Thrills, Chills, and Spills

Hello Family and Friends!!

I always think to myself, geez, I am here at the MTC for so long, how am I ever going to come up with enough to write about?! But you know, I have tons to say!! So here we go...

First the thrills (which also brought some spiritual induced chills). This past week, as some of you may know, the mission presidents came in for their conference. Every single apostle and the first presidency was here all week. The friday devotional was AMAZING!!! Elder Holland spoke (I dont even have to tell you what he said for you to know how amazing it was....) and in attendance were Perry, Oaks, Scott, Bednar, Cook, Christofferson and Anderson! AND I was in the choir and sang Joseph's First Prayer. It was so amazing!! But, im not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed there was no Monson, Uchtdorf or Eyring... :( But that is ok.

Holland spoke about having the Spirit as a third (or in my case, fourth) companion. Hearing the words of a truly inspired apostle of the Lord gave me so much motivation and inspiration to go out and work my tail off, and ALWAYS have the spirit with me at ALL times. I know that I am NOTHING without it. I won't learn Thai in the time I am given without it and I won't progress without it. So yea... the Spirit is VERY VERY important, and his talk was very inspiring.

So that is the good news about the Mission Presidents being here. Now the bad news... Swine Flu strikes again! and no, I don't mean health wise. We are all healthy and doing just fine. BUT because of that stupid flu, we never got to meet our mission president :( They were too afraid of our germs getting to them and delaying their trips so they completely cut off access to the building they were in and did not let the mission presidents even come into our class room!! :( we were all way bummed. We never even got to see the prophet the whole week :( oh well... I still have 7 weeks, hopefully I'll see one then.

And for the spills. My companion (Sister Akagi) took a little spill this morning (she fell while running) and had to get x-rayed (which was a little ridiculous because she was fine) BUT we got to go see the outside world!!!! well... we went down the street to the BYU Health Center, which wasn't quite as far as I wished it would be... but it was still really nice to get out of our little bubble for a half hour! So that was the most exciting part of the day... And now we are going to help clean the temple! Which I am very excited about!

Speaking of the temple... next tuesday is my 1:40 session so hope to see some of you and on Sunday I will be up there from about 415 to 515 so anyone who would like to say hi that would be cool!! (dont worry... my companions see people they know ALL the time)

Alright... now for the fun stuff!!! (and a little bit of not so fun stuff) so Sunday was cool... I LOVE sundays... but for some reason I was feeling especially down this sunday, mostly just missing the comforts of home and my own bed that I could nap in whenever I wanted (and my family of course) and just when I was feeling really low, we sang a song that I had never sung before for the prelude music before the fireside. I cant remember the name but know that it was hymn 41. The chorister said, pay close attention to the 3rd verse... and I decided to... so the first line of the 3rd verse said something to the extent of having "glorious rest" and I said... wow, I could really go for that right now! but the verse was about the millennium and speculated the joyous reunion between us and the Savior. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought how much I longed for that sweet reunion I will have in a year and a half, when I can finally see my family again and know that the little amount of time I have had to endure suffering while I am away from them will all be worth it in that moment I see them again. And then... to just contemplate the overwhelming peaceful feeling that will overcome all my senses when I am able to greet the Savior again one day, and hear him say... Well done good and faithful servant... you have endured your load, now you may enter in to my rest and have eternal joy.

It was amazing. Life changing. I became so eager to suffer through my trails so that I may serve the Lord and be qualified for all the blessings he wishes to give to me. I LOVE his glorious plan and am so desirous to share it with ALL of Gods children!!

The Lord truly does comfort his children when they stand in need of comfort. He works with his angels to strengthen his missionaries so that they can do his work. And you, my friends and family, are my angels. On Monday I was trying to overcome the discouragement of learning this crazy language (which I love by the way) and was having a bit of a hard time. When the mail comes and I got two packages (from mom and mike... both of which I LOOOOVED!) and EIGHT letters!! Wow, thanks guys...

Needless to say, it was an AWESOME night. Sister O'Neil is leaving for Thailand monday (CRAZY!) so in honor of her last pday we had a sleepover!! We built a tent and slept on our mattresses which were on the floor! It was SOO fun! we had treats and girl talk for our the hour before lights out and I didnt even have time to read all my letters until this morning! It was great. Just evidence to me that the Lord really does bless me when I need it!

Alright! So I am going to try to wrap this one up... but I do have a few people to scold. (hehe) These are the people I would LOVE to hear from (although I would honestly love to hear from EVERYONE!) Brittany! (I still don't have your address!) Tony (who said he would write once a month...) Craig (c'mon craig... I'm right down the street) and Dan. So mom, if you could make sure those 4 people see this, that would be great. Everyone else who has been writing keep it up! I love it!! and dont forget Dear Elder.com!!! (it will get to me the same day you write it!!) AAAAND send me pics! I have all kinds of pictures from friends on my wall and I want ALL my friends and families beautiful faces up there! I tried to attach pics, but big brother (aka the MTC) wont let me. So i took a bunch this week and will be sending them to those who sent me pics! You know who you are!! (this should give everyone added motivation to send a pic to me!)

I'd also like Densia and Dannies address!! OK well I dont think I even said everything I want to say... but the time is far spent. SO SAWATDII KAH!!!

Love You ALL!!!!

-Sister Larson

PS RIP MJ