Soer Larsen: Part VII

My last letter from the MTC!

So, I'm leaving for Paris. How strange is that? It shouldn't be that strange, I've had my call for like 7 1/2 months now. I'm SO excited! This week has been amazing. We had a zone conference last friday and talked about the Savior and charity and the charity lesson blew my mind. We talked about Mosiah 28:3 and how the reason the sons of Mosiah were such amazing missionaries was that they had such overwhelming love for and desire to serve the people. I thought about it a lot and I've felt my love for the French people just ballooning. I'm so excited to get there and meet people and learn about them and just listen to them speak french! I just want to learn all about the culture and the people and their worries and their joys and I want to show them how the gospel can change their life! I love it!

I have a feeling this is going to be the best Christmas of my life :)

This week has been so funny. The whole zone is just excited to leave and everyone's passing around journals (for everyone to sign, it's like high school again) and freaking out about how we're leaving and we're trying really really hard to focus... I mean don't get me wrong, we're focused on the gospel, but it's hard to want to focus on planning when we're finishing up with our progressing investigators and we have yet to meet our new investigators. Oh that reminds me! One of our investigators is getting baptized tomorrow, booyah. Teaching is seriously my favorite thing, I want to be a teacher here when I get back.

Ok last sunday's devotional was AMAZING, BYU Men's Chorus came and just sang to us for an hour and it was beautiful and I could've listened to them all night. And I saw Jonathon! Like 12 times on the screen. It was pretty exciting. Oh and I saw Lou on music and the spoken word! Oh and Relief Society was so good, Sister Christofferson came and talked about how we don't always see the big picture but the Lord does. She talked about how the night Christ was born probably didn't seem like a good time to Mary, she was probably wondering why he had to be born then, when the only place to lay him was in a manger in a smelly stable. But to the Nephites on the other side of the world, who were waiting for the sign of his birth to find out whether they'd be killed or not, the birth of the Savior could not have been more timely. I'd never thought about that before.

Also Sunday we had accountability interviews with the branch presidency and they went so well! They had to be in french and it went really well, I feel like my french is pretty ok and hopefully I won't freeze up once I actually have to speak to French people!

Monday was so funny, we had a health and safety meeting for all the departing missionaries. It was mostly all this stuff like wash your hands, drink pure water, eat healthy, all this DUH stuff. But the guy who was teaching the meeting was insane. If I had a dollar for every time he said the word diarrhea.... And he ended the meeting by telling us we had to lock up our hearts and then he whipped out his harmonica and played us a song. Elders Pistorius and Blank were crying they were laughing so hard.

Tuesday Elder Pieper from the Seventy came and it was AMAZING. Best devotional I've heard since Elder Holland. He talked about agency and choosing to have righteous desires and mostly he talked about how important you are to God. We talked about that later in our district meeting--you are important enough to God that he is aware of every word, every thought, every prayer, every struggle and concern and complaint and joy and happiness. I hadn't thought about it really, or I'd always just taken it for granted. You are SO important to God! I can't comprehend his love. He keeps teaching me more about it every day.

So today we celebrated Christmas with all the soeurs, it started last night when we sat in the res singing christmas songs and it felt like Christmas, even though all our families are (or soon will be) far away. The spirit of Christ is all you need :) Then this morning we all got up early and sat around our little fake Christmas trees and opened presents and drank hot chocolate. It was magical :) I have loved every minute of being here and I'm so excited for the field! Next time I write this it will be from Paris!! Aaaah!

 

Being a missionary is the best thing ever. No question.

Pleased With Every Effort

"Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor. In this way he can bring discouragement and surrender. But we must not lose hope. The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope."

(Ezra Taft Benson "A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, Oct. 1989, 5).


Oh man I needed to hear that.  I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who puts up with me

Soer Larsen: Part VI

. Ok so not a lot of new stuff happened this week, I don't have much to say.

Is anyone else just in love with the weather though? Maybe it's because I never see the sky. But whenever I do I'm just enraptured by it. I love the weather. I love UTAH!!! YAY!!

Let's see....yeah I really can't think of anything. This week was lots of french learning and planning and teaching and porting studying and writing and I have nothing exciting to say, how sad is that? The Church is still true. The Atonement is still the greatest thing to have ever happened to mankind. French is still a beautiful language. Uh, I'm still an obedient missionary :)

One bit of excitement: I got my TRAVEL PLANS!! So I know all the official deets. And I'm for reals going to Paris. In TEN DAYS. So the whole zone was just freaking out all Thursday night and I'm still recovering. I'm kinda nervous about heading out into the field, not gonna lie. I'm mostly afraid for the moment I step off the plane and think, my duty as of this moment is to teach the gospel to as many people as possible, in french. And I'll talk to people who actually speak French, for real. Instead of just other missionaries. But I've got faith that the Lord knew about my weaknesses and my awkward personality when He called me and I'm trying to have confidence in His confidence in me. So far so good.

