Good morning!
I really love March! All of the snow has melted down here and it has been above zero almost all last week. We have even been able to see some grass starting to grow in the middle of all of the mud. Thanks for all of the emails and sending all of the packages. President is coming down this weekend so hopefully he will bring some of our mail with him.
Mom, You will be happy to know that we have started running in the mornings and every time I hear my alarm go off I think of you and how you do this almost every morning. You amaze me! It sounds like you have had some fun watching the Olympics! I haven't really heard anything about it. We saw some of the prelimiary things while we were at TGIFs in Kiev before transfers but we just glanced up and that is the only info I have gotten about it. ....
Dad, I am glad that things are a little slower at work. I loved the Bi comment. I was laughing so hard! ...... I can't tell you how much I am missing bball season. Right now one of our ZLs played ball for the Y and we have had some good conversations about bball season. I would be really happy to have a baseball cap on with a diet coke and a Dodger dog, but that will just have to wait. ha.
Brynn, Sounds like you had a good weekend. I am jealous that you get to hold babies! I can't remember the last time I held a baby. Weird thought haha. That is funny about Jase and Whitney. I can just see them sitting around looking at people all funny. Sounds like the perfect job.
Chase and Ash, How is school going? I can't believe you are already through midterms and heading down the last stretch. I am a little jealous, I think about all that I have left and just dread going back. How is your little bed headboard business going? Have you found a new job in Provo?
So this week has been interesting for sure. Last Monday we played hookey from all of the things that we needed to do and we went to the beach and played football (American) with the elders and some of the members. It was so fun. It was warm enough to play bare foot, although all of our feet were numb by the end. ha. It was also a little painful when I ran to tag an elder and I stepped on a bunch of ice. It was cool to see ice on the beach. The Black Sea is really beautiful. We had so much fun. We need to make up for it today though. On our way back I started talking to 2 ladies that were sitting down next to me on the bus. I commented that one of them had a really beautiful scarf and she took it off and gave it to me! I was stunned and I offered to make her borsh or cookies (telling her that my cookies are better than my borsh) and she just laughed and said it was a gift from the heart. I couldn't get her number or anything but it is a really cool scarf. I will send a picture next week. We all laughed the whole way home.
Editor's note: Story regarding a very bizzare note passed to Brooke is ommitted...but trust me it was a bit strange.
We haven't been able to get ahold of Julia, the girl that came to church a few weeks ago. We will keep trying because I think she is so ready for the gospel. We did have a really great meeting with our landlord this week. When we signed our contracts the elders asked if she knew how to make borsh. She invited us all over to her house to try her borsh. We went over on Saturday and at first it was really awkward because I don't think that any of us have been in that nice of a house in a really really long time. We didn't want to break anything. The elders kept saying that they wanted something to go wrong because she was just too nice. She fed us a lot of really great borsh and then we had tea and talked about our families. She showed us pictures of all of their trips all over the world and her and here daughter were really cute together. She actually reminds me a lot of you mom. Her nephew came over and joined the conversation. He is from the church of scientology and he had some interesting ideas. After a while she started asking questions about our roles as missionaries and we got into a really great gospel discussion. We ended up giving her a book of mormon and we are going over this Saturday to teach her daughter english and to talk to her a little more. I am way excited because she is really really awesome!
Yesterday, we had a branch lunch and they piled our plates full of some weird meats and rices. The rice is actually way good.... The meat was a little odd. I didn't even want to look at it very much because they looked like little poop things, with 2 holes in the top. I had no idea what they were so I just poped some of them into my mouth. They tasted a little like chicken but they were not very tender. As we were doing the dishes, Sister Ethington told me that they were chicken hearts. I about gaged right there. We both wanted to brush our teeth so bad after! After we went and had a really great lesson with Tanya. She is 15 and she has been investigating the church for about a year. We haven't really seen progress so we went over with the idea that we would be really straight with her and tell her that if she wants to be baptized she needs to show the Lord that she has the desire to follow him. We had a really great discussion with her and she told us how since our last meeting with just her she has started praying every night. She said that before she kinda knew that God existed but she didn't really know. After the first time she prayed so knew that God was there, that He knows her and that He loves her. It was a really great lesson and our faith has been renewed in her. It made me really happy to finally see the fire in her eyes.
So that was pretty much the bulk of our week. We spent most of our days tracting, posting English ads and contacting. We do a lot more of that here then we did in Kiev. You can definatly tell the difference between a branch and a ward. We have made a huge effort to try and meet with as many members as we can so that we can build a better relationship for the missionaries down here. It has been a lot harder area to work in but I have loved every minute of it. I am excited for spring because there are a million grape vines everywhere and you can just imagine how cool the city will look once the leaves start to come out. There is also the small detail of my birthday. I have been a little quieter about it this year. I have only made 2 comments in my journal about it and I have planned to make a cake haha. We found a receipe that almost tastes like real American cake. The only down side is that it has mayo in it. But don't be fooled it is really actually kinda good. haha. Well I should get going. I love you all so much and thank you so much for your support! I hope all is well and please give my puppies a big hug and kiss for me!
Love always!
Sister Larsen
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