Smith: prophet of the restoration. Oh how I love that movie!

Tuesday night we had the weekly devotional, and guess who it was? Elder Richard G. Scott. I love that man and the devotional was amazing, all about learning to recognize and work with the spirit. He'd made up a handout for all of us to get from our branch presidents so that we could write down spiritual feelings rather than trying to get everything he was saying. Several things he said seemed to be directed right to me, and were things I've been praying constantly about. Also I got a confirmation from the spirit of my testimony. And he invoked three apostolic blessings on us. one for the sisters, and special shield of protection. So no worries about me :) and then the gift of tongues, and then a recognition of the help of the spirit and a certain knowledge of  Joseph smith and the restoration and that the things we learn on our missions will bless us the rest of our lives. I've never heard so many at once. Afterwards was amazing too, because we had a district meeting to discuss the devo and the spirit was so strong and the elders were all crying. Of course, sr. williams and I were crying too, but that goes without saying. These elders are wonderful.

Wednesday I had even more of a confirmation of the power of elders because we had to practice teaching on each other before our first time in the TRC (dun dun dun). Elder Anderson and Elder Glenn taught sr. williams and I and I just was struck as they taught. They are so young and so earnest about what they are teaching. To see someone that age willing to give up girls and school and sports and a cell phone and whatever else to go learn to love and teach people the gospel, it's no wonder people get converted. This work really was meant to be done by young men. Sisters are awesome too, but sometimes I just feel so humbled by the elders. I'm grateful to know them and be surrounded by them.

I got this out of order but Monday we had our first zone conference and oh wow. We watched clips from a talk given by Elder Holland at the MTC in 2000. I have never seen him so worked up. He was talking about obedience and this is what he said, from my notes: "How can we complain about the inconvenience of obedience when what the savior did for us was not painless, easy, or convenient? HOW DARE WE ASK to not come close to drinking the cup he drank for us. If we are going to say we are disciples WE hAD bETTER have something to show for it. And that will be our own moment in Gethsemane, our own tears, our own walk towards Calvary. REMEMBER the name on your plaque and the REASON we proclaim his name." It was incredibly powerful, I want to see the whole thing.

They talk a lot about obedience here. There was another quote, from President Faust: 'faith is the power, obedience is the price, love is the motive, and Christ is the reason.'

Gosh they just stuff you full of goodness here. Also this week we started contacting, which is really fun. I don't know if it really prepares you for the real thing though because it's not at all scary to walk up to an elder and ask if you can bear your testimony. A real person though? eeks. haha just kidding, no fear in testifying of the work :)

what else to say?

remember how i used to be cute? well I'm not anymore, thanks to all your lovely packages filled with sugar. I love being loved, but i would really really love it if I could get healthy snacks, carrots, craisins, broccoli, those little sweet peppers from costco... I'm seriously dying for nutrients. They serve dessert at EVERY meal here. Not that I'm not grateful for the food, I just have to pray for my body before every meal :)

Oh and for mamasita, thank you thank you thank you for the skirt! I love it! and love the pockets! And I made it through one laundry day without ruining any clothing! hoorah!  that's all, I'm doing wonderfully. go missionary work, and pray for the people I'm going to meet, that the Lord will soften their hearts!

 

Love, more times than I can type,

 

Soeur Larsen

Soer Larsen: Part I

Yay everybody! Here is Chelsie's first letter home from the MTC after being there for about 3 days.

P.S. The letter is long but read it anyway. You won't regret it.
FAMILY!
How goes it over there, three blocks away? This keyboard is retarded so forgive me if I mess up, I'm trying to type really fast! I'm running out of time! aaah! haha. I'm cool. OK so here's the rundown.i HATED the MTC at the end of day one. I was totally ready to just walk on home. but i knew I would hate myself for it later, and i remembered mickelle saying that her first week here she thought she couldn't do it, and she made it, so i thought i'd give it a go. I felt like my testimony had been dissected and laid out for everyone to see and then put back together and labeled inadequate. i questioned my testimony for the first time in my life because they put you to work right away and we were in these groups talking to investigators and one of them looked at me and said "how do you know?" and i went completely blank. i thought, i don't know how, i just know. by the spirit? that sounded so lame in my head. but no worries, i'm good now. now i can say, 'by the spirit! and YOU can know too!" haha. also the companion thing was way weird to me.
             But I LOVE my companion!! i couldn't have picked a better one myself. Her name is Sr. Williams, she's beautiful and from American Fork. she's pretty much the sweetest thing on the planet and doesn't think I'm crazy, which is a bonus. Also she's amazing at french and it's awesome to have someone i can speak french with, because the rest of my district is a little rusty. i'm in the intermediate group, which means everyone (except elder Tam, bless his heart) has had some french before. which reminds me, i LOVE my district! with all my heart and soul! I'm already sad about parting with them in 8 weeks, because half of them are going to the montreal quebec mission. They are amazing and so funny! i spend most of my time in class laughing. i think everything also just becomes funnier when you're stuck in a little room for that long. So there's 12 people in my district, 10 elders and me and my companion. we're the biggest district in our zone, the rest have between 6 and 10 people, i think. my zone is the french speaking zone, and we have people going to paris, toulouse, geneva, montreal, fiji, and tahiti. my district is all paris and montreal. there's elder tam and elder pistorius, the district leader, whom i just love. elder tam is from american fork but his parents are from hong kong so he speaks cantonese as well as english and he's trying really hard with french. elder anderson is from norway, he's the youngest of the group and speaks 4 1/2 languages; norwegian, swedish, danish, english, and now some french :) his testimony is amazing. his companion is elder glenn, from salt lake, also hilarious. elder haydn is from austria and speaks german and has a beautiful french accent and his comp is elder awercamp from.....i can't remember. oops. anyway he is tall and very quietly dignified but he puts up with us. elder dunn has the best smile in the world, and elder kellett is just hilarious and is always doing weird accents. elder blank is from san jose california and PROUD of it. he's so funny, just imagine a really skinny Geoff and you've got elder blank. also he's very theatrical and likes to do yoga. his companion is elder holbrook, who is very odd, not going to lie. but he's very lovable. he's as white as white can be and worked in a morgue for the last three years dressing dead people. have you ever heard anything so odd? yeah. so this might seem really not interesting to you, but i love love love my district and i want you to love them too. jaime, you have my permission to marry any one of them when they get back. They're amazing and so dedicated. being in class with them for nine hours a day is so fun!! also it's been great because we have a lot of MDT (missionary directed time) where we don't have an instructor and sister williams and i have been doing the teaching. it makes me feel way smart, and we already have them teaching the first lesson en francais! Hooray! we are amazing. and the gospel is the bomb. i love love love being here, climbing into bed every night is sad because it's another day down, one less day i get to be a missionary. boo. being a missionary is the best thing in the world! even in the mtc.
      which reminds me, i have to tell you how weird i already am. today an elder touched me on the shoulder to tell me he appreciated my testimony and i totally was like, 'why are you touching me?!' he only did it for a second but i was all shaken up after. haha. oh and yesterday during gym we went out to the field and i was totally uncomfortable leaving the sheltered gates of my new home! being out in the world again was odd and i almost didn't like it! even though it was perfect weather in my beautiful beautiful hometown. and i told all the sisters how to get to my house, in case they ever want to come visit. They were all in shock at how close i live. yup.
what else to tell.... besides that i'm awesome at french and loving my companion and my district... there's a lot of random info i want to give you about the mtc but i'm running out of time. i feel like this wasn't an interesting email. why did i ask all those people for addresses?! well it'll be cool when i'm taking paris by storm, i suppose.
well, the church is true and always will be and is for everyone on the planet. also I have a testimony that this is the lord's work, which is very comforting when we talk about it in class and i think, i can't do this! because i couldn't all by myself, doi. but the lord is preparing people to hear the gospel. it's the last days! dun dun dun!! so pray for the people to be prepared to hear the word, it will make my life a lot easier. let's fill the baptismal fonts in paris! and get us a temple, darn it! because i miss the temple already. i love you all. muchas muchas. everyone be a missionary! it's fun! And so busy but i love love it. Seriously, the pace of missionary work is exactly perfect for me. I hate wasting a minute and i wish we could go faster! but patience is a virtue, so they tell me. in all my excitement i forgot to take pictures of anything, but there will be pictures next time, i promise! oh and my p-days will usually be on friday, so expect emails then. oh and send me cookies to share with my district! because if i had access to a kitchen I would make some, but i don't. also it's elder anderson's birthday today, so something for him would be nice. thanks and love love! keep being good people! Alma 26:35!

soeur larsen ;)

Last Post.

