Sunshine, Smiles, & Serendipity: "I Will Follow God's Plan For Me"

Alright, another week full of weird, random things. I feel like that's just how my mission is going to go for the rest of forever. First, I need to rant about something. Something that anyone who hasn't served a mission won't really understand, but I just need to rant. I NEVER WANT TO STOP BEING A MISSIONARY EVER. People. I have 6 months left. I've already cried about it and I just don't really ever want February to get here. Don't get me wrong, seeing my family is on the top of my list of things that make me excited, but it literally breaks my heart to know that I won't be a missionary forever. I don't want to go home and listen to "normal" music or do this weird thing called "dating" or figure out what i need my so-called "major" to be in school. I just don't want to do any of it. Someone please just say a prayer to let me stay on my mission for the rest of eternity. please.

okay, now that i've said all of that, let me tell you what the Spirit told me the other night when i was having a mini freak out about all of this. The Spirit said, "brittany. stop freaking out. you can't stay on your mission forever. no one can. otherwise, no one would be able to fulfill the rest of God's commandments like getting married and having children and providing for the need's of your family." that comforted me for a little while til I realized that I don't really want to get married for like 20 years. haha okay, maybe not that long. it probably just freaks me out right now because I am not focused on that, i'm focused on helping everyone around me gain salvation, but i just hope my feelings change on that subject by the time i get home haha. anyways, let me tell you all of the funny things that happened this week. first, we were going finding the other day and walked up to this trailer that had stuff hanging all over it. like your classic old school stuff from the 70's. painted hearts, fake flowers, yellow vases. you name it, they had it on their porch or hanging on their house. they even had a creepy mannequin in an indiana jones hat and a poncho. so we're standing there on this porch and right above their doorbell is this long lline of hearts on a string and at the top it says "i will follow God's plan for me" and then a bunch of little hearts on the string all said things like "service", "family history", "temple work", things like that. i was just like "what the heck?! these people totally have a testimony of the gospel and they don't even know it!!!" haha it was so funny. so no one comes to the door so we start walking away. then we get outside their little gate and this man comes out with like 4 little dogs that are all barking their heads off. so this old man is super nice and is joking with us the way that old men do. so i ask him if he knows anything about where he got that thing hanging next to his door and he says he has no idea and i tell him that it's totally something that was made in Relief Society that somehow him and his wife ended up with. and he said, "how do you know?" and i told him the "i will follow God's plan for me" is a primary song. and he didn't believe me. so i sang it to him. right there in the middle of his yard. sister han was looking at me like i was a crazy person, but i didn't really care. i enjoyed myself. and the man believed me. he'll get baptized one day. don't worry.

Also, on that same street literally 5 different people asked us what our first names were. I need a new first name to tell people. I get tired of saying my name because apparently knowing just my last name isn't invasive enough for them. they need to know both. like, whatever. and i broke 2 watches this week. so that's a bad omen for a missionary i feel like. we went to a ward activity on saturday night. i may or may not have jumped in the bouncy castle there. i don't know. you'll have to ask someone else that was there. it was possibly the greatest highlight of this transfer. and then yesterday while we were finding we talked to this man who was a minister for 2 different churches....yeah, don't try to tell me our church isn't true. then some punk kid was trying to tell me about the trinity. stop. i've like 10 years on you kid. oh well, i hope everyone finds the truth someday. that's all about all i got for the week as far as funnies go. cool revelation i received yesterday during the sacrament though. we were sitting in front of this family who had like 4 or 5 kids and i'm trying super hard to focus on be reverent (because it's so hard for me sometimes. i just wish i was a little kid again) and the kids behind me are being a little antsy and the mom is trying so hard to keep them quiet. and the mom said to one of her kids, "the water is coming, you should be thinking about Jesus, right?" and it made me think of how sometimes in life, we all get distracted or antsy or unfocused. then when Sunday rolls around it helps us to refocus and try our hardest to be good the rest of the week, which is why church is a commandment (revelation!), so the Spirit whispers to us shortly before Sunday, "The Sabbath is coming, you should be thinking about the Savior, right?" just though it was neat(:
love you all. xoxo

sister brittany anne larsen(: