Soeur Larsen: Part XLI

P-day is short today because yesterday was p-day too, so I really don't have time to email, and I talked to you yesterday! But I have so many good stories this week! Remind me to tell you later about the giant group of Catholic boys, and Valerie's baptism, and Christmas Eve. 

It was so good talking to you all yesterday! And super super wierd being there for Jaime's call, I felt like I was watching a movie and being watched by the movie...

Anyway. I love you all! I'm excited that I get to be the guinea pig child and try everything out first and be mediocre at it so that my siblings can then go out and tear it up! They're going to be the best missionaires! I feel like the best way to be a missionary is to just be ridiculously and constantly happy, and then people just come up to you and go, what's your secret, And then you tell them, and then they want it too! Nobody wants what a sad missionary is offering. (There's your missionary wisdom, Jaime) So thanks to all of you who have been happy missionaries for me my whole life long! You make me giddy! And I'm stoked to see you all in person so I can hug you and be excited and hear about your exciting lives.

Have such a good week! See you next year!

Haha, good thing that joke NEVER EVER gets old.

LOVE YOU!

Soeur Larsen.

The best ever.

Soeur Larsen: Part XL

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! With all my heart and soul. I've never been so happy at Christmas time! We were watching Joy to the World the other evening, and they show all these clips of families together, and I realized that I feel just as blissfully happy and comfortable here in Blois as I think I would be at home. My family doesn't feel far away, and I love the temporary family I've found with all my heart. The branch is wonderful and our amis our wonderful and Blois is a dreamland. Yesterday we spent practically the entire day with members, visiting them and eating with them and watching the Christmas Fireside and I loved it so much! Our branch is so funny. I just wish I could transport you all over here to meet them, because they're just people you need to know.

This was such a good week! So many miracles, big and small. In order to avoid sending you a terrible email like last week, I wrote them down as they happened so that I would remember! Yay!

So, in the order I wrote them down:

Wednesday this week we overbooked ourselves a little bit and didn't end up having time for dinner, so we stopped at the store and grabbed a bag of ramen noodles (yes, they even have ramen noodles in France...) to eat at the church in between rendezvous. In line at the cash register, as the lady handed me my receipt to sign, she leaned over and quietly whispered, "Que Dieu vous benisse" (God bless you) and I looked up, kind of startled, and she smiled nervously and then quickly turned to the next customer. It was just a little tender mercy moment for me.

Then it got better, we got to the church just as some members were leaving, (not sure why they were there) and they handed us a bunch of clementines, some truffles, and two pieces of leftover cake. Our little dinner became a feast! It's been wierd here in Blois, we're never allowed to go hungry. Random people, members and nonmembers alike, give us food all the time. One time we didn't have time for dinner because of way lessons had worked out, and we were wondering what to do and I said, well, it's a pretty safe bet that someone will feed us. Sure enough, our first evening rendezvous ended and our ami invited us to stick around and eat, which he had never done before. He said he'd made extra just for us. We get to our next rendezvous and our amis had just gotten back from picking up pizza, and insisted that we help them eat it. So I don't know if you guys have been praying for the temporal welfare of the missionaries, but if so, I appreciate it. Those prayers are being answered in abundance. Which reminds me, I fear for my life next sunday. We're eating at a member's home and I've been told that when eating with this certain family, I would be well advised to grow an extra stomach.

Other cute story, Kyllian, the six year old son of our amis, is super awesome and he and I are buds. We taught him how to pray and the last week he gave the prayer at the end of the lesson and I've never seen his mother look so stunned afterwards. Since then he loves praying and always wants to give the prayer. Sometimes he seems to get confused in the middle and starts talking directly to the missionaries, like the last time he was praying for us to get home safely and started telling us to button up our coats all the way and not talk to strangers. So funny. Also they came to the branch Christmas activity and Church on sunday and everytime we prayed he looked at me all excited like, "Hey, prayer! I know what that is!" And he folds his arms and bows his head. It's basically the best thing ever.