I really can't think of anything I wanted to say to you, and I just know that as soon as I get off the computer I'll remember it. Frustrating.

Well I love you. I didn't use all my time so maybe I'll get back on in a minute. Merry Christmas!

Soer Larsen: Part V

FAMily!!! Your letters this week were BOMB, I love you all. It seems as though suddenly everyone suddenly remembered they loved me and decided to write, must be the Christmas spirit ;) So I've been busily writing letters all morning.

So much excitement in my life! My life is so perfect I don't know what to do with myself. DO you all realize that two weeks from THIS MONDAY I will be on a plane to PARIS? Why is my life so perfect? I feel like the Lord's going, "soak it up now, because your life is going to SUCK in a minute." Just kidding, I shouldn't say such things. Anyway....so this week we did lots of door approach practice and I think my favorite was Elder Howden because he LOVES to mess with missionaries when they do door approaches and we'd heard about it so when we got to his door we just started singing Christmas carols. Booyah. Ok singing has been the weirdest, most unexpected gift here. I actually kind of have a good voice. Is that weird to say? Like they keep asking me to sing in things and it's strange to me. I'm caroling at the ecclesiastical dinner tonight and then at the devotional in front of EVERYONE on December 19th. And then I'm singing in Sacrament meeting. Did I already write about that? I feel like I did. All my letters and emails run together in my head. Let's see, what else. Oh ps, the gift of tongues is for reALS. When I teach lessons in french, I speak faster than I can think and translate. So something other than me is doing the talking. French is so much fun now that we're all getting better at it! Everything sounds better in french. Booyah. Also I'm kinda hoping that I'll get to france and they'll be like, you're already good at French so now we're going to put you in the Mandarin ward. Wouldn't it be cool to come home speaking two new languages? I probably shouldn't wish such things upon myself.

What else happened this week? Tuesday Julie B. Beck came to speak at the Devotional, which was so good. She was basically just chatting with us about missionary work and the impact it's had on her life. My takeaway message, be excited about the gospel! She told the story of a woman who was talking to some investigators who were stuck on the principle of tithing, they didn't like it. She said, that's right we pay tithing. But that's not all. We also pay fast offerings. And we give to the missionaries, and the perpetual education fund, and the humanitarian fund. And start saving now so you can pay for your children's missions. You're gonna give your whole life to this gospel! Because she was unashamed of the gospel and was excited about it, the investigators caught the spirit of it and were baptized. I love how the church is true. isn't that a good feeling?

Wednesday my experience in the TRC was amazing and cool because we didn't follow the lesson plan at all, and we ended up committing her to baptism! And Thursday was exciting because I said that's it, I'm DONE with the MTC. I'm OUTtA here. And I just walked out and started walking down 9th East. And then I repented and came back. JK. For reals, my companion had to go to the BYU health center to find out she has athsma! welcome to the club! So we got to go out into the world for a minute, way exciting. Except I didn't see ANY of you, which was disappointing. You guys should probably drive down that road more often, I'm thinking.

Oh ps, mom, you would be so proud. I am the room alarm clock. And bed maker. Because you did such a good job raising me. And you would be so proud of the way I hang all my clothes on the hanger. All the time. Also I am apparently annoyingly chipper in the mornings (Sr. Williams isn't a morning person). Once I tried to make her do jumping jacks, but to no avail. I'm turning out like you and dad! Somehow.

Oh and CONGRATS to KAITI AND ADDISoN!!! What the heck, getting hitched after I leave. It's ok though, since I love you both to pieces. As long as you name your firstborn after me, I think we'll be good. And to KAThryn!! Your wedding announcement is so cute. I played with it for like 15 minutes. That's how entertainment-deprived I am here.

Other than that, the church is still TRUE and being a missionary is still the best thing in the WORLD so be jealous.

Also the whole Christmas season is like a million and a half times better as a missionary. I love everyone and everything. Plus bonus, I think people will be nicer to me when I first get to paris and am awkward and don't speak french well. The christmas spirit and all that. Well i LOVE YOU and you should send me another tape. I'm dying here. I need to hear Christian's voice.

Merry CHRISTmAS season, soak it up for me :)

 

LOve lovE LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Soeur Larsen