Sister Larson's Blog: Week 23

Oh boy… wow this last week has been jam packed! Let’s see if I can give you a quick overview of the main highlights…

Monday – April 13th

Today for our P-Day, Sister Parke decided to switch things up and go to the DI to play a little dress up and man did we have fun! We decided it would be only right to create the ugliest outfits possible— so that is exactly what we did! You can judge out outfits for yourselves ;) All I have to say is, Sister Parke and I probably have too much fun together- than again what’s too much fun?!

Having way too much fun at the DI!

Tuesday – April 14th

Today we went to visit Sister Yule at the dry cleaning shop and when we got there we found Sister Yule in tears. When we asked her what was the matter she told us some very sad news! She had just got word that our dear sweet Brother Kucera had passed away. He had his fourth heart surgery the day before and he didn’t make it. I couldn’t believe it. The Kuceras had signed up to feed us dinner just later tonight. Brother Kucera has to be one of my most favorite people I have met out here! He is one of the sweetest guys ever! He is that grandpa figure for everyone. He is always happy and smiling and always seems to be telling a joke. It was sad to hear the news, but at the same time I knew he was in a better place! He had returned home to our Father in Heaven. How glorious and wonderful must that be? Plus— both of my Mom’s parents have passed away since I have come out on my mission and I figure they needed Brother Kucera to be their friend and personal missionary. So Brother Kucera all I have to say is, “Get to work! There is much to be done!” He will be missed, but we will all be together again. I always seem to find much comfort in Enos 1:27. And that was the exact scripture we shared with Sister Erlendsson when we went to see her later that day to tell her the news. How blessed we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know God’s plan. We can always seem to find such peace during times of one’s passing and for that I am so grateful!

That evening we taught Rahel and her girls about Noah. The girls have never heard these bible stories so they just eat them up and love every minute they get to learn about different Prophets from the scriptures. We also went over how we had keep the Sabbath Day Holy and the girls started brainstorming different things they wanted to do as a family to make Sundays, a special day. Oh I just love those sweet girls. They’re absolutely amazing—so full of light!

Tonight, Steve and Keri took us out to dinner at Perkins. I have been craving a begum waffle since I have come out here, and FINALLY I was able to order me a big-o-waffle for dinner and man was it good! Breakfast for dinner… I’m not sure if there is anything better! We had a great time getting to spend some good time together. I sure love Steve and Keri Nelson! They really do spoil us girls!

Then we finished the night off by going over to Jennifer’s to bake some oatmeal raisin cookies to her while we shared a message from 2 Nephi 31. This week is crunch time… Jennifer is getting baptized on Saturday so we just want to make sure NOTHING gets in the way of that happening! And baking cookies was a good start right?!

Wednesday – April 15th

This afternoon we spend a good chunk of time over at Sister Petersen’s helping her out. That woman is just amazing! She does so much and is such a wonderful example to me. She has so much on her plate and sadly she gets treated so poorly by her family. She broke down to us today and just expressed how hurt she is by everything people are putting her through. She does so much for others and they seem to just walk all over her— it’s absolutely heart breaking! Sister Petersen NEVER has time for herself or her house, so today we spent a couple of hours doing some much needed cleaning in her home! And you all know me and cleaning… I LOVE IT! Between Sister Parke and me, we busted out a ton of work. Sister Parke really enjoys deep cleaning and I love to put my organizing skills to work so we just went to town and had fun! I can’t tell you how good it feels to see a room transform. It becomes a place where the spirit can dwell and love can be felt.

We did some tracking later that afternoon and met some pretty cool people. We knocked into Granny Ellen Irish (who was just a hoot), we were able to talk with a guy name Loronzo, and a young guy by the name of Rueben actually came up to us and started talking to us. Rueben by far was my favorite! He was probably in his 20’s, but we had a great conversation with him and before we left we were able to get his information and have a prayer with him right then and there on the sidewalk. It was pretty sweet!