Another little miracle happened on Sunday, during sunday school. I love our branch, but they have a tendency to get into deep doctrine while teaching sunday school to our amis. Or at least deeper doctrine than they maybe need to hear their first time at church. Like, how we're all going to be like god someday, and God being married, and that he used to be a man, and baptisms for the dead. So we had a new ami, Isabelle, (more on her later) who was at church for the very first time and she was having a hard time with some of the stuff they were teaching and the discussion was getting rather heated. Which is a problem we've been having fairly often, recently. Anyway, I was sitting there watching this and just praying with all my heart that the Lord would help us have the spirit back in that class so that Isabelle could feel that peace and realize that we are not a crazy sect but that we share the same basic principles, like faith and prayer and repentance and forgiveness. And then out of nowhere, the sister who was teaching the class said, but the real way to know the truth of anything is through prayer. You can pray about any and all of the things we teach here at church and receive your answer from God, that's how I became a member. And immediately the atmosphere changed and the rest of the discussion was about prayer. I just looked up and said, "thank you!"

I feel like I've had a million of those moments this week. They are good.

Another story I was not planning on telling but I will anyway, it reminds me of the same thing. We have two amis who are just wonderful, they come to church every week, they are reading the Book of Mormon, but they are having a hard time with the idea of being baptized again. The husband, bless his heart, is a Bible basher. He is the reason we have heated discussions in sunday school. We met with them this week and he got off on some thing and I could not feel the Spirit at all and I was so frustrated. I could feel tears coming, and I prayed that I would be able to say what I felt I needed to say without crying because I feel stupid when I cry in lessons. I opened my mouth to talk and out came the tears, which frustrated me more. But we told him that we could not go on like this, that the Spirit was not there and that he could not gain the testimony he needed without the Spirit. Discussing for a thousand years would do nothing without it. He got rather offended. I've met quite a few people on my mission who have told me things I should be doing better to convert them. Often I have felt they were right, I'm highly aware of my weaknesses as a missionary. But this was the first time that I knew for certain that we were right and that we needed to leave. Heading out of the building, I was still frustrated about the tears that were now running freely down my face. The quote from President Monson came into my head, "men, take care not to make women weep, for God counts their tears." And it made me laugh. I got the general feeling that the Lord was proud of me, that he loved me, that he saw all my efforts to teach and help the people here and that I was not condemned for the lack of Spirit in that lesson. I love the Spirit, and they way I have refined my ability to hear and understand what he's telling me, and that I seek him in all facets of my missionary work. I'm nervous for that terrible moment I keep hearing about, when I'll be released, and I wonder if that's one of the things that will go with my nametag. I hope not. 

I feel like as a missionary everything is clearer, and I love it. Good and bad are clearly separated, the kind of future I want is clear to me, the kind of choices I need to make to have that future are clear to me, and I don't want to go back to the fog of darkness! Haha. For reals though. 

This week we had the branch Christmas activity, the branch put on a mini production of a Christmas Carol, and then there was a buffet. There were 14 amis there! It was wonderful! Members invited their friends, we invited the people we're teaching, and Isabelle lives right by the church and she came because we stuck an invite in her mailbox! We were so excited! We put 300 invites in mailboxes in the neighborhoods around the church so we were super excited to see that someone came because of them! She is wonderful, talked with a bunch of the members, took a Book of Mormon, and like I said earlier, came to church. Hooray for church activities! Now we just need more of them. 

This is ridiculously long. Other news, in the last couple weeks we've had a bunch of amis and members who have asked me what my first name is. And congrats Mom and Dad, you named me well, apparently the French are super big fans of my name, they just think it's the prettiest thing ever. Yay. 

Well, that is all my news. I kept some stuff in so I can tell you when I talk to you all on Sunday! Hooray! I can't wait. I just get so excited at the thought. It's been too long! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and I love the Christmas gifts! The ones I have opened so far, anyway. Soeur Williams is doing a good job of keeping me from opening all of them. Boo. 

Talk to you SOON! 

Merry Christmas! 

Soeur Larsen 

Soeur Larsen: Part XXXIX

Well this was a fun week. 

