Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Hey everyone!

Well, we are really feeling the spirit of Thanksgiving today. We are celebrating as a district so we have been getting ready all morning and our apartment smells almost as good as home. Thanks for all of the emails and the support! I am so thankful to have such an amazing family! You guys are amazing. I also got the last 2 packages and we gave the ring to Larisa and she loved it. she just sat and looked at it and we sat there quietly for a few minutes and she looked up and said, "Oh you guys and talk for a minute, I just want to enjoy this." We laughed so hard and she said to tell you thanks.

Mom, Good luck making food this week! I can't even imagine what it would be like to make all the food yourself! I am so happy that you got to spend some time with grandma and grandpa. They said that I would need to come down before I start school but I think we might need to find a weekend that we could go down because it would be good to see them. I will put his name in the temple here as well. That makes me so mad!!! Little kids are punks sometimes. You really didn't need to send me a Christmas box! But I am really excited for the letters and the poem! You are too good to me!

Dad, That makes me laugh about the new car! But I won't lie the Suburban was great for hauling stuff! I am glad that you are staying busy. How was your trip this past week? Did you get any down time?

Brynn, How was life this past week? Mom said you guys got to go up to Logan. How was seeing everyone? Wait how was Chicago?? Did you find any good job opportunities?

Chase and Ashley, Mom and Dad passed on that they got to talk to you and that everything is going well. I hope that your Anatomy test goes well today and that you didn't stay up all night cramming like I would have. How are things going? What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?

Alright, well I feel bad that you guys already have snow. I have no idea what is going on here. We are still wearing our fall coats and opening the windows at the church. It isn't super warm but there is no ice or snow yet. I might be speaking too soon though. I keep hearing that this week is going to be cold. But I have heard that every week for a month.

We met a couple here from America that is heading back in a week or two, Dad, I think you and Craig should get together and play some golf. They have been so good to us. They have lived here for 7 years and they are just moving back to the states. They went and bought us a bunch of American food for Thanksgiving and I feel like I owe them so much! They even got us a turkey! We are cooking all of the food today and celebrating with our district.

Well I had my last interview with President and time is really starting to wind down. We have transfers this week and I am loosing my baby!! ha Sister Zenger is moving on to bigger and better things! I know she will do amazing, I have had so much fun serving with her and we were kinda thinking we might go 3 transfers but it is about 95% sure that she is leaving and I will be getting a companion that is learning Ukrainian, poor girl! But I can't explain how happy I am that I will be staying here! I love these wards so much and the members are amazing! I also wanted to stay with Irina and her family! By the way, her daughter zhenya is getting baptized on Saturday!!! I don't know if I told you that last week! She decided that she wanted to follow the example of her mother! She saw how her mom and already started to receive the blessings that we had been promising her and she wants those same things for her family. They are also getting ready to go and do baptisms for the dead soon! I love seeing them and each time we meet I feel like I am a part of their family. So this week we will be busy getting ready for that and transfers. I think that Sister Zenger will still be able to come down and she her baptism. I don't think she will go too far.

We were also able to go to another baptism on Saturday. I don't know if I told you about this family but they are amazing. Here is a quick story about them. So I met them at the temple open house and I was able to sit and talk with them for about an hour and a half about everything they saw and were feeling. As we were talking we became pretty good friends and they invited us over to come and have a lesson with them. Well of course they didn't live in our area so we had to pass them, but we made a strange connection in the short time. I was able to go to their baptism on Saturday and see a family of 4 enter the waters of Baptism and make a covenant with the Lord! They were so so so happy and I was so happy to see them. I didn't think they would remember me but I went up to congratulate them after and they gave me a huge hug! They remembered me! I know that isn't the important thing but I just wanted to hear what had happened and what made them finally decided to get baptized. They have been searching for 12 years!!!! 12 Years!! and they finally found the truth. They have made goals to go to the temple and they have started on the path. They have received testimonies and I know that they will be strong and happy the rest of their lives and they will have the opportunity to live together for the rest of eternity! Oh man it was amazing! The spirit was so strong! That is what this work is all about! Bringing families together forever!

We are still working with our other Irina and she is hoping to finish the Book of Mormon this week or next week so that she can get baptized in 3 or 4 weeks. She is so ready, she just wants to finish the Book of Mormon before she makes the next step. We have watched her changed her life. She was an amazing person before but she has gained strength and has left her habits behind her and how is free to live as she wants. She has no restraints on her.

I love these people and I love this work. I am so thankful that I could have the opportunity to come here and be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I am thankful for this Gospel, for the knowledge that Christ lived and died for us but He also was resurrected in order to bring us back to our Heavenly Father! I am thankful for the loving guidance of my Savior. I am thankful for my amazing family and for the examples that they have been for me! I am thankful for my parents and the love that they have shown me, for my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that have always supported me and been there for me! I have the greatest family in the World! I am thankful for a Prophet of the Lord to guide us. I am thankful that I have the strength to do what I need to do and what I want to do. I am thankful that I have today to make the changes that I need to in order to become a better person!

I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great week, and a great Thanksgiving.

Love,
Sister Larsen