Hello from the MTC!

Sawatdii Kha! Family and Friends, you are all amazing! Special shout out this week goes to the Best Dad ever!! Happy Fathers day dad! Fathers are so special with a very special love, they watch us and protect us, they guide us and direct us back to our home above!!! The father of our ward, leads with loving care... duu duu duu... our bishops always there! (sorry i forgot some of the lyrics to that adorable primary song!) I was singing that on sunday and totally imagined the primary kids singing it and dad crying... first fathers day as the father of our ward! Wish i could have been there... :( Hopefully you will get my letter dad, I really think you will like it. Feel free to share it with your brothers and sisters, they will like it too.

Next shout outs go to Jamie and Robin for writing me emails! :) as much as I looooove them... my email address was not really supposed to go out (oops!) I don't mind that you have it, and if you email me I will read it (i know it is so much easier!) but i am only SUPPOSED to send and receive emails from my family. They were much appriciated ladies and I will definitely be writting you both back in the next few days!

Also I have two amazing aunts who both lovingly sent me cookies on the same day! Haha, it was awesome. My roommates were especially excited! So that was quite a fun surprise! I seriously LOVE all your letters. There is really nothing more exciting than ending a long hard day at the MTC and having loving, encouraging words from those I love and miss to look forward too. Thanks to everyone who has written so far and Keep 'em coming, please!

SO this week has been pretty amazing. We'll call it the emotional rollar coaster that is the MTC. In a place so full of the spirit, the ONLY thing that can get you down is allowing yourself to be discouraged and having a bad attitude.  There is so much to learn, the language, teaching, listening to the spirit, teaching with the spirit, teaching with the scriptures, simplifying the message, setting goals, following through with your goals... it can be a lot to handle in the times you think about how easy normal life at home is. But for every minute i am discouraged, there are hours and hours of powerful, life changing impressions and lessons learned that make this the greatest thing I feel that I have ever done in my life... and I am only 3 weeks in!

Just yesterday, I was feeling a little down with the amount of studying I have and how much I just wanted to listen to Taylor Swift (haha) and I took a step back and realized just how blessed I am to be in the company of such fine young men and women, and to be taught by some of the most amazing teachers who love the gospel with all their hearts and have so much love for me and my life already... it's incredible. There is no where else I would rather be than here, (even without my Taylor Swift CDs haha) I feel that there is no where else, save only the House of the Lord, that I could feel this close to the spirit and learn so much about the nature of God and my own potential. I would be so lost with out the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot even imagine life without it! ahh... love it.

So, Sunday was a pretty cool day. Every Sunday, everyone is asked to prepare a 5 min talk on a different Christlike Attribute, this weeks was Virtue. Then right before it is time to be given, (like seriously the middle of Sacrament meeting) they announce who the two speakers will be. And go figure, it was me! :) I totally had a feeling I would speak though, because as I was preparing, lots of inspired thoughts came to mind. I told Sister Young, I really want to speak today! haha. So I felt kind of bad, because the Elder who spoke before me OBVIOUSLY did not prepare, it was horrible, it was like... Virtue! yea! uhhh its really good.... uhhh.... and then read right out of preach my gospel. haha. SO, sadly, I went up and (not to be concieded or anything) really showed him up) I felt kind of bad for him, but it is his own fault for not preparing...

The funny thing was in the middle of the talk when I was asking them to turn to 3rd Nephi 27, totally unknowingly, I made this little pop noise with my mouth, that I actually do quite often, but for some reason it was very loud and right into the mic... I apologized for the sound, but didn't realize how loud it was until after the meeting when both the second speaker and the 2nd councelor who was conducting the meeting said something about it. Then all day sunday and monday people came up and said hey great talk! that noise you made really scared me though! or I thought it was really funny!

So i guess it made a pretty big impression... haha. Well hey, it could have been worse. ;)

Ok, so this is getting pretty long, but I do want to answer some of your questions mom. First one, yes I have been to the call center. It's pretty cool. I always get really nervous when someone answers, and then it always turns out good. No one has been really rude to me. I even had some pretty cool chats with people who are interested in reading the Book of Mormon. I have committed some people to read and pray about it. So thats nice.

Tonight we are learning how to make commitments in Thai. So I will practice right now in English. Do you all promise tonight, before you go to sleep, to read your Book of Mormons and pray to know that it is the Word of God? Good job. :)

Health... ok. I am fine, the tamiflu we are taking usually gives me an upset stomach, but it always goes away. Only two more days of taking it!! YAY! The two elders who got swine flue were in quarentene for 5 days. They both hated it, but got a lot of studying in luckily. Poor Elder Burnette though, he had swine flu and now he has pnumonia... :( he is such a sweet kid.

OK, I am gonna try to wrap this up... i thought we couldnt attach pics, but i guess we can, so you will have to wait for next week for that. I have only taken a few new ones though. AND I loooooooooooooooooved your package mom. the shirts are way cute! That was the wrong body spray though... i think its called fressia. (i dont really like the one you sent...sorry for being picky) ALSO PLEASE send me a medium sized purse. I dont carry my backpack everywhere I go and a purse would be really nice to carry the little things I need since i dont have pockets. umm stamps... and anything else fun!

Ok I loooooooove you all and I hope that life is amazing in Sacramento or wherever you reside! Write me and tell me all about it! Boys have fun at EFY. and Mike, make things happen!

LOOOOOOVE,
Sister Larson.