Highlights:
We had ZONE CONFERENCE! Always the best. And this one was Christmas-y! Even better. We talked about who we are at the beginning of our mission and who we can become at the end, and being the hands of the Savior this Christmas season. And Sister Poznanski reminded us that when we bear testimony, our sins are forgiven! I'm going to be bearing testimony more often, I can say that much. 

And, I sang a song in front of everyone. And it was terrible and I'm never doing it again. Some people just aren't performers. And some people can't control what their face does when they skip a whole page of music. Haha. 

Sorry about this email. I'm distracted.... I'm putting all that wonderful stuff you sent me onto my ipod! Yay! Merry Christmas to all! 

Our amis are doing great, almost too great. We don't have to do anything to get them to come to church, they all come on their own. And yesterday we had one who just randomly showed up, who used to be taught by the elders but we haven't been able to get a hold of. 

They all love us so much, it's wierd. Kevin and Alex wanted to take us with them to Disneyland Paris, and Kevin was all excited last time we went to see them, he said he added the Book of Mormon to his favorite books on Facebook. Haha, oh facebook. And they gave us a Christmas tree! When they heard ours was just made out of paper. 

We've had some cool teaching moments, Soeur Williams and I. I've never been with a companion who I was so in sync with and it's cool. But I am now out of email time so you should go to her blog and read about it. sisterwilliamsinparis.blogspot.com
I love you! The church is true!

peace,
Soeur Larsen

Seour Larsen: Part XXXVIII

To mom:

Happy happy birthday

From me and France to you
I wish I was there for your birthday
So I could party too!