This is my last post as a non-missionary. And then I'll be an RM. Forever.
I just logged out of my facebook for the last time.
And it felt really momentous. 
I logged out of my gmail.
I gave all my passwords to my mom.
Don't let her share them with you.
I'm listening to my last worldly song.
"Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.
Because I can't help dancing to it.
In an hour and a half, I'll be set apart.
What the WHAT.

Also, Jaime will be taking over blogging, posting all my letters, and hopefully posting some of her own blog posts here and there, just so you don't get bored with all my baptism stories ;)
Have a good 18 months.
I'll miss you all.
I'm totally crying over here.
What a pansy bonanza I am.
So there it is.
The last post.


Peace out, world.

STOP.

Can you all just STOP, please?
GOSH.
I'm trying to say goodbye.
And I feel like it should be big.
And it should feel epic.
And there should be tears and laughter.

And it's just normal.
It's like, "k see ya"
And everything is going to build up to this day
and then the day will end.
and I will wake up in the MTC
and it will feel weird and normal at the same time
And everyone else will just go on the same way they've been doing

And babies will be had, and people will be married and fall in love, and people will die,
and I'll have this crazy experience.
And no one will know exactly what it's like
besides me.
And I'll come home
and be normal again.
And non-exciting
and there will be school to go to and money to earn and grumpy drivers to deal with
And it seems like the world will never stop, or even slow down,
enough for me to enjoy my epic moment
the way I imagined I would.

It's good, and it's sad. 
I just wanted everything to stop.
I wanted a MOMENT.

Single Ladies, listen up!

These were my dad's nuggets of wisdom for the day:

He sat me down and said that knowing two things would bring me happiness.
First, that all men are dorks.
Second, that I should find the least dorky man I could and marry him.

You should also know, apparently, that unrepentent men are the worst kind. Don't marry them.
And that men are not tomato plants, they are apricot seeds.
You will nourish them and nourish them and nourish them,
but don't bank on getting any fruit for a good twenty years.
Do try, though, to find a man who will bear fruit in 20 years-ish, rather than 500.

So go find that apricot seed man! And good luck.

Moonshine

You know the movie "The Other Side of Heaven"?

The one where John Groberg goes on a mission to Tonga, and the whole time he's writing his girl whom he's madly in love with? You remember the part at the beginning where he's pushing her on the swing and talking about the moon? And he says something about how no matter where they are, they'll both be looking at the same moon?

Well.

Last summer when I was in Bakersfield, I got a text from Jaime

"Remember that wherever you are, we're both under the same moon"

And I got a kick out of it

My sister is funny. And she missed me. Aww.

Anyway it's become a joke now, whenever we're separated.

That at least we're under the same moon.

And then today, while I was shopping for a tracting bag, we found these:

So of course we had to buy them.

And now each of us will have one. 

For when we miss each other. 

Hey, we can't all be photogenic.

Rain

I love the rain. I love the weather this week.
This is good walking weather.
Have I ever told you how much I like walks?
I love them.
Just strolling along, taking everything in, talking.
All my best conversations happen while walking.
I keep going on walks this week.
Just short ones.
Taking in the weather
breathing in the perfection
it's a wee bit chilly, and wet without being miserable
it's adventurous.

I need the time to clear my head.
To get away from all the noise and the bustle
and pretend my life isn't going a million miles an hour.
My head is working overtime these days.
Imagining what the mission will be like.
It's something my mind can't wrap itself around
but it spends all its energy trying to anyway.

So I love the weather
Because it draws my mind to bigger things
Miles of sky
Eternity
Family
the loved ones whose homes I walk past.

