Hey everyone,
The count down is officially started. Thank you so much for the watch and cookies!! We took all of our food out that night and put it on the floor and took pictures in our gluttony! It was amazing!
Mom, Thank you for the note of encouragement. I am so excited for you race! When is it? I hope everything goes well with you knee. I love that you have made enough food storage for the ward! It sounds like you are good for a while! I am excited to talk to you too! There have been so many times that I have thought while I have been here, man if I could just talked to my parents.
Dad, you reached your goal, you made me cry and laugh in the same letter. Sister Burke and I were looking out the fence on Saturday trying to see if we could see you walking to the game. I heard it was awful!
Brynn, I have been thinking about you a ton too! I wish I could have you as my companion some days because I know that we would have a blast out here! I wish you had been at the meeting we had last night, you would have died hearing about some of the bugs that missionaries get.
Chase and Ashley, Thank you for the note and for the article about the temple. You have no idea how excited that makes me! We heard about it yesterday but it is amazing to see the pictures! Congrats on your interview. I hope that everything goes well. Both of you--thank you for the letters this week; you have no idea how happy I get when I hear from you!
So this week has been filled with exciting things. On Thursday we received our flight plans and from the day on we have been a totally mess mentally. We made some goals on Sunday to try and put us back on track. We are all just so excited to go it is hard to stay focused. We are flying through New York and Vienna which will be a lot of fun. Our flight leaves Salt Lake around 8:30 and then we will have another 2 hour layover in New York. I will try and call in the morning but if not I will in New York for sure! I am so excited to talk to everyone!
On Sunday we heard a conversion story from a girl that was amazing. She was completely disowned and her family took everything from her when she was baptized. She was adopted by her chemistry teacher and she decided to serve a mission. Her mom came to her farewell and it was the first time that they had talked in 2 years. She found out that her mom was diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time in her life and it is not looking good. Her family has been asking her to come home but she was promised that her family would come unto Christ through her mission service and she doesn't want to give up that blessing. Every eye was wet in the meeting. She inspired us all and I am so grateful that that was not my trial. She was giving extra strength to be able to do that. I realized that I have had a very easy life. We were also released Sunday night and the new Coordinating sisters were called. It will be nice to be able to study on Sunday before we head out.
Tuesday we heard from Elder Holland. He came and gave the devotional. It was amazing! I love him so much. He talked a lot about being a missionary even after you return home and how Preach My Gospel was written to help convert the missionary first and then you will be able to convert others. We can't go and change the world when we don't believe in what we are teaching. I have seen that so much since I have been here. I can now say that I am truly converted. I know that God lives and I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that every word in the Book of Mormon is true. I don't just think that I know these things, they burn in my soul. My testimony has grown so much since the day that I walked in here. Today I was sitting in the temple and I saw a picture of Christ with His arms open to who ever would run to him. I started crying thinking about that day. We had an amazing day in the temple today.
On a less spiritual note... We had a terrifying meeting last night about everything that we need to do so that we stay healthy. I learned that lettuce is the worst thing that I can eat and meat is probably the safest... I am a little nervous. They also talked about how many rats will be over in Ukraine. I haven't thought about that yet. I knew the streets would most likely be covered in urine and dirt but I hadn't thought about the mice. Well we walked out of our classroom building to go to our rooms and one of the elders stopped and said look, I looked and there was a mouse running towards my feet. I may have screamed, and I realized that I am in trouble. This should be fun! Ha-ha.
About things to send. I will need my black winter coat for sure I forgot about that. The purple Jacket would be very nice. I am a little worried about my weight limit. I really am going to try to not go over. Sisters are wearing a lot more colors then I expected but I heard that clothes over there are pretty cheap so if I decide that I need anything else I could probably get it there. If you do decide to send some stuff, I could use more long sleeve or wool things; even just long sleeve t-shirts to wear under things. But I think that is it. I think I am pretty set. I will probably send a box home on Monday of stuff that I don't think that I will need. Oh man it is crazy to think that I will be living in Ukraine? For a year. Man I will miss you. I feel like I haven't really said goodbye yet because I still feel like I am in Provo. Well I love you all so much and I will talk to you soon:D. Thanks again for everything!
Love,
Cecmpa Larsen :D
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