The Week to Week of Sister Larsen

Brooke a.k.a "Sister Larsen" is Home! Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T08:05:00.001-08:00

She's Coming Home!

2010-12-27T06:05:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We spoke to Brooke on Christmas Day and while it was great to hear her voice, we are all pretty focused on her return. She gets home Thursday about 10:30 p.m.!!!!! You are welcome to join us at the airport. She'll report on her mission on January 9th.

Rumor has it Santa Claus will be making a trip to SLC on the 31st and New Year's Day is doubling as Christmas Day at the Larsen house this year. We are excited to say the least!

Thanks to all who have followed Brooke's missionary experiences. As her parents we appreciated your kind gestures, emails, letters, packages and mostly, prayers, sent her way. She is an amazing young lady and your influences have helped to shape and mold her into the person and missionary she is today. So, thank you all.

In her final email this morning, a private one, Brooke expressed her love for family, God, the Gospel and the people of Ukraine. She sends her love to all and says she is excited to see everyone.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mike & Teresa

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

Good morning and Merry Christmas this week! How are you all doing after your long night? It sounds like your party was a hit and that you had a lot of fun!

Mom, I am glad that everything went okay with you doctors appt. . . . I am excited to talk to you all. It looks like you all had fun in St. George and Mom, you look way good at all these parties! I have such a good looking family ha!

Dad, Congrats on all your stuff. What did you have to speak about at your party? You look amazing and good choice on the red tie! Very classy. Are you going to have some time off this week? Thanks for the letter. It made me cry a little.

Brynn, Thanks for the email. Sounds like you have a ton to do. I am glad that you are feeling better.

Chase and Ash, Ash I heard you were sick. I hope that you are feeling better. There is nothing worse then being sick over the holidays. How is it being back in Utah? How did your last weeks end up? Thanks for the email. I didn't mean to guilt trip you I just didn't know if I wasn't getting some of the letters! You guys are great!

So this week was a good week. We had a lot of meetings and it is pretty up beat. We did a lot and it was a lot of fun. Sorry if this is a pretty vague, I am kinda in a funky mood. I have been reading a bunch of emails about luggage and I started cleaning out and de-junking today and I think it was a big mistake.

This week we made some progress with Sister Liliya. She is a cute spunky old lady but she has some sass. She is really afraid to get baptized because she doesn't know how to swim and last time she tried to get baptized it was a little traumatic, so if you could keep her in your prayers that would be awesome.

We had a chance to go to the temple this week and it was amazing. I love the temple in general but this temple will hold a special place in my heart. There were some members from Russia and a ton of members from our wards and other wards that i have served in. I sat and watched as all of the members prayed and I had the amazing opportunity to feel the love of our Savior for them. It was great to walk in and be greeted by one of my favorite members and then as we walked up the stairs and saw more of my favorite members and then we walked in to the room and sat down and my favorite member was conducting the session. We were surrounded by the most amazing members and the feeling in the room was so amazing! I even listened to the whole session in Russian with out a problem! I had gotten a head set just in case I couldn't understand but I didn't even need it! It was amazing! They are really dedicated and I love seeing their love for the temple. They usually take a day for the temple not just a few hours like I used to. It has such a special place in their hearts and I hope that it has rubbed off onto me.

This next week will be very full. We are trying to meet with some of the members for the last time and some of my friends from around Kiev are coming in for lunch or something. It will be hard to fit it all in but it will be a full week. I am excited to see old friends, especially at the Christmas concert that they are putting on this next week and at the baptisms on Saturday. I will be able to see Natalie and Galina this week. Also there might be a chance of seeing Svetlanna and Lena. I don't know if you remember all of these people but I am excited to try and see them.

So I should probably get going. Sorry if this wasn't the email that you were all expecting this morning but I love you all and I am so excited to talk to/ see you! I will be waiting for you to call our cell phone around 6.00 p.m. our time. I think that is 9.00 a.m. your time. I hope you have a great week! I love you all! and Merry Christmas.

Love,
Sister Larsen

Happy Anniversary!

2010-12-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all the emails! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well! It sounds like you all are crazy busy getting ready for Christmas.

Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary! You guys are an amazing example to all of us of a truly happy couple! I love hearing about all of the things that you do for each other and for the love that you have for each other and for us! Congrats on getting all the neighbor gifts out so fast! It sounds like you are on the ball with everything this year, and you even have a few days until Christmas! I am happy that you had fun on your trip and that you got home safely. Dad, when you put it in terms of weeks and then Sundays I realized that my time is so short! I hope I can hold on a little longer and get everything in I want to!

Brynn, I know what you mean. I keep thinking, Oh I can just tell them these stories when I get home. But thanks for the email. It is still nice to open my mail and get letters! I am excited to hear the song that you did! I imagine that it is amazing. I am always telling people about your amazing voice. It also sounds like you did an amazing Christmas party for the firm. You always do great things like that!

Chase and Ashley, Hey how are you guys?? I am sure that things have been crazy since October, but I am wondering if I didn't get an email from you because Mom said that you were giving me advice but I haven't gotten an email in a while. How is the end of school looking? Are you excited to get to Utah? Let me know how things are going!

Sooo this week was pretty good, but I am still hurting from the cancelling of English. Sister Schmidt and I have been really trying to put ourselves out there and talk to everyone- literally! We have set some pretty high goals of how many people we want to talk to each day and we have been pretty good at keeping them! We have seen some small miracles and we have met a lot more people who are genuinely interested in the Gospel and not just wanting to talk to us because we can speak okay English. I have really liked the fact that they have cancelled English. Brynn asked why I thought they did it and here is my answer. We were spending most of our time talking to people in English about stuff that doesn't even matter. We didn't come to Ukraine to just improve people's English but we are here to help them improve their lives. It goes a lot faster when we don't sit and talk in English about useless things but we can just talk about the Gospel and about Jesus Christ. It makes sense and I don't know why we didn't stop it earlier. It is great. We still help people from time to time when they ask but we try to keep it focused on Christ!

This week was really good. We worked hard and I got sick :D. The first time on my mission that my body has really caught up with me. It is cold and we have been outside a lot more the usual. Also being in the Metro and touching things also took a toll. But Sister Schmidt is really taking care of me and we are still getting out and doing the work. I don't want my body stopping me from doing the work my last 2 weeks. How bad would that be! But we are hanging in there, and having fun while we do it.

I dont know if you remember about the grandma that didn't fully get baptized a few months ago? Well she decided yesterday to give it another go. We are helping her get ready for the 25th of December! She seemed pretty excited and so did the members. They are an interesting family and really great! She has been coming to church for a really long time and it was great to see the excitment of some of the members. Just say a little prayer that it goes better this time. One of the missionaries is going to baptize her so I hope it will be a little smoother, I hope! There are around 30 baptisms that should be happening on the 25th around the mission and we are all getting really excited! The work is exploding here and President is amazing and keeping us excited even when it is cold. We are starting to change all of the negitive ideas about the mission and all of the missionaries are starting to believe that miracles are possible, even in Ukraine. I was thinking about the scriptures in Moroni about how miracles only cease when we cease to believe. It really is so true. I haven't seen miracles when I have doubting that things will happen but when I put my faith in the Lord, say a pray, and go to work I have seen the Lord work His miracles! I love this work! I love this country and the people here. But most of all I love my Father in Heaven, my Lord and my Family! This season truly is the season of happiness and a time to remember our Lord and Redeemer and all that he has done for us!

Thank you for your support and love! I hope that you have an amazing week and that you get everything done that you need too. I love you all so so much and miss you!

Love, Sister Larsen

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!"

2010-12-06T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.

Sorry my time is short to write so this might be a quicker email. I got your package and I may have opened it out of excitement! I didn't open everything but I was most excited for the letters and as I started to read I realized they were for Christmas morning so I stopped and put them away. I didn't finish opening or reading so I still have stuff for Christmas but I am way excited to wear the scarf! I might wear it before if that is okay.

Okay so I don't really have a lot of time to comment on each email but I loved them all and you are all amazing. And I got all the pictures! But I wanted to give you a run down of the week.