That's why Jaime and I are such best buds.
She goes on walks with me.
More about that later. 

My Weekend

Because they are going to be limited for a while, I have to live them up.
First of all, on Friday I got to have lunch with my girls! Amanda, Ashley, new friend Natalie, and Christina. Only I just kind of saw Christina, because that girl is popular and I was playing mom and had to sneak out for a bit to pick up Mark from school. But it was good to see them all. I want to be a combination of all these women when I grow up! I guess I should say IF I grow up :)
Then on Friday evening I went on a hot date. GASP!
I know.
It's been a while.
It was FUN! But I was reminded, yet again, how terrible I am at laser tag.
Every time I go I think I'm doing so well, and killing people left and right, and then the scores come out. And I'm usually last. This time I was 11 out of 12, but the girl who was 12th had a broken gun.
Oh well.
Nobody's perfect. And I was perilously close, so it's a good thing I found something wrong with me.
Whew!
haha.
Then came Saturday.
I got up at 5:40 to go hike Y mountain with my dad and two other young men's leaders from my ward.
And we're not talking about hiking to the Y, here. This is hiking to the top of the mountain.
Have you ever hiked the Y? The thing is so steep, it's not fun going up OR down.
So this hike was like hiking the Y three times.
It was one of those that's like, we're doing this because it's HARD and makes us feel like MEN.
Yes, I felt like a man.
But it was beautiful, the trees were all aflame and the weather was perfect and the view at the top was breathtaking and worth it.
My dad says any man I marry has to pass the Y mountain test. He has to be able to hike it. He has to hike it without complaining. And he has to be willing to hike to the east peak, which is the real top, and not just the west peak, which most people think is the top. Because the man I marry will have to possess the kind of drive and integrity that will not allow him to hike a mountain and not reach the actual top. Apparently.
So, I'm glad we got that figured out. I should be able to weed through men very efficiently while also staying in incredible shape. Also, my dad says if I gain 40 pounds while in Paris, he's going to make me do that hike every day for two months.
It is a HARD hike. It is steep and I hated it. Until the top. So I just have to remember that every time I want to eat that second pastry. Or third. Or fifth.
So anyway, we topped the mountain and then jogged down in time to only be ten minutes late tuning in to conference. I LOVE conference!! Love love love it. I wish it were longer.
But these days they're so speedy about getting everything online, I already have all my favorite talks on my ipod in English AND in French.
Win.
And then, in between conference sessions, I went over to the Adair home (where I had also been the night before, on aforementioned hot date) where they stuffed me with crepes. Yes, the Adairs are probably my new favorite people.
Crepes are heaven.
Then during Priesthood session, the real party started.
We had sister bonding time.
Jaime, Kari and I went out on the town and took lots of pictures. Which I will post when my camera stops being retarded. And when I can edit them enough to make me appear photogenic. I seem to have one of those faces that only looks good through a real fancy pants camera lens. Sad day.
Moving on. This is the part you should pay attention to.
I MET MY SOULMATE at SAMMY'S.
Yes, my soulmate.
And he is a sandwich.
Haha, you probably got all excited. And then dang, she wasn't talking about a boy.
But you should stay excited.
And you should go meet him.
Go to Sammy's, in downtown P-town.
And order the Hey Nikki burger. Yes, as in Hey Nikki You're So Fine. Which I think is the actual full name of the burger. I think they called it that just so they could laugh at you on the inside when you order it. But order it anyway.
While you're at it, get the sweet potato fries and the half size mint oreo pie shake. It's the perfect meal.
And send me a letter to thank me.
Because you should be GRATEFUL.
Which reminds me of my favorite talk on Sunday, from President Monson during the Sunday morning session. SO GOOD!
You know what else was so good? The cinnamon rolls, which I made all by myself. I'm so grown up.
Seriously, I was impressed. And then I made dinner. Cranberry-onion turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls and various vegetables. Mom was out of town. I only do these things out of necessity.
But guess what?
It all turned out great! It was a nail-biter. But it worked out in the end.
So congratulations, Future Husband.
You picked a good one.
I hope you're excited to grow old and fat together.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the highlight reel of my weekend.
How was your weekend?