Gripe Navidad, Feliz Año Nuevo!

Shout out to my older brother, HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!!!!

Well, I have a lot to say because I haven't written a letter for more than two weeks! Haha where to start. Well we had a couple baptisms. They are amazing. It is a couple that my companion was teaching when I got here, they had some problems they almost separated like a week before they got baptized. But they got baptized and they have SUPER strong testimonies. The husband is all about the priesthood and going to the temple. And the wife, well the night before they got baptized she was super scared because her mom basically told her that she was going to hell if she got baptized in the church of the Mormons. We explained to her about baptism and shared scriptures but in the end I told her that she just needed to pray and take a risk :) And they got baptized! It was great. It was fun, they are a super special family.

In the spirit of Christmas this last few weeks we have been doing service on Wednesdays and singing in a choir with all the missionaries in Pucallpa in the boiling hot sun with our Santa hats. Haha it has been interesting, Christmas eve we all got sunburnt. All of the North Americans didn't feel like it was Christmas, I am still waiting for my snow :) 

Christmas was super fun, we taught and we got to talk to our families!! :) We woke up super early because our zone wanted to play soccer for our exercise in the morning. So, we woke up at 5 in the morning and we went and played soccer with the two zones in Pucallpa, I slept on the grass...haha then we went and made pancakes with the other sisters and I got to talk to someone from Moyobamba, a member that just moved from there to here for his work. I was so excited! So we went to go visit him and they are doing really good and he was actually talking to the branch president from Moyobamba when we went to go visit them and I got to talk to the family. I was so happy :) I also got a card from my old companion that is still there and she broke the news to me that an investigator that we were teaching that had cancer passed away, I was super sad but I know that we will see him again, I am writing cards to his family to cheer them up a little bit. After all that happened we went and played volleyball and ate with the other missionaries and we watched a movie, Ephraim´s Rescue. All the sisters cried. Haha, it was really good. Then I got to talk to my wonderful family. I am so glad that they are doing good. 

The rest of the week was good. Everyone is sick here with a horrible cold that gives you a terrible fever and all that fun stuff and of course I came down with it, but I am feeling better today. Yesterday I rested and now today I feel a lot better. 

Lots of rain these last few days :)
I hope everyone has a wonderful week, Love you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :D







 

 

Fe

Well this week was fun, and SUPER busy. We started out the week with training with the president for Chirstmas, it was fun, we all had Santa hats, we played jeopardy and we learned about the  gifts of Christmas, it was super fun, I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

We had a couple miracles happen this week, we went to go visit a family on Monday that was going to get baptized this last week and we got to the house and the husband was leaving the house super fast in his motokar and the wife was crying super hard, we walked in the house and talked with her and they had been fighting and he said that he regretted getting married to her and things like that, we made her some dinner and shared with her some scriptures and then we left, the next day we called and the husband still hadnt returned home. We didnt lose our faith we still had faith that everything would work out. Then we called and he was there and we went to go visit them that night with a married couple in the ward and it went really well, this couple now are like a newly married couple that just returned from their honeymoon and they are so excited to get baptized, the husband is super excited about the priesthood and we are super excited for them. They are going to get baptized this week. Faith can move mountains. 

Our mission president gave us a challenge to apply a Christ attribute every week and the last week was faith and this week is hope, I love this challenge because everyday in personal study we have to study this attribute and then rate ourself at night how we did. I like it 

Also for Christmas all the missionaries in Pucallpa, we are doing a skit thing. Half of the missionaries are going to act out the birth of Christ and the rest of us are the angels and we are singing while they are acting, so we practiced that this last week. It was fun, I am excited to see how it turns out. 

Well, I dont have much time, But I hope that everyone has an amazing week and keeps up the Christmas spirit

Hermana Larsen

Pucallpa

Well, it happened! I got transferred, it was a huge shock because I seriously didn't feel like I was going to be transferred. I thought I would stay in Moyo for another 6 weeks and then go somewhere else to finish my mission but apparently God wants me in another place. I was super sad to leave, I said bye to everyone and we had a family night Monday night with my branch president's family. We all cried a lot. It was a little rough with my companion because we were getting along so well, we were like best friends and they changed me. She is the one companion that I have had for the shortest time. Then the next day I got to take a car for two hours to Tarapoto and I got to see my old companion Hermana Resanovich! And then we had to fly to Iquitos and I stayed in Iquitos for a day and I ran into some people that I knew from my first area! It was great, I was so happy. It reminded me how much I have grown as a missionary. Then, it was off to.........drum roll please....Pucallpa! Pucallpa is awesome, it is a lot like Iquitos but with a lot more dirt that flies in your face when you are in a Motokar. It's super hot! It has been kind of a shock going from cold to hot again. But it's pretty. Our area reminds me a lot of my first area in Iquitos. The people are super nice. I don't know a lot of the ward yet, but from the members that I have gotten to know, it is great. My companion is super cute and skinny! She only has twelve weeks in the mission. She just finished her training. She is from Equador. This week we started out the week working. We had meeting and we had stake conference. It was fun! There is one stake in Pucallpa. It was funny because all of the talks were about getting married and all that fun stuff, so all of the missionaries were feeling the heat for when we finish. Then last night we got to go to the Christmas devotional. That was fun, I am so excited for Christmas!!!! :) 