So Zhenya got baptized on Saturday!!!!!! She is amazing! She is only 14 years old and she made the decision to get baptized 3 weeks after her mom was baptized! Yesterday was my last and one of the greatest Fast and Testimony meetings. Bishop gave her the Holy Ghost and it was such an amazing prayer. He has been such a great friend to them and has been a really big help as they have started on this journey. So we kinda had a strange lead up to the baptism. We got a call on Friday night that Bishop may not have been able to come but we wouldn't know until we were already at the baptism so we called Sarah and her husband to see if he would be ready and willing if Bishop couldn't come. They were happy to help and they knew Zhenya because they had been on a lesson and Sarah helps out the youngest daughter in Primary. Well we got a call on Saturday morning and Sarah had gotten food poisoning and Denis couldn't leave her so we called the elders and had to send them home to get their clothes. Bishop called us on the way to the baptism and said that there was no way that he could make it and he called and apologized to Zhenya, wished her luck. It was cute to see that he didn't just call one of us to say he couldn't but he got a hold of her personally to tell her. Very nice. The baptism didn't go at all as planned but it went just how she needed it to be and just how the Lord wanted it to be. It was amazing and I loved it!

This last week we have been planning for the holidays in our wards. There will be an activity almost every night for about 2 weeks. I was really sad to know that the ward is having a party on the 29th and I will probably be with President that night and may not be able to go. I thought what a great last night it would be to spend it with a ward that has been like my family, Irina, Zhenya and all those that have touched my life here. I hope that there is a small chance that it will change or that I can go, even for a minute. It would be a great last night with the members. Enough of lasts, I almost started to cry and don't have any pills to blame it on.

This last week was rough in the way of lessons and finding new people. The mission just cancelled our English program and that is how I did a lot of our finding. Now I have to be more bold and out there. I can't just fall back on English. I thought, Oh I only have a few weeks left. Why can't I just keep doing things the way I have been doing them, they have worked so far. But then I realized that this way is a lot better and we have stopped using our time on English and starting doing what we are really here for. It is really hard and really pushing me but it is keeping it interesting and keeping my on my toes.

Well I should get going but I wanted to get your thoughts about the Christmas phone call. Do you want to call or do you just want to wait until the 30th? If you do want to call it will have to be later then the last few times. We have an activity at 3 and we won't be home until 6ish our time. If you could call around 6ish that would be the best, I think that would be 9:00 your time. I don't know if that will work with what Chase and Ashley have planned. Let me know.

Well I love you all so so so much and I hope you have the most amazing week. Tell everyone hi and that I love them!
Love,
Sister Larsen

Where has the time gone!!?????

2010-12-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

Hey family!
It sounds like you had an amazing Thanksgiving! I am sad I missed it but it is the last one! I am glad that you got home safe! I was hoping that you all wouldn't tell me about this awful storm and then no one would say if you got home or not! I would have been pretty upset! But I am glad that you are home! Dad said something about telling about our favorite Christmas's and I was thinking of one this morning. I will always remember the Christmas night in the 7-11 and the pick up truck. ha I still get a laugh about mom's burrito. I am glad that you all had fun with Jeff and Jane's family! Tell them all hi for me!

Mom, I am happy that you have had a bit of a break though. You should take some time and just let everything out. I am jealous of your walk in the canyon! It sounds pretty amazing. I was reading through some of that book that you made for me and I added the quotes that I sent to you and I have to say you did a better job. I don't know how you knew that those quotes would be just what I needed in these last few months. Thank you for doing that. About the quilt stuff... the fabric here really isn't the best. I might bring a few scarfs home but I don't know if it will be enough. I don't know we can look.

Dad, I am glad that you are an amazing driver and that you all got home safe and sound! We get to see Sarah pretty often and her and her husband are always willing to come on lessons with all of us. They are pretty amazing! I swear it was not long ago that you asked me what my goals were for these last 3 months and each night I have tried to set some and now I just looked at the calendar and I have 4 weeks. I don't know what I am going to do. I am way excited to see you and get out of the cold but I love these people so much! I can't wait for you all to come here and see all this!

Brynn, I am so happy to get your letter! I am happy that things are going well! I am sure that you are starting to really get busy as the holidays are coming with parties and everything! It may not be a bad idea to change locations. It might even be fun just to move down town.

Chase and Ashley, I bet things are really getting tough as the semester is winding down. When do classes end for you? What are your plans for these next few weeks? How is the winter starting out up there? Are you freezing? I would love to see some pictures!

