"You guys are kind of like Jehovah Witnesses, but not really, because you wear nametags and smile all the time"

Dear Family,

 

Another wonderful week in Oliver/Osoyoos! Heavenly Father is bringing miracles to Sister Parkinson and I as we work hard at trying to invite everyone to come unto Christ!

 

Tuesday was great! We were able to get in contact with a former investigator and talk to her about coming to church. She still has such a desire to learn, but is super busy so we are hoping her schedule will loosen up a little so we can meet with her again. We were able to do some service for Sister L. so that was good because we will find ANY excuse to wear pants as sister missionaries lol Sister Parkinson and I also able to get a priesthood blessing from Brother Whitesell, our Branch Mission Leader. He is so great and the blessings definitely helped both me and Sister P.

 

Wednesday was great. We had District Meeting so that's always fun! We got to see R., a recent convert, and committed him to stop smoking. He said he would do his best, so we were thrilled about that as well! We also met with A.  that night and had an awesome lesson with her all about repentance and truly changing the desires of our hearts. She is wonderful and Sister P. and I are so glad she is so willing to talk with us.

 

Thursday we had Cody O's funeral. It was so sad but a very colourful and bright. His mom was very at peace with everything and takes comfort in knowing she will be able to see him again someday. We also got to have dinner with the B.'s. We just love them so much. They are like my adopted grandparents out here(:

 

Friday we went on exchanges and I learned so much from our District Leader, Sister Kunz! I had been feeling kind of bad because I didn't feel like I was being a successful missionary. She told me that something that helps her is to remember that everyone has their personal agency and that our job as missionaries is to give everyone the necessary tools for them to make a right decision. If we are doing all we can to help them, then we are being successful in doing our job as missionaries.

 

Saturday we did weekly planning since we didn't get a chance to do it on Thursday. We did some tracting that night and got to watch some of The District that night as well.

 

Sunday we went to church and then had dinner with Sister H., a less-active. She is great and is so sweet. We had been fasting all day for a baptism in October as well so the food tasted even better!!

 

Yesterday was P-day and so that was good! We had a lesson with R. and E. and N. were able to come with us. They are so great for giving up their time to come with us. We found out R. hadn't smoked in 4 whole days!! It was a miracle and we told him to keep up the good work! We also saw T., Sister B.'s step brother, and I invited him to baptism. He said yes!! We set a date for October 19th and we are hoping to be able to help him in any way we can to help him be ready by that day!! We are so excited!!! We also had dinner with the B.'s again and had a great lesson on temple work.

 

 This week was so incredible and I hope that I get to stay in this area for at least another transfer! We find out about transfers on Monday! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week(: the church is true!!

 

 

We made homemade oreos!! This one is for you Auntie Head(:

The sunset on....Saturday I think haha

 

Love, Sister Larsen(:

 

I asked her about the title of her email..... this is what she said.

oh yeah, on Friday we ran into a guy who had met with the J.W.'s a while back...forgot to mention that, and he told Sister Kunz and I that about us lol it was pretty funny.

Crazy, Busy, Wonderful Week of Missionary Work

Dear Fam Jam,

Missionary work is exhausting!!! I have almost fallen asleep in a couple lessons lol but I love it so much and wouldn't trade it for the world right now!!!

Tuesday was great. We got to help deliver bags for the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive (their Thanksgiving is October 14th). So that's what we did for most of the day, and it was really hot but we had fun. I got some massive blisters, but it's okay because now my shoes are REALLY broken in(:

Wednesday we had Zone Meeting. It was absolutely wonderful and I learned so much about being a "new era" missionary and how hard we have to work so that God can help us when we fall short. We had dinner at the Martino's and that was great. Their family is so awesome and I'm so grateful for them and all of the support they give to us as missionaries(: We did service for Sister B. that night (nonmember daughter of an active member). It was so great to see how much we were able to help her and she said she appreciated it so much!

Thursday was weekly planning but we also go to do exchanges part way through the day. I got to be with Sister Hughes, one of the Sister Training Leaders in my zone. She is so wonderful and I learned so much from her about member work, positivity, and connecting with people when finding them to teach!! We had so many QGC's (quality gospel conversations) that evening during consecrated finding time and I loved it so much.

Friday we went and did some service for Sister S. and helped her make peach jam and can peaches! It was so cool to learn about and she even let us have some. The jam is so delicious!!! We exchanged back and Sister Parkinson and I went and tracted for the rest of the evening.