But all in all, I am just getting to know my area and the people and Pucallpa, Everything is good and really hot! :) 

 

Hermana Larsen

My new companion!

He crecido como misionera‏

Buenas Días!

Well, where to start. This last week we had some fun experiences. We went to the caves last pday.  We had to walk up a lot of hills and in the caves, it was pretty funny, we were all walking on the dirt hill thing that was really weird and we were all asking what this dirt stuff was and then we all noticed that it was big piles of bat poop. Haha but it was awesome. These were different caves than the ones that we went to when I first got here. They were awesome J

 

 

 

 

We have an awesome family that is preparing to get baptized. It is a single mom and her two daughters. We found them with Hermana Resanovich. She didn’t seem like she wanted much to do with the church so we stopped visiting her. Then Hermana Centeno came and we were walking and I was guiding her through the area, and to be honest I had no idea where to go and who to visit. Our appointments weren’t home and so I asked Hermana Centeno, I was pointing to two houses that were old investigators that we had not visited in a long time. I asked her, ‘which one?’ and she pointed to the house of this family. We taught them and it was super different. She listened and was all about going to church and everything. Then my companion went to go visit her when we were on the work visit the other week and the family was not okay. They were having a ton of problems. Apparently the mom had a boyfriend that was abusing her daughter in many different ways. He was super abusive with the family. We started to focus on them more and now the boyfriend is in prison and they are going to get baptized in December. They are amazing and the mom will just call us to talk and when she wants to see us. We seriously have a special part in our hearts for this family J Angels are guiding us J

We found some more people this week that we feel are going to progress really well. We love our area so much. Oh! I don’t  know if you guys remember a family that we are teaching that the husband is really sick with cancer. Well, we went to go visit them the other day and he is getting better, he is talking and he is wanting to eat and wanting to pray, it is awesome. We are seriously witnessing miracles in our area every day.

We also had an activity this last week with recent converts where we watched a video and we had a testimony meeting and we ate a ton of ice cream! It was so much fun! There was a ton of ice cream! Maybe that is why I liked it so much. Everyone in the branch makes fun of me because I love ice cream so much J

Also Friday we had a meeting to talk about our investigators and the branch and everything with the elders. After that is was sport night in the branch, so the elders and my companion and I played volleyball and basketball and soccer. It was super fun for the members and for us! We were playing in our skirts and everything, I love being a missionary J

We had a pretty hard experience this last week with a less active family of the elders. We were walking in our area and talking with our mission leader and suddenly the elders called and were super serious and said we had to go straight to the branch president’s house and tell him to call the elders. We ran to the house and the president called them. What had happened is the boyfriend of the sister was abusing the daughter, terribly; this girl is 14 years old. It was super hard on all of us as missionaries, so the next day the four of us went to her house to visit them; they live super far away, like 20 minutes in motokar.  But we went and visited them and the elders gave them a comfort blessing and my companion and I talked with the daughter and they are a lot better. It was great. The spirit was super strong and I am so grateful that we had this experience. God seriously guides us as missionaries and trusts us with these people.

I hope everyone has an amazing week! Today is transfers. Everyone pray that I am not going anywhere!

Hermana Larsen

 

I love these kids!

Cumpleaños Feliz

Hey!!

What a week!! It was my birthday and we saw a ton of miracles this last week. To start off the week we lost our phone and just as it is terrible to lose your phone in your house it is worse in the mission because there is no way to communicate with your leaders or the people you are teaching. What happened was that we went with the other sisters to site see last Monday and I think someone robbed the phone from my pocket because we got home and it wasn’t there. But we spent the whole week trying to find ways to communicate with people, we felt super distant from everything. Until Saturday, my birthday, they found us a phone that is the phone of the elders in another area and we are using that until our new phone comes in December. We had to pay 50 soles each, it was quite the experience.

