Oh man, so much good stuff happened
this week. And so much funny stuff. And it totally wore me out so hopefully I
can transmit it... even if I have to pass out on the keyboard! Haha. It really
is sad though how old and tired I feel.
Ok first funny thing that I just
can't hold in.... I held hands with an elder this week. In front of my mission
president. Haha!
Ok just kidding, here's what
happened. We had Zone Conference this week, and President Poznanski was
illustrating how the mission needs to be unified. He had a little box that
conducted an electric current and made noises, and he showed how if a a couple
people were in a circle holding hands, with two people holding the little box,
it worked, but if somewhere the circle was interrupted, the box would stop
making noise. So the people in the circle represented the mission and the
electric current and the noises represented the Spirit. So then they decided to
make a giant circle with everybody and see if it still worked. So the three other
sisters and I were looking at each other going, well, we'll just watch. And
then President was like, nope, we want everybody in here, so for just a minute
you have my permission to touch an elder. I was standing next to the AP. I was
like, no way man. Anyway, it took me a minute, and it was the most
uncomfortable feeling of my life. I never want to hold hands with anyone ever
again.
It was funny, I was hoping that I
wouldn't be awkward when I got back. But it would seem that it just can't be
helped.
Moving on... the rest of the
conference was really good. I had to give my "dying testimony", I
don't know whose idea it was to make the missionaries who are leaving give one
last testimony, but it is a terrible idea.
The train ride back from the conference
was the best! Soeur Williams and I were sitting across from this guy and I said
a little prayer to know how to start a conversation and then I saw a chateau
out the window and I was like, hey, do you know what chateau that is? And then
we just kept talking for the hour long ride and it was so great! He was super
nice to talk to and we got to talk about all kinds of things. My favorite was
after we had asked him about his motivations and goals in life, since he said
he doesn't believe in God, and then he was like, well, how does the fact that
you do believe in God change your life? And I said in my head, that is only my
very favorite question to be asked! So then Soeur Williams and I talked about
how we believe families can be forever, and we talked about feeling important
because our prayers are heard and we see miracles, and we just tried to
transmit joy and happiness and peace! Haha. He seemed a little thrown off about
how joyful we were... It was also funny as our train pulled into the gare and
we started to gather our stuff, that I noticed that the people sitting around
us had also been paying attention and were checking out our tags. Well, now
that whole train car knows that Mormons are happy! Tant mieux.
Lots of other good miracles.
I found a piece of paper this week
in my desk that had a name, phone number, and address, so we decided to find
the address and find out who it was and we met this guy who was super nice and
had apparently been referred to the elders a while ago by a member. He said it
was amazing that we had caught him at home, because he's usually not there. I
thought it was amazing that I had found the paper just that morning, because
I've been using that desk for 5 months now! The Lord is sneaky.
Also Chris and Maria are back! They
left for a while because Chris was supposed to do some training for his work in
Paris, and they were supposed to be gone til November. And then we found out
they were back and we went to visit them and Maria was talking about how much
she missed church and she'd checked out other churches and they just weren't
the same and she's back and said she's here to stay!
And we found a beautiful African
family who used to be taught by the missionaries and they used to be pretty
good friends with the members too but they weren't married and couldn't get
baptized but now they're married! Hooray! So now we're getting them ready for
baptism. It was the best, we went to see them with a member and after the
lesson she turned to us and was like, are you sure you couldn't stay another
month? President said that to me at zone conference too. Maybe it's a
sign...You guys wouldn't mind not seeing me for another month, right?
Also, if it's possible to rank
miracles, the best miracle of the whole week was Carlos! He came to church!
He's back!! I just can't even express my joy right now. His is just the best
miracle story ever. We went to see him this week with another member and he'd
gotten his hair cut and he had out his scriptures, his hymnbook, and brownies
when we come over, and had asked us to bring over a tithing slip. Then he said
he'd come to church! Sunday morning we give a 'missionary moment' in Relief
Society and Priesthood, and when we walked into priesthood I saw him sitting
there in a suit and tie and I just could hardly contain my joy! And then he
cried his way through testimony meeting. Yesterday was just one of the best
Sundays I've ever had on my mission, when all is said and done.
It's been a week of change in my
perspective. I feel like my whole mission I've been trying to work super hard
in the fear that I'm never working hard enough or well enough. It's been 17
months of nervous-ness, which probably explains the tired-ness as well.... And
this week it's like I was finally understanding that I actually have been a
good missionary all along. Not perfect, but good. It was wierd.
Oh yeah, other fun thing. So tuesday
night we watched The Testaments with Alexandra and Kyllian and Kyllian was just
being super cute. He kept pointing people out and being like, is he wicked? Is
he wicked? He's good, right? He's the good guy? And when they show the
crucifixion he got all sad and said, what? The bad guys win? And I told him not
to worry, they just THINK they win. And then he was super excited when the
Savior comes to the Nephites and kept going on about how white he was and how
nice he was. And then after the movie he looked at me and was like, which do
you like better, the bad guys or the Jesus? And I told him I liked Jesus best.
He said he did too :)
Oh also we taught a Nigerian lady in
english this week, and it was SO STRANGE. I couldn't form sentences like
normal, and praying felt super wierd, I couldn't remember all the phrases I
would normally use. I'm just not used to talking about the gospel in english!
So it was funny. I'll be one of those annoying RM's who can't remember to speak
their native language, haha. Cuz I'm just such a consecrated missionary ;)
And yesterday at a member's house
they gave us the most AMAZING dark chocolate mousse I've ever had, and
they said they'll get us some of the real swiss chocolate so we can come home
and make it for you guys! You'll be so impressed with my skills.
So yeah, this week was incredible
and next week is going to be even better!
I hope yours is great! Thank you for
your prayers!
Love,
Soeur Larsen
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