Sister Larson's Blog: Week 31

Okay where to begin...

Last Saturday, June 6th, happened to be our best P-Day yet! We just decided we were going to make it a total day of relaxation and that is exactly what we did and let me tell you it was nothing less than beautiful! We got the house cleaned, we e-mailed, and we did some major grocery shopping. Then once we got home we made us a dang good lunch and watched the movie, "The Best Two Years" on our 6 inch DVD player ;) But we had fun with it! Now that I'm a missionary that movie makes a whole lot more sense so we were getting a kick out of it. And then that evening, our Bishop had us over to his place with the elders and the Higbees (the new senior missionaries) for dinner.

Sunday, the 7th of June, we had an awesome fast and testimony meeting at church! I am so impressed with the singles out here. There wasn't enough time for everyone who wanted to to bare their testimonies. After church Sister S. and I did our weekly planning before going over to Vanessa's (a new member in the area) for a BBQ. But before the night was over we had set some goals for the week that hadn't been hit yet, so we went out contacting to see if we could find some more people to teach. Just a couple blocks down the road, we met this awesome guy, Maxwell, who actually happened to be a restaurant owner, who was sitting outside of his place. He invited us in and made us each the most amazing drinks! Turns out that Maxwell is Muslim, but he is one of the kindest people I have met here in the city yet! We exchanged numbers with each other because we each wanted to be able to serve the other. We don't meet people on the street who want to serve US everyday! He told us that he will open his restaurant anytime if we need a place to teach people. How cool is that?

My study area.

On Monday, the 8th, we ended up going to FMSC with Nicole (one of the members of the ward who happens to live 1 1/2 hours away from the church and yet, she still comes!). We had a great time packing food and while we were there we met this cool teenage boy, Robert. Once we told him we were missionaries he started asking us all sorts of questions. He was there with his whole football team, but he was the only one from his team that was working with us. He told us that he trusted asking us his deep questions simply because we were missionaries. That was really neat to hear this young boy say that and recognize what our purpose truly was as missionaries.

On the way home, we got a detailed car wash. Now when we were given a car three weeks ago it needed one desperately, but we didn't really know where a good car wash place was, so when we passed one on the way back home for dinner we decided NOW was the time and let me tell you... cleanliness really is next to godliness! Sis. Steadman and I had been dying driving that car around and when we stepped back into that car it was as if we were stepping into a little piece of heaven. It was glorious! Awe... I just love me a good car wash it's true!

That night, we had FHE at the institute and Dixon came! Sis. S had met Dixon a few weeks back on campus and we actually invited him to Vanessa's BBQ the night before and he came so we invited him to FHE and once again he showed up! He accidentally got there 45 minutes early but we were already there and we were able to have a mini lesson with him so it worked out perfectly! And before he left that night he had a BOM in hand and commitment to read a few different things from it! :)

Tuesday, June 9th, it was HOT, HOT, HOT!!!! It is honestly hard to remember it ever really being as freezing as it once was. It was in the 90's and humid and we were sweating! We decided we wanted to do a little service around our neighborhood by picking up garbage because here in the city it is EVERYWHERE! Today probably wasn't the best day to have done it because by the time we were done, we were dripping. But the good news was our neighborhood looked a lot better (it lasted about three days, but it did look better!). We took a break from doing service outside and decided to go and heart attack some of our fellow missionaries. So we passed some love over to our STLs and the Higbees.

Sharing the love :)

That night Brad totally spoiled us by making Sister Steadman's most favorite thing in the world... STEAK!!! Oh yeah! Brad, Nick, Bryce and us all went over to the Higbee's apartments to use one of the grills there to grill those suckers up. We had such a fun time being all together and enjoying massive amounts of steak, potatos, and salad. Talk about a good homemade meal! Shoot dang!

Steak for days!

Then we finished the night off by going over to teach Eva and her cousin Victoire and another friend Trina. We were really hoping to be able to teach Isaiah but when we got there he got up and went to the bedroom to sleep. Oh, well there's not much you can do if people don't want to listen. Victoire actually happens to be a less active member so it was really good to be able to see her and before we left she said a prayer which was awesome to hear!

On Wednesday, we had our district meeting and we had a training on faith, hope, and charity, I taught on faith, Sister S. on hope, and one of the Elders on charity. Sister S and I studied faith and hope the day before and it was a really interesting study. Have you ever thought about what the difference between faith and hope are to you? Give that some thought. We actually used that question while we were out contacting different students on campus to see what their views on faith and hope were. Overall, I left that meeting just being very impressed at these young missionaries and how they are so willing to come out here at such a young age and give up everything to serve the Lord. The youth of the church really is growing! They are strong and valiant and wonderful examples to me!

My District.

That evening Stephen Patterson (my last Bishop's son) took us out for sushi for dinner and we invited Ellie to join us as well. We met with her last week with the elders to answer some of her questions. Tonight, she made her intentions very clear. She enjoyed asking questions and learning about our views, but she wasn't open to learning. Her heart was completely closed off to our message. So before we left we had to let her know we weren't going to be able to meet with her anymore because our purpose as missionaries is to teach and invite, but thankfully Stephen was there and they were able to exchange numbers and he was more than happy to continue meeting with her to answer her questions. It happen to work out perfectly to have both of them there!

Thursday, June 11th, we spent the day setting up our NEW iPADS! Yep, we finally have them. President came and gave them to us on Monday and we just happen to be extra lucky because most of the mission aren't getting theirs until sometime next week. I have very mixed feelings about having iPads but honestly once everything is smoothed out they probably will really be able to help with the work.

Tonight, Jake, from the ward, helped Sister Steadman and me figure out how to start working on our family history. I was working on figuring a few things out with my Grandpa McClammy. Apparently, he was in the system three times so it was getting lots of things messed up, but after a hour of figuring things out we got that all cleaned up and BAM a hand full of new names popped up on my family tree. It was actually quite exciting! Oh and Mom, I saw that you too have been doing some work on there, so GO MOM!

Yesterday, Friday, June 12th, marked SEVEN MONTHS out here for me! We kicked started the day off by going out to contact around campus and yep, it was another HOT day! And then we spent a good three hours in the afternoon weeding for our neighbors. If you look out our windows you can see someone's house and their beautiful garden they have all around their house! We figured we should probably meet them sometime and offer to help them garden so a few weeks back that is exactly what we did and today we finally were able to go over and get our hands dirty! It was great to be out in the sun and get dirt on our hands and knees. It was as if we were able to step outside of city life for a minute. We are planning on going back next week to do some more. And Katherine was so kind to send us home with some of the most gorgeous flowers from her garden so we could have fresh cut flowers on our kitchen table. What can I say, what goes around, comes around!

Weeding away.

Some beautiful flowers we got for our mad weeding skills ;)

Then Friday night, we were able to met with Iris and have a wonderful lesson. Iris has decided to start praying about baptism! And this Sunday she is going to get to come to church! We are so excited to have her there!

After our lesson with Iris, we mingled for a bit at the Friday night activity and guess who showed up?! Dixon! And guess who read the BOM? Dixon! And guess who told us they wanted to come to church on Sunday? Dixon! Way to go Dixon!!!

Well, I think that about does it for the main highlights for the week! Thank you all for your constant letters and packages! You sure do know how to make a sister missionary feel special! I really do feel like I have the greatest family and friends anyone could ever ask for!

Scripture of the week: D&C 31 (I dedicate this to my family- I love you guys!)
Love- Sister Larson