Saturday was so busy and crazy! We went and picked up all the bags for the food drive and then we got to help sort the food. It was so much fun and we got to work very closely with the members, all of whom I absolutely adore!! That evening we found a young man named Colton who looked worried and troubled. Sister P. and I asked if we could help him and he said he didn't have a place to stay for the night. We called every single person we could think of for a solid 45 minutes to see if anyone could help. No one could. I have never prayed so hard in my life that someone would be willing to help this young man. Then randomly, this gentleman walks up and is like "you need a place to stay for the night? I've got a floor you can stay on." Colton said thanks and walked off with the man. After that I just started crying. I knew at that point that Heavenly Father was there and that miracles happen if you have the faith that they will, even if after everything you do, you think nothing has worked, He will work it all out.

Sunday was great! We had potluck and it was absolutely delicious. Then yesterday was P day and we got to go see Amanda's horse, Cassanova. It was so fun!! We also got to do service for Sister B. and help her clean some more!

This week was so wonderful and I just love being a missionary(: I love you all. The church is true!(:

Love, Sister Brittany Anne Larsen(:

 

 

A week full of miracles!!!

My Dear Wonderful Amazing Crazy Lovable Family,

So this week has just been so incredible. Heavenly Father is definitely playing a huge role in the success that Sister Parkinson and I have been having!

Monday was P-day, but we had Brother Bender's baptism, so we only got a couple hours of P-day in, which was fine because, HELLO! BAPTISM!!! We were pretty excited(: everything went super well with that and it was all wonderful.

Tuesday we did a lot of tracting. We went and visited Sister Lipps, who had hurt her back so she hadn't been able to get out much. She said she had gotten priesthood blessing though and was feeling a little better. Then we went and visited Sister LaFleur and got to do some service for her. We helped her sort bottles and cans. She does it every year so she can earn money to go to Hawaii! It's pretty neat.

Wednesday President Tilleman came! It was so incredible to just feel the power of his calling while we were in his presence. He helped us talk to one of our investigators who is having a bit of trouble committing to be baptized. President Tilleman helped him understand the importance of it a little better than we could though. After that we went and visited Robin, a recent convert who is still having trouble with quitting smoking. President Tilleman said that we couldn't stay if he was going to smoke in front of us so we left and got some lunch. Sister P. and I were a little surprised because we had never just gotten up and walked out on him because he smokes all the time during lessons with us. President Tilleman said it is very important to have him realize he can't have the companionship of the missionaries there with him and have the Spirit be that strong if he is going to smoke. So that was a good learning experience. President Tilleman is so Christ-like too. Robin said he couldn't go to church because he didn't have a white shirt, so President Tilleman gave him the shirt off his back. He also gave Robin his tie and name tag as well. President Tilleman just changed into a golf shirt and had an extra name tag, but it was incredible to see how much love he had for someone he barely knew at all and how important is was to him that Robin went to church.

Thursday was weekly planning. We went and visited a couple members and did some tracting. Again, not much to talk about for Thursdays haha.

Friday we went and visited some former investigators just to see how they were doing. We were able to do some service for the Benders and help them clean their house a bit before their family came to stay with them for a few days.  Our branch mission leaders took us to dinner. The Whitesells are just so incredible and are always taking such good care of us as missionaries. They are the best mission leaders ever. We found out Robin was in the hospital so we went and visited him with the Whitesells. We went and visited some less-actives later that night as well.

Saturday we went and saw Robin again with Sister Ang. We read the Book of Mormon with him and talked about the importance of prayer during hard times. He has pneumonia and will probably be there for a few more weeks. It was so miraculous though that Sister Ang was able to go with us. She works for four jobs and so she's pretty busy most of the time. We were trying to find out who could go with us to visit Robin though and she called to tell us she could go without us even asking her first!! It was amazing. We went and cleaned Sister Barclay's house for her that night and then her daughter agreed for us to come help her clean hers on Wednesday!!

Sunday Brother Bender got confirmed! It was great. We went and visited Sister Lipps and she said that she had prayed this morning that the missionaries would come over and visit her and so she had made us cinnamon rolls this morning! It was so amazing. Her and I are like the same person because we are so assertive and positive. We then were walking to a house to go talk to some friends of a refferral we'd gotten. We were walking past a less-active/part-members house and the husband invited us in. We had an amazing lesson on the Restoration with the husband and wife and I invited Andy (the husband) to be baptized!! He said he would pray about it, but the Spirit was so strong and I just loved it!! 