Alright, the snow is falling and we are starting a new transfer today! My last transfer!!!!! Crazy! I don't really know if I am happy or sad about it.. It just doesn't feel real yet, I guess. Time flies! But yeah I am still here in center and my trainee has left the nest and I am now with Sister Schmidt. I think you know her aunt, dad, She went to law school with you. Anyway she is way cool and I wish that we would be able to serve together more then just 5 weeks but hey. She is from Draper and we are very much the same person. We laugh all the time! She has only been out for 3 months but she is doing great. Oh yeah she speaks Ukrainian so that is a little hard but it makes things interesting! I am trying to learn Ukrainian a little better so that we can understand each other more. We are getting ready for a great transfer and we saw a great end to the last one.

On Saturday we went to the baptism of Ana and Sergy. They are the amazing couple that knocked on the church door 4 weeks ago. We had started teaching them but they moved to Sister Walker's area. But it was a great baptism and I am so so so happy for them. If my camera doesn't die I will send you a picture. They sang at their own baptism!!!! He sang the primary song that talks about how they like to look for rainbows. All of the missionaries are sitting here and we can only remember the name in Ukrainian so sorry. But it was absolutely amazing and everyone was crying! They were so amazing to work with, if you said "hey we don't drink coffee, tea, use tobacco, or drink Alcohol," they would go home that night and clean their house out and never touch it again. They also had planned a vacation the week before their baptism and the sisters said, "well we will have to push your baptisms back a week because you need to be at church." They cancelled their trip!!!! I have never seen that kind of dedication! It was amazing to watch! We gave them a Photo album to put pictures of their new lives and we all signed it! I love them so much and I can't wait until they have the opportunity to go to the temple!

I love this work so much and each day I have come home so tired. I am really feeling like I have ran a million miles everyday and it is finally catching up with me. I never thought that a mission would physically drain you in this way. I don't know if Chase or dad ever felt it but I feel like I want to do so much more and push to the end but I feel like I am trying to run in molasses! I just have to keep telling myself that the finish line is insight but then again each time I think that I have to go, I start to cry because I don't know when I will see these people again.

Well I and thankful for all of you! For your love and help! I miss you all so so so much! I hope that everything goes well this week and that you have an amazing, wonderful week! I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

2010-11-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

Here Comes the Sun!

2010-11-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Hey, hey everyone!

I am so so happy that everyone is having an amazing week/month. I love each week opening up my email and hearing about all of the amazing things going on! It sounds like you are all healthy and busy! Thanks for all the emails! It was good to see pictures of Kelsey's little boy! He is so cute! You will have to tell the other new moms congrats as well and if you get a hold of some pictures I would love to see them!

Mom, It sounds like you have had a good week! I am happy that Ellie hasn't been too destructive and you will have to give her a birthday hug for me! It really doesn't matter to me when my homecoming is. I don't really have any plans yet so you guys decide what works with you and I will just be there. I really have no preference. I would love to go down to St. George with everyone or out to Boston to see Chase and Ashley since we will only really have 2 days with them. As of right now though I don't really have my heart set on anything. I did get to see Sister Stevens and Sister Dibbs. They only had about 2 minutes so I just gave Sister Stevens a hug and she started crying. She said that she got to talk to you and that you are an amazing person. They are both really amazing and I wish that I had gotten a few extra minutes to talk to them.

Dad, You are just all over the place. It sounds like you are staying busy as ever. Thanks for the sports updates. I am so far out of the loop that it isn't even funny anymore. Congrats on the new car. You will have to send me a new picture when you get it. I am excited for you. It is time that you treated yourself to something new. I am really excited to go to a Jazz game with you.

Brynn, Where did Chicago come from? Well while you are there keep your eyes open for a marketing internship for me! I think it would be so fun to find internships in the same big city for the summer. I need to start working on that right when I get home. But I am still here so gotta focus. What is going on with the whole school thing? Are you thinking still about taking classes? I am still so proud of you that you ran that race.

Chase and Ashley, How's it going? I am sure that school is keeping you so busy, but whats up? what is new? How are your church callings? Chase have you had any luck while trying to share the gospel at school?