I hope you have the best birthday ever! Are you and dad going to party hearty? You should. Know that I LOVE YOU and that you're the best mom in the whole world! So therefore you deserve some serious celebrations. Obviously I knew you were a good mom before I had to leave you behind, but I appreciate you a million times more now! I don't know how I ended up with a mom as good as you. You are wonderful and the more I study and learn about the family, and the more I see other families, the more I realize that you and dad did everything right, everything exactly the way the Lord wanted you to. And for that I will be eternally grateful :)
On that note, THANK YOU for the Christmas package! You are so on the ball! And thank everyone for the letters for me! I love them! The only problem with having gotten the package this far in advance is that Sister Williams practically has to hide the presents so that I don't open any. Oh well, Christmas will be here faster than I want it to be. I'm super excited for Christmas and for talking to you all on the phone, but I'm not excited for it to be over! Then it's just a fast downhill slope to the end! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh! Haha.
Well, I really don't know what to say about this week. I'm really really really tired. We did a lot of porting. Saturday was funny because it was super cold and rainy, so when one super nice young couple finally let us in, I felt like a wet rat and I felt bad about coming in. But since we have the most important message since the coming of the Savior to share, I got over it.
Oh, other cool story. So Ninja Mom, aka Maria, has two young children. Which means that she is often very tired. And the youngest used to stay awake all night and sleep during the day, which means she was even more tired. And I always prayed that the baby girl would sleep through the night so Maria could rest and then we would ask Maria the next day and she would always say nope, no change. Finally one day at the end of our lesson I prayed once again for the baby to sleep through the night. I didn't feel like it was a very faithful prayer because I'd prayed for it before and nothing had happened. That night when I was thinking about it again, I prayed again, and I prayed hard. I said that I knew that suffering was part of being a mother, and that it had to be hard, and I knew that, but I asked if I could do anything by my faith, it would be to just lessen a little bit the suffering of this mother. I asked again for the baby to sleep through the night. The next time we saw Maria, she had a little light in her eyes. We asked her how she was, and she happily explained that the baby had finally, for the first time, slept through the night, without waking up even once. Since then, the baby has slept every night. I was thinking about that yesterday during sacrament meeting, and I cried. It's funny how it never ceases to amaze me that the Lord answers prayers. I feel like I'm still learning how it works, and that there's a lot I might never understand in this life about how it works, but it's fun learning little things. I feel like the fact that I recognized the need for suffering has something to do with it.
I've been thinking a lot about suffering lately, a cheerful subject, I know. But I got a letter from a missionary this week who is having a really hard time, and it made me think about how I was having such a hard time in Brussels and back then, our roles had been switched. I used to think that if I wasn't giddy and happy about being a missionary 100% of the time, I was doing something wrong. Everyone always comes back from their missions telling you to enjoy every single moment of it, because it goes by so fast, and so when I wasn't enjoying it I felt guilty. But an important part of the mission is that it is hard and sometimes not fun. I feel like I cherish the hard, lonely moments as much as I do the good ones, because I've come closer to the Savior and to understanding his suffering through those moments. I've learned to finally mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort, and to bear other people's burdens, that they may be light. Because not too long ago, I was the one needed comfort and an extra hand. I have come to love the fact that suffering is part of this life, because as we suffer and realize that we are feeling just a bit of what the Savior suffered, our love and gratitude for him grows. I listened to a talk recently that talked about how it had to be Him, it had to be someone that meek and it had to require that much pain, not because there needed to be so much payment for so much sin, but because it had to be enough to evoke mercy and love from even the most sin-hardened soul.
Not that, obviously, I have suffered much. I live in a fairytale dreamland. There are twinkle lights all over Blois! Everywhere! All down the streets and in store windows and across the bridge! And there are little Christmas markets all over on the weekends and little bands that stand on the giant staircase downtown and play Christmas songs! Does it get any better? Sister Williams and I are in love with it! Haha. And our branch keeps making comments on how eternally happy the sister missionaries are. You know what else helps? I read the conference talk from Elder Clayton, "The Time Shall Come" about how the Church is growing and will one day fill the earth. And Saturday while we ported all day, I thought about that. We worked all day and didn't do a whole lot, it felt like. We gave away about ten family proclamations, a Joy to the World DVD, 2 Books of Mormon, and got let into one house. But I thought about the fact that there are 52,000 other missionaries like me who were doing the same thing. That means there may be a good 52,000 people in the world who received a copy of the Book of Mormon, or who heard for the first time the story of Joseph Smith, or that their family can be together forever. And that thought helps me remember that I am a very little part of a very big work. And knowing that you're part of something like that is enough to keep you ridiculously happy :)
Also our branch is doing so much missionary work! All the testimonies yesterday were about missionary experiences that they've had and several of the members gave away copies of the Book of Mormon this week! They're so excited and it's so fun to be a part of! Oh also next week our branch is having a Christmas party and putting on a performance of A Christmas Carol and because they're in a crunch and yesterday almost cancelled the whole thing, Sister Williams and I are now helping to decorate the set! Haha! I'm so excited. What fun. Oh Christmas!
Clement is doing really well, this week was funny, he had asked if we could go over the plan of salvation again so we brought Sister Williams' little drawings that she has for it and made him put it in order like a little kid and then explain it to us. We told him he was just too good an investigator and we don't really know what to do with him between now and January 7th. So we just kind of have him pick topics and discuss them. He's even doing missionary work! He's the best. Go frenchmen.
Well, this is a ridiculously long email. If you made it to the end, I hope you have a great week! Haha. Full of Christmas cheer!

I LOVE YOU too too much.
Happy December!

Soeur Larsen

Soeur Larsen: Part XXXVII

Hey sorry about not emailing yesterday! Don't worry, I'm not dead.

Yesterday was kinda crazy, it was Turkey Bowl day in the mission so all the districts got together and played football and ate and had district meeting and so we got to have p-day til 9 o clock. I felt like such a rebel. So we were in Orleans yesterday with our district and we didn't find an internet cafe close enough and thus didn't have time to email before our train came. So here I am today. It was probably up there on best Thanksgiving celebrations of my life. First of all, I have the coolest district in the entire mission. Half the district was in my MTC group, and one of them, Elder Costner, was in my original district in Versailles. Yay! Anyway, they're super cool. And we had an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner, if I do say so myself. Our Tahitian district leader and professional chef handled the chickens (there were five of them) and my comp and I made pumpkin pies. Guess what? They don't sell canned pumpkin in France. So we made them out of an ACTUAL pumpkin, which we bought at the farmer's market behind our apartment. So, I basically feel really legit right now. And it was delicious. And we ate it in a church gym! So it was like being at home :)