 We had a work visit this last week. The sister leader was in my area with my companion and I went with the other sister leader in her area. I was with another North American and my companion was with a Latina. It was pretty funny, because we talked English pretty much the whole time. But we had some pretty cool experiences. We were teaching and there was these two ladies waiting for us outside of the house and she looked and at me and motioned that I should come outside. We went outside and she asked us if we do therapies. And we were like, no, we don’t do that type of stuff we are missionaries. And we explained and they were like, we have someone that we want you to visit. We made an appointment for them to show us the house a little bit later because we were in a visit at that moment. We came later that night and they showed us a family that the mom had had a stroke and she couldn’t move any of her body, only her arm and her hand. She can’t talk or anything. We went and taught her and her family was super sad and was crying, she has been like this for two months. But the elders came and gave her a health blessing and they are doing better. But the spirit was so strong and it was such a cool experience.

We also had a mission night where we watched a video and played games. It was super fun, we played a ton of Peruvian games and watched a really cool video about a family that got baptized together. Not many people showed up to the activity but we enjoyed it with the branch president’s family and some other members that came.

The next day was my birthday and we had a ton of fun, my branch president and his family and the elders in our branch surprised me and we went on a little adventure. We ate fried chicken and rice on leaves with bark spoons. And they surprised me with 7 eggs on my head and flour. It is a tradition in Peru that when it is your birthday that they celebrate with eggs on your head. So I got 7! And it was terrible they also poured a ton of water on me too. It was like a cake on top of my head. It was super fun though. I think my hair still smells like flour and eggs. J Then at night another member surprised me with a family night with cake and popcorn and all kinds of treats, it was super fun, everyone said something and I wanted to cry because I love this branch so much, they are like my family here. I have made such good relationships with these people here.

Then on Sunday it just got better. Well, our investigator that was going to get baptized this week didn’t attend church so she will not be getting baptized this week but she will be getting baptized the next week and she is still super excited. But we had a family that is super cute and sweet that attended church and that is having a lot of problems and they loved church! The daughter loved young womens and the other daughter loved the primary. It was seriously a miracle to see them in church.

I don’t know if you guys remember a less active family that we are teaching that the husband drinks and used to hit his wife. Well we called them the last week to remind them about church and the husband was drunk and said some weird stuff and then we didn’t talk with them or visit them a lot during the week. We tried to find them but it never worked out. And then the husband found me when we were in our work visit in the other area. He was super embarrassed and felt super bad and was saying sorry and everything., which never happens with him. We went to visit them last night and they are progressing so well, they have changed so much; I was noticing that they have changed so much comparing to when we found them. It made me want to cry. I love this family. They have so much more unity in their house right now. I love Moyobamba J

Well there is not much to say. I love you all J Enjoy every moment because we only have this moment

Hermana Larsen

La Lluvia!‏

Well, this last week we had a huge rain storm! I mean, huge!! We were going to have a mission night, an activity friday and it started to rain, SUPER hard. So NO ONE came to the activity. And all of the missionaries got soaked in the rain. It was pretty funny, because no one showed up, at all.

This last week we had some pretty cool experiences, we have this family of investigators that we found as a contact one day and we taught them for a couple weeks and then out of no where we went to go visit them and the dad went to the hospital as an emergency. The found out that he has liver cancer and doesn't have that long to live. The elders came to the house and gave him a health blessing and he was a little bit better but he is really close to dying and we are serving his family, on Saturday we helped them make their lunch and they wanted us to stay and eat with them but we were late getting home so we had to say no. But they are probably the sweetest family ever. I feel very blessed that we found them, the angels were seriously guiding us to them. 

We have another investigator that is going to get baptized on the 29th. We are super excited for her. We always called her (bread of god) I love her, she is 20 years old and is reading the book of mormon, praying, going to church, and studying. :)

Well, I don't have much else to tell you guys, Moyobamba is the same old same old, my companion is amazing, this week is my birthday!!! :) 

Hermana Larsen

 

Another thing that happened this last week was that there was so much rain that the roads got flooded and we ended up not having water for 3 days, we had to gather together water in buckets and use that for showers and everything, it was quite interesting :) 

 

 

 

 

Cuando yo me bautice‏

Woo!! Hello to all, What a week it has been, we started out the week with a pday of just the sisters. It was super fun, we went to Rioja, a city that is like 30 minutes in car from Moyobamba and we went to this tourist place that has a river that is super pretty. We ate there and went on a hike and got to put our feet in the water, it was great J I will be sending a lot of pictures. I love the jungle!

Also this last week my sweet companion celebrated one year in the mission! WOO!! We ordered special food to eat and we had a little picnic in our house, we also had cake and I also smashed eggs in her head for the celebration of her one year. J Haha, it was fun, she also taught me how to dance the salsa, now I can dance it when I get home! It was super fun, it reminded me how much time is flying!

