Happy Father's Day dad! Sorry I didn't call... If it makes you feel better, I did say it, I just sent Father's day wishes out into the universe...Know that I love you and that you're the best dad in the WHOLE world! I realize that more and more everyday, as I'm teaching and I realize that YOU'RE the one who taught me everything I know. Good work :) Cuz, I know lots of stuff.
Also happy almost birthday! Party hardy for me, take a break from laying all that cement...
Also happy birthday to Grandpa Dan!
I'm so jealous that you're all there partying together and eating wedding cake without me. Everybody hug everyone else for me, and try to talk more about how much you miss me than how happy you are that Branden found such a cute wife...
Haha, JK Branden. I wouldn't sabotage your wedding day like that. Probably. Happy wedding! Man, what a week you all get to look forward to! Lucky.
Oh hey guess what? I hit another missionary landmark yesterday-- I had to tape my bag strap together. Yay! I'm so legit.
Other random story for you before I get to the good stuff: so the other day we met this super cute little Albanian lady and we told her about the Book of Mormon and how we could get her one in Albanian and she was all excited and then we got her info to bring it to her later. When we went home for lunch I grabbed a book in Albanian in case we had time to stop by her and then we headed out. We've always talked about taking a BOM in a random language with us and then praying to find someone who spoke that language, but we never have. So then we're standing at one of the metro stops waiting and this lady comes up to us and asks us a question in English. We were kind of startled and we started talking to her and found out she was from Yugoslavia, of all places. What language do they speak there? I asked. Oh you know, Albanian. Haha. I reached into my bag and pulled out the Book of Mormon in Albanian (all slow and dramatic-like, with Called to Serve playing in the background) and said, oh, like this? She was so startled that we just happened to have something in Albanian with us! Miracle! We told her more about the church and it turns out she has two kids who live in Michigan! She said she'll tell them to look up the church over there, and she's gonna look up the missionaries back in Yugoslavia. Cool huh? The end.
Ok so this week we had Zone Conference! My FAVORITE! I love being with other missionaries! It was the BEST and the WORST zone conference ever. It was the worst because we were saying goodbye to the Stahelis, who have been my substitute parents and whom I love and admire with all my heart. When they gave their testimonies at the end I was just bawling like a baby. Sister Staheli talked about the premortal life and how we all looked at each other and said, "You, me, Paris France, 2011. Be there." Haha, it gave me chills. And then they just had to draw it out forever, we all filed across the front of the room and hugged Sister Staheli and shook hands with President (or vice versa) and then sang 'God be with you til we meet again'. Really? REALLY?! It was the worst. It was good too, coming to see how much I've grown to love them and knowing that I can see them after the mission. But oh man. Ugh.
Ok it was also the best zone conference ever because it was a boost of FAITH and an answer to a hundred thousand prayers!
So here's how it went down. The AP's got up and said, at the beginning of the year the mission presidency set a goal for 360 baptisms for 2011. That's a big increase from last year, btw. And so far, there have been 68. And it is June. (Insert yucky sinking feeling) So there are 292 to go by the end of the year. According to the math, that means each missionary needs to have 2 baptisms by then. (Other random insert, our mission is 600 miles by 400 miles and there's 155 of us. Woah.) Then they said, there are roughly 224,000 people living in Lille (the city where the conference was) and they asked us what percentage of those the Lord had prepared to meet the missionaries. I was thinking, um, 100%? Is this a trick question? Then President Staheli said, what if he had only prepared one one hundredth of one percent? That, quand meme, is 23 people. (If we did the math right...) 23 people prepared by the Lord to be taught and baptised! 2,then, is a definite possibility. The Spirit in the room was electrifying.
Part of the reason this was so exciting to me was that the day before I'd been thinking about the importance of being specific with the Lord about the desires of our hearts so that he can help us achieve them and build our faith. So I had written down my desires, and afterwards I was looking at them and thinking they were a little bit out of control, because they included the baptisms of four families that we're teaching, among other things. But during the training I got the powerful feeling that as we show the Lord what our specific desires are, and that we're willing to do everything in our power to achieve them, we show him our faith and it is by faith that miracles happen :) President Staheli then talked about the Miracle of 2011 and how the mission presidency has become convinced that after decades of seed-planting by missionaries in Europe, now is the time for the harvest. He compared it to the growth of temples: first temple built (after Kirtland and Nauvoo) was St. George, in 1877. The 50th was St. Louis, in 1997, 120 years later. Then, after a revelation received by President Hinckley, 52 more were built and dedicated by 2000, 3 years after that. It started with a revelation and then faith in that revelation. And the same thing is beginning in the France Paris mission.
Isn't that exciting? I hope the spirit of it transmits through the computer. I pray that it does. The spirit that filled that little chapel in Lille was the best thing I've ever felt in my life. It was the faith of 155 missionaries being grown right before our eyes. I know that this is the Lord's work! I know that these are the last days and that the elect of the earth WILL be gathered. It's up to us whether we want to be part of the gathering, part of the great work that is coming forth today. Live the miracle of 2011. Live it to tell your grandchildren about it! Be one of the few!
Haha, I hope I don't sound like a crazy person, I don't really have time to organize my thoughts, I just wanted to get them all out there. This was such a good faith-building week. This spirit of change, the spirit of NOW has been catching throughout the mission. Just two days before zone conference the Brussels zone had a meeting about it where our zone leaders lifted our sights and talked about believing in Brussels, becoming the light on a hill to inspire the rest of the mission, the rest of the world. Missionary work, the gathering of the elect to prepare for the final battle is the most important thing happening on this earth. It's so exciting to be a part of!
And yesterday we had a lesson after church with two return missionaries in our ward and three amis and after the lesson we were talking to the members and both of them assured us that the spirit that we feel as missionaries does not have to go away after the mission, it's up to us to keep it with us. Hooray! So you all can be feeling this too!
On that note, President Staheli also shared from 2 Ne. 2:28-9 where we can see there are only 2 voices in the world that can be listened to--the natural man voice which allows us to be tempted by Satan, and the voice of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost. So which voice are you listening to? Slowly but surely as you ignore the voice of the natural man your power to ignore him increases. He will never go away, you will ignore him til the day you die. But ignore him we must! The result of ignoring him: Alma 48:11-13, 16-17
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Happy Birthday again DAD!
LOVE,
Soeur Larsen
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