This week I was stuffed with so much food, I don't think I'll be able to handle meat for at least a week. Thursday night we ate with the branch president's family and ate a TON, eating with members is ridiculous because they all expect us to eat as much as elders and I always leave feeling like I'm going to explode. Saturday night we had the best mangez-vous (a rendezvous where we eat, because the verb for eating is manger, that's your french lesson for the week, thank you and have a nice day) EVER. We were invited to a member's for dinner, but she'd forgotten that she'd been invited to another member's house, so she just invited us along. We turned up and half the branch was there, the family who invited everyone is from La Reunion (it's an island, don't know the English name) and so they invited everyone to eat reunionaise food. I think I am grateful I got called to serve here instead of there, but it was nonetheless a good experience. Haha. The best was just being with that many members, the branch is so close and they are all so FUNNY when they get together. I loved it with all my heart.

And then Sunday we were invited to eat with a less active member who is super funny and very frank. She's never read the Book of Mormon and when we try to get her to she says it's not worth trying. But she is, nonetheless, trying to get her Catholic friend to read it and join the church. Too bizarre. So we ate until we thought we'd explode, and then passed by an ami's house where they gave us a bag of apples and two slices of caramel apple cake, and then went to our branch mission leader's house for FHE and ended up eating crepes and they kept insisting that they eat more. So, when I get back and weigh 3 times what I did when I left, it is not my fault. Blame the loving citizens of Blois.

Well, that about sums up my week... haha. I promise we did more than just eat... The work is going really well, lots of little miracles, no big ones yet. We still haven't found that family the boys are praying for, but my faith is unfailing! So we're still looking :) Every time we see them it's the first thing they ask us.

I'm glad you all had so much fun WITHOUT me. I hope this week is great and I love you all!!

Love love love,

Soeur Larsen

Soeur Larsen: Part XXXVI

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving back. 5 points for the one who knows what movie that's from. Hint, the only movie I know SO WELL that I can still quote it after 13 months in the field.

Ok, on to bigger and better things. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Are you all going to Embassy Suites? Where's the feast being held this year? I'm so jealous. Well, not really. But I will miss you all and think of you lots. Speaking of thinking of you, yesterday we had stake conference (so good!) and President Poznanski spoke about the three keys to missionary success and he said the first was the faith and humility of the missionary, the second was how well the missionaries and members work together, and the third was that members should keep in mind the missionaries' mothers, who pray for them every day. That got some definite tears going. Thanks for all your prayers :)

So, things I am thankful for:

MY FAMILY! The best in the world!

The fact that I will be staying in Blois for Christmas! With Sister Williams! The Lord is too good to me.

The fact that our toilet is fixed!

My wonderful wonderful branch!

That the Lord answers prayers and works miracles!

Ok, so. This week was ridiculous. We slept over at a member's house til Wednesday, which was so fun. We stayed with the Ferreira's, a little Portuguese couple, and they are adorable and so so funny. And it was fun, I think Brother Ferreira secretly hoped our toilet would never be fixed so we could just keep staying there. And Sister Ferreira works for a boulangerie so every morning when we came downstairs she had an entire pastry shop laid out for us. We also got to ride with them to and from Stake Conference, which was even more fun. They just are so funny because Sister Ferreira teases her husband mercilessly and he either just laughs or pretends to not know what she's talking about. And he loves America, he just asks us all kinds of questions about it. And he likes to practice his english... "I want...aller en America!" haha.

Stake Conference was the BEST. It was in Angers, which is a little over two hours away, so they do the adult session in the morning and then everyone has lunch together, picnic style, and then they do the general session and then everybody visits because they're so excited to be with other Mormons! We left yesterday at 7:15 and got back just before 7 at night.  It was such a good conference, and it was so fun because our little family that we're teaching was there! And they loved it! More miracle stories about them later. Also it was fun because it's our mission president's home stake and so he was excited to be there and everyone was extra excited to see him. And we ate lunch with his family and visited with him and he met and talking with our little family and came over to us and exclaimed about what a beautiful family they were and said it was dangerous, being in the best branch and teaching wonderful people, because we'd never want to leave. I was like, President, don't even THINK about it. I'm not going anywhere! haha. Also, side note, I could go on and on and on about how beautiful France is. Driving through the French countryside yesterday was a dream, with the sun coming up and turning the trees all bronze and gold, while fog still wafted over the wide open fields and in between the little cottages and barns and cathedrals. I'm in love. So very deeply in love! That reminds me again, last p-day the Brouillets, a service missionary couple in the ward, took us to see the Cheverny castle. It looks like Pemberly! Soeur Williams and I linked arms and walked around the grounds talking in British accents. We're Jane Austen nerds.