That evening we saw Angie and had a good lesson. We seemed to be going in circles with her so finally I said, “Angie, if you were the missionary WHAT would you TELL Angie she needed to do?” I think it finally clicked in Angie’s head… she said, “I would have to CHANGE.” BINGO!!! If we want to see CHANGE we MUST CHANGE! Now Angie, get your bum in gear, get off your couch, and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

Thursday – April 16th

This morning we went to FMSC to pack food and then after our district decided to go out to lunch together. It was my idea to go out to Pizza Hut. Once we got there and went inside everyone decided to scratch Pizza Hut and go somewhere else…. And that is when the Ooopsie happened. So you see as a missionary you have some pretty annoying rules and one of those happen to be every time you back up your car you MUST have another missionary behind you to direct you EVEN if you are in a totally empty parking lot. Well, today Sister Parke was driving and the elders were also there so Elder Tilotson was backing out both cars. And then we felt it— BOOM! Yep— No April fools joke here— Sister Parke had accidentally backed into the car next to her. Both she and Elder Tilotson were looking just behind the car not to the side and yep that was where the damage was done. Everyone felt so bad, but thankful the damage wasn’t too bad (to our car anyway). The other car happened to belong to the Pizza Hut guy and he was super cool about it. After getting everything worked out with the police and all of the paperwork filled out the guy was nice enough to get us a pizza on him… when we were the ones who hit his car. Pretty cool how there are still nice people out there in the world.

That night, we went to visit Sister Erlendsson, but when we called her she told us she wasn’t feeling up to having visitors. But we just didn’t want to let her depression win so we had a brilliant idea! We told her to look out of her apartment window. She happens to be on the 3rd floor of an 11 floor building. And the next thing we knew there she was poking her head outside of her window. Sister Parke and I had to think fast so the next thing I knew I yelled up to her and told her we were going to do a dance for her. Sister Parke looked at me like I was crazy, but hey if it was the ticket in, I was willing to do just about anything. So there we were in downtown Hopkins— I grabbed Sister Parke and pulled her up onto a park bench where we both started doing this new little dance we made up. Before we knew it, Sister Erlendsson was all smiles and we were able to get her to come OUTSIDE and go on a little walk with us!!! It was truly a miracle! We walked all the way down and back on her street and then… she let us COME IN to her apartment! Yippy! Pretty soon, we were able to find some cleaning supplies and we ended up spending the next two hours cleaning up her house for her. IT WAS AWESOME!!! See what a little dance on a park bench can do?!

Friday – April 17th

Today we had a huge zone service project in one of the big parks in downtown Minneapolis. I, being the totally weirdo that I am, thought it would be fun to wear my flip-flops. Well it turned out that we were working with shoveling out manure and spreading it out in the garden areas. So I ended up pretty much walking around barefoot in poop for two hours— oh well such is life ;)

That evening we had one last lesson with Jennifer over at the Klenotich’s before her big day! It’s so great to see how excited she is to finally be getting baptized after working with the missionaries for a year now. Go Jennifer!!!

Saturday- April 18th

Today started off with Brother Kucera’s funeral. It was such a beautiful service! So many people were able to come and show their love and respect for such a wonderful man. He will surely be missed by many. After our ward mission leader came and found us and told us we had a BIG PROBLEM! They had tried to start filling up the baptismal font for Jennifer’s baptism, however, somehow it had gotten backed up and sewage was coming out!!! When we went to check it out let me just say it looked straight up NASTY!!! There was NO WAY Jennifer was going to be getting baptized here! Somehow it was just one thing after another with problems getting things to work in order to make this baptism happen. It was clear Satan did NOT want her to be getting baptized. Somehow, God provided us with just enough miracles to make everything fall into place in order for a baptism to happen. Jennifer’s baptism may not have been WHERE we had planned, or WHEN we had, or WITH WHO we had planned, but it HAPPENED and that is what counts. Jennifer recognized God’s hand and was so happy she was still able to get baptized. She seemed to just glow the entire time at her baptism. It definitely was a special and unforgettable day for her!

Jennifer's baptism.

Sunday- April 19th

Okay so remember how we hit the pizza huts guy’s car…. Well we had his contact information because we had to exchange information because of insurance and stuff and well today I told Sister Parke we should just text him and see if he would be interested in learning more and possibly come to church. You will never believe it, but Robert (AKA Pizza Hut Man) totally is interested!!! How crazy cool is that?!?! I mean shoot I would say a little bump in one’s car is worth one’s salvation… now we just need to see if President will think the same ;) Who knows though— that little oops might lead to a baptism you just never know! ;)

Well, until next week... be good, do something kind, and remember have FUN!

xo- Sister Larson