We also had a baptism this last week!!! Wooo!!!! J It was such a great night, We were having a baptism and also the elders were baptizing a family so we had a ton of people there. We also sung a special number of music, we sang ‘When I am baptized’ in English and Spanish, the Elder Nerdin and I sang in English and Elder Trujillo and Hermana Centeno in Spanish. It was great, we didn’t practice or anything and it went really well, people liked it. But I messed up when we were singing because I knew it a little bit better in Spanish, sad I know, but we laughed a little bit as we were singing. But Milagros got baptized and it was wonderful, she said she was super happy and felt free. It was seriously amazing. Because we have been working so hard here to have baptisms and we haven’t had any for 5 months and this last Saturday was worth all the wait J I love being in the mission. J J

Oh and Sunday there was a primary program! It was so cute. The primary in our branch is super small but they are so cute. Oh, I just love this area and branch, I never want to leave Peru, I love it here too much. All of my family and friends should just come here and we can live here together. J

Well, There is not much else to talk about, things are going well, my health is getting better, my companion is awesome, the church is still true, I hope it is not snowing for you guys in Utah. Here it is raining like crazy! Every night lately it has rained all night and today we are writing and I am completely soaked from the rain J I love the rain.

 

Hormigas! (Ants)

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween :)

Buenos Días!

Well, this last week was SUPER busy, we started out the week finding some new investigators. It was really cool because they gave us a ton of references and then we found out that their references were their family. They are super awesome and nice and super smart as well.

We also had an awesome activity this last week for Halloween with all of the missionaries. It was great. We had three rooms with activities, we had bobbing for apples, cake in the face and where you had to try and feed another person blindfolded. It was super fun. We were in charge of the cake in the face. What we did is we had a bunch of eggs and we mixed them together so that it was a foam thing and we put them on plates and our branch president had to ask a question and if the person got it right them they got to throw it in the other person’s face. It was great. But with the elders in our branch, we decided to do it with them. I did it with Elder Trujillo and he is super good at math, and the question was a math question and I knew that he was going to get it right, so as soon as he answered the question I threw the cake in his face and then we started to fight with the egg with the missionaries and the members. It was so much fun. We also gave a cool message that we are all children of God and it isn’t important what kind of mask we wear or use because we are all brothers and sisters. It was definitely a success. I love our branch, so much J

This week we are going to have a baptism!!! Woooo!!! The first baptism in the area for 6 months. Her name is Milagros. She is amazing. She is a single mother and her daughter is a member. She has such a strong testimony and is going to be a super strong member in the church, she was going to get baptized a while ago but we found out that she had a boyfriend that was in Lima and we didn’t know if  he was going to return and they would want to get married and baptized together. But then she talked with him and now he is not going to return and she is super excited for Saturday. We are super excited. :)

This last week we also moved houses!! Surprise!! We now do not live in a barbie dream house. We now live separated. We don’t live with our sister leaders. We live right next door to a member, it is great, we love our new house, it’s super quiet and in our area, when we lived with the other sisters we didn’t live in our area so now it is easier because we live in our area and we aren’t paying as much money for transportation.

Yesterday was super fun we went to the branch president’s house and we ate ants for dinner. The pictures of those ants that we ate the other week. Yeah, we ate them for dinner last night. And they are super good. I know it sounds so weird but I LOVE THEM J I will bring some home, don’t worry J

Well, not much time left. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week J

Hermana Larsen

 

She won the best costume contest.

Cambios‏

Well, we got transfers!! I am still in the same area. But……I have a new companion! I was super sad to say goodbye to Hermana Resanovich but I am excited to get to know my new companion. Her name is Hermana Centeno. She is from Peru but more south close to Arequipá. She is super sweet and shorter than I am J

This whole week I got to help her get to know our area and the people and the branch, she is super excited to be here and work here, she loves it. Like the whole mission says, Moyobamba is the paradise of the mission. And it’s true because of its climate and the people, it is the best. I am so happy that I get to spend a little bit more time here.

This last week there isn’t too much to tell, we found some cool people but a lot of people were not home and weren’t available to listen to us.

We went and did family history this last week for our families. And I got to enter and see all the work that my grandma is doing and the side of my dad as well. And it was awesome. I love doing family history I got to see everything. My relatives from Denmark, Sweden and England it was fun. We are going to do it again this week. I also found out we were doing it with the elders and I found out that I am related to one of the elders from waaaayyyyy far back. It’s pretty awesome.

Well, I don’t have that much time today; I hope you all have an amazing week. And that your wildest dreams come true!

Hermana Larsen

Yes, we had a flour fight!
 

A rainbow on a very sad day.

 I can fit in the bag!

 
 At the waterfall

 An amazing family!

 My district :)

 

 My new companion!