Ok so, miracles. This week has been full of them! First of all, the response to our goal of 20 baptisms has been incredible. Every time we talk to members they talk about it, and how they've started talking to their friends and family and coworkers, thinking, "maybe you're one of the 20!" Also the hearts of all our amis are just melting like butter. The most incredible has been Maria. Maria is the ninja mom I told you about, with the 17 and 3 month olds. I found out this week that she's my age! Anyway, she's been having some cool experiences with prayer. Last sunday her husband had been gone since Friday and she doesn't have a cell phone so she had no way to find out where he was or when he was coming back. She was all alone and prayed that Carole, a member of the branch, would come over. She finished her prayer and up rolled Carole and her husband, who then were able to get a hold of her husband. Thursday she was all alone again, husband at work, elevator broken (they live on the 6th floor) and she needed to go get groceries. She prayed that she would run into us so that we could call someone to help her. Thursday morning we were walking to district meeting and we hear our names being called, and there's Maria. She explained the problem, we called a member who was there five minutes later to help. We wouldn't even have been on that street except that we'd forgotten something so we were behind. She told us all of this on Saturday, right after we'd read a story from the Liahona together about a woman's conversion story. We read the story and she kind of smiled and was like, that's wierd, that story really speaks to me. She repeated this a couple times and then said, you know, ever since you've talked about baptism I just can't get it out of my head. I feel like that word is everywhere. I heard it at church, and in that story, and everytime I open the scriptures. She looked at us and said, if I hear about baptism again tomorrow at stake conference, I'm going to take that as my answer. I think I need to be baptized. She and her husband will be getting baptized the 17th of December. Also they've invited us over for Christmas!

I just can't get over it. I feel like I was just watching Maria and it felt like the conversion stories you always hear about, and I just thought about how very little it has to do with what I do or say during the lessons. We're just there, we introduce the spirit, and then the spirit touches hearts. It's been the same with our other amis. Raphael was super interesting the first rendezvous, but more than a little skeptical of some of our doctrine and of the Book of Mormon. We gave him a section to read and when we saw him this week he had read it and then continued and he loved it. As he talked we realized he's been pondering Joseph Smith all week, and he said his only real question was whether his heart would be open enough that the Lord could tell him that our Church was true and that he could accept it.

Kevin and Alex are the same, the spirit has just gone crazy in their lives. First of all, they love us to death. This last week we made Kevin pancakes for his birthday (his request) and we talked about the gospel and how things have changed for them since we've started meeting with them. They talked about the spirit they've felt, Alex marveled over the fact that she actually wanted to read scriptures and looked forward to it, that they run home to be there in time to see us, that they feel like they're more patient and optimistic, that they actually have a desire to go to church every week, they're stopping smoking. This coming from a couple who is tattooed and pierced and, when we first met them, very cynical about life. I love them with all my heart. Sister Williams and I have just been watching all these changes with open mouths and overflowing hearts. All the Lord needed us to do was show a little faith in him.

I'm so so so in love with everything. Missionary work, Blois, France, our branch, our amis, my companion, my mission president and his wife, everybody in the whole world. I'm so excited for this transfer! Christmas transfer! I love Christmas! I can't wait for the Savior to come again!

Ps, our transfer motto this transfer is "Oh come, let us adore him" We're so in Christmas mode, haha.

I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers! I need to tell you more about the story of the 20 baptisms thing... someday... It's legit.

Til next week! Happy Thanksgiving! Have lots of fun without me! haha.

Soeur Larsen