The church is true. Heavenly Father makes everything happen just the way it is supposed to and we must always recognize His hand in EVERYTHING that happens!! I love you all so much(:

Love, Sister Brittany Anne Larsen(:

It's awkward being a missionary

The life of a missionary is so awkward!! Haha you go talk to strangers (who clearly don't want to talk to you) and ask them super heavy questions (like "do you have a belief in Jesus Christ?") within the first 15 seconds that you meet  them. Everyone in my area is old too, so we get a lot of grumps, and a lot of people who just want to visit. It's a strange thing to be a missionary, and awkward is about the best word that I can think of to describe it! But it's great, and you get used to the awkwardness. I think that's why so many missionaries are awkward after they come home. You just get used to being awkward so it's all fine and dandy and you just accept that fact about yourself. Haha anyways, this week was great!!

Monday we had P-day and did a lot of cleaning and shopping. It must be a sight to see two girls in dresses/skirts washing a car. It's hard when it's a little windy too...my skirt kind of blew up in the wind, and needless to say anyone that would have been there could definitely have seen that I was Mormon, but luckily this town is tiny and there was no one else at the car wash. Haha so that was exciting.

Tuesday we got to e-mail for a little bit, and Sister Parkinson and I only get a little over an hour on the computer each because there is one computer and we have to do it on Tuesdays because our town is tiny and nothing is open on Monday, so we come to our chapel (about 20 minutes away from where we live) and get to e-mail. After that we got to visit an investigator named Jim. He is an older guy who is very lonely and absolutely cannot go anywhere without his little dog named Annie. He brings her to church. A lot of the people in the branch aren't happy with it, but Sister Parkinson and i look at her like a service dog because we think he has depression and she helps him. He had a baptismal date but isn't very sure about it now, so we're still working with him.

Wednesday we had District Meeting in Penticton. It was so great to be able to see the other sisters (I'm in an All-Sister District) and talk with them. They are so incredible and I love them all! We did some tracting that day and that was about it.

Thursday we did Weekly Planning. I really don't like it. It takes us about 5-6 hours to do it and is a long process, but we wouldn't be able to get through the next week without it so I'm grateful for it. Sister Parkinson and I started not feeling too well later so we just stayed in and finished some things we needed to get done. Later that night, we got a text from a less active in our branch who we were planning on going to see tomorrow. She said she couldn't meet with us because her 8 year-old son had been in a fire and was badly burned so she was at the Vanouver Children's hospital with him. We both felt even more sick after hearing about that, so we fasted and prayed for them on Sunday and we're really hoping everything is okay. The little boy, Cody, had 3rd degree burns over 40% of his body and is in an induced coma right now for the pain. The Elders in Vancouver couldn't even go in to give him a Priesthood blessing because of how severe it is. Keep them in your prayers though. Prayer is a very powerful thing and I'm coming to realize that more and more everyday I'm on my mission.

Friday we did A TON of baking. Sister Parkinson made some homemade rolls and I made some cookies. We made some for every single active member of our branch, which is only about 30 people, but it was still a lot of baking. We did some tracting and then went and visited Sister Barclay. She reminds me a lot of Grandma Rosie. It's pretty funny. She is so sweet and has so much faith but is still just so goofy and silly. The thing that made her remind me most about Grandma Rosie was she said one morning she woke up really early and couldn't fall back asleep so she went out front and sat on her porch with the birds and said "good morning birds!!" and just talked to them for a little bit. I love how people here remind me so much of people I love back at home. It makes me feel closer to home for sure.

Saturday we took all our goodies to the members and "heart-attacked" them, which is where you cut out a bunch of paper hearts and stick them all over their door. Sister Parkinson and I think we need to come up with a new name for that though, seeing as everyone in our area literally could have a heart attack any minute and die.

Sister Parkinson and I making hearts for heart-attacking people!!!

Sunday was fast Sunday so we went to church and then visited some part member families in the area. It was nice. There isn't a ton else to report about Sunday.

Yesterday, Monday, was Brother Bender's baptism!!! Ahh!! It was so incredible. He had been investigating the church for over 40 years and his wife (who's a member) had been waiting so long for him to get baptized!! She said she can't wait for them to be able to go through the temple in a year. The spirit there was so amazing and I just want to go baptize everyone now!!! Afterwards, Sister Parkinson and I had to get some shopping done, so we went and this lady just randomly walks up to us and starts talking to us like she knew us. It was really weird and both of us thought maybe she was a member or something, but she said she was friends with Sister Simpson, (the sister who lives upstairs whose house we're staying in) and she was interested in learning more and she had a lot of questions!!! We are really hoping we will be able to meet with her soon. She is definitely ready to hear the gospel.

Sister Parkinson and I with Brother and Sister Bender at his baptsim

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and remember that THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!(:

Love, Sister Brittany Larsen

 

 

P.S. Oh darn! I forgot to put in there that when we were talking to an older lady on her doorstep on saturday, she totally let one rip. It was so funny. Sis. P. and I had a hard time keeping it together lol