Happy New Year!

Good Morning Family,

I can't tell you how good it was to hear all of your voices this past week! After we got off the phone I cried a few tears and the poor elders didn't know how to react, then we went out and sang Christmas carols to some of our investigators and members! I was a Christmas to remember that is for sure! We sang to a woman with Cerebral Palsy. She is a member but she is not able to leave her apartment. Her bed was decorated for Christmas and we went and sang a few songs to them. I don't think I have ever seen a bigger smile in Ukraine. It was an amazing experience and I hope that i never forget it. I felt like I could save the world that night.

Mom, it was so good to talk to you. I felt like a little kid again waiting for your phone call. I even took the phone an hour before you were suppose to call because I knew that dad gets up early and I thought maybe Christmas would come a few minutes early. It sounds like you and dad need to learn how to relax. I used to be pretty good at it. I have a few hints for you. If you go down into the basement and get the big yellow blanket and lay on the couch you can stay there for hours. Also your phones probably won't get service so you could maybe get a nap if you take the house phone off the hook. Also those little puppies love to sleep a lot. But I think Dakota might be jealous if you let her curl up on your lap.

Dad, Thank you for the prayer and for all of the advice, and for the Christmas present in my account! You are amazing! It was fun to hear about your Christmas Eve in Germany in 1975. Ours seemed kinda similar. Lena got sick and was laying on the floor in the church on Christmas eve. After the elders gave her a blessing, we spent most of the night looking for a taxi for her.

Brynn, I am so proud of you! I want to hear about your experience yesterday! I am sure that you are pretty drained after all of it. I remember being really tired after my blessing and just wanting to eat and take a nap. It sounds like it was a pretty wonderful day! It also sounds like both of us have some family history that we need to do. Maybe you can help me light a fire under my butt and get some of it done!

Chase and Ashley, It was good to hear from both of you! I hope that you had an amazing time at Ashley's on Christmas. I am sure it was fun to watch all of those kids open their Christmas. Tell them all thanks for waiting for you to talk to me! I can't tell you how happy I was to hear your voices! Congrats again on your interviews and everything with your schools!

So to the rest of this week was crazy again. On Saturday, we had planned to do a missionary activity in the morning with the members. We set up a table to give out free information about the church, in an area where there are a lot of families but Americans are not allowed to sell or proselyte there, so we were really relying on the members. Only 3 members showed up and so we sang in the cold and froze. I hope that we at least helped one person to get some information that will bring them closer. After, we rushed back to the church for Lena's baptism which was really great. 5 or 6 members came but she really enjoyed it. She asked me to give a talk about baptism and I hadn't had any time to prepare. I was shaking when I stood up and I just rambled in Russian. I am not sure if anything that I had said made sense but I hope she understood the meaning and the love that I wanted to portray.

On Sunday, the ward had a big Christmas celebration. We watched the 1st Presidency devotional in Ukrainian, had lunch, and a concert/skit! It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of investigators there, and everyone really enjoyed themselves. A lot of the members also invited their neighbors and friends so it was a big finding day for us. We were a little overwhelmed because one of our investigators got sick and then she offended one of our other investigators. It was a little crazy but in the end it was a great Christmas activity.

Well I will write you a letter on New Years because we have to be in our apartments all day, so I am guessing I will have some extra time. I love you all and wish you a Happy New Year! Make some good resolutions!

Sister Larsen

Ps. I will think of some puppy names and email them next week.
Pss. Tell the Andersons and Martins Merry Christmas and tell Melon hi for me!