Jenny, I heard that your play is coming up with week! Good luck I know you have put in a lot of work and that you will do amazing! Remember to have fun while you and to not worry so much about everything else. I wish I could be there to congratulate you but I will just have my mom give you an extra hug for me! Break a leg!

So, this week has been unusually warm. Ukraine has never had such a warm November. It is +15, +16 and it is really nice. I haven't even had to put on my hat yet this year. I am hoping that it lasts at least one more week. I hope! I have heard mix stories about how cold it is suppose to be but I just hope that it holds off until January!

We have one more week until transfers and I can't believe that I really only have 6 full weeks left of working out here. I really really hope that I stay in this area for my last transfer. I have no idea what president is thinking but I have taken some tips from dad and I have dropped some subtle hints to president by saying something like, "President you know that I will got where even the Lord wants me to go but I would love to finish out my last transfer here." We find out next Tuesday and transfers are on Thursday. I know I won't be training and I don't really know where I would go but I hope that I stay here ha ha.

This week has been really great. We have worked really hard and we are kind of in a new finding period. We have had to pass or drop a lot of our investigators because they don't live in our area. That is the hard part about center is that everyone is always here but no one lives here. We took one of our investigators to a baptism on Saturday and she loved it. She even took her husband to church on Sunday to see the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is so cute but we came to find out that she lives in another part of the city. Bummer! But the good thing is there really aren't sisters in that area so we might be able to still work with them. :D.

We do have one really great investigator Lyubov! Her name means love ha:D. But she came to church last week and she really really wants to get baptized but she wants her husband to come with her. She said that they are one and they should make the step together. But she already considers herself a member and she has been sharing the Gospel with everyone! She makes me laugh! I love her so so so much!

Other then that there really isn't much new. We are just moving a long trying to do the work. Actually we have this family in our ward that I adore. They are the Bohdans! They have been members for about 12 years and we have been trying to meet with them and do missionary work with them. They are one of the busiest families that I have even met but every time they make time for us we always have the best lessons with them. It is crazy because they are so open to the spirit and when he tells them to do something they do it. Throughout the lesson they will get ideas of who they should work with and what they should do. This week or next week hopefully we will be meeting with them and their friends! They are amazing!

Irina is doing really well! We are still meeting with her and her daughters and they are just amazing! Zhenya is doing really well. She is still reading the Book of Mormon everyday. They both amaze me. We are working slowly with them because they have a lot to learn but they are ready and willing. I learn so much from them every day!

Well I should get going I love you all so much and I am happy that you are doing well! I am trying really hard not to count the days. Everyone here sends their love!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Less than 2 months to go!

2010-11-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
It sounds like we all had very eventful weekends! I am so so happy that everything went well with the race and that you had fun! I was wondering if anyone would want to try that again next year?? It sounds like a pretty amazing opportunity. Thanks for the letters! I know that you were all pretty beat and I was so happy to hear from you. I also loved the pictures!

Mom, Way to go! I loved the quote from the song that you said. It made me think of a lot of things, a lot of dreams that I have had and the challenges that are placed before us, butt if we can make it in New York we can make it anywhere. Sometimes the hardest things in life prepare us for something even harder that would have been impossible without our preparation and previous experiences. I am so thankful for your strength and persistence in all things. You amaze me! By the way, my friend wrote me this week and told me that you were sitting next to the Primary General Presidency on the plane. His mom is Jean Stevens and she said that she got to talk to you! You are famous! ha

Dad, I am in awe of your dedication! You are always on the run and I swear you never get too tired to work hard or play hard. You really do live by that motto. I loved the words that you quoted too. I have been thinking a lot about our earth life and how short it is, and how we can't blame the world or others for the situations that we are in but look at them as opportunities for a new start or a new adventure. I will go into this more later but I just wanted to thank you for your thoughts and words! You are the best.

Brynn, Way to go! I think you are awesome! I can't even imagine the pain you were experiencing but I hope that we can all experience it next year? I have been thinking a lot too about fulfilling my dream of living in New York for a summer.... Maybe we could find a wedding planning company and get some internships. Dad probably won't be happy to hear that but hey our time is short right? ha. How did the rest of your week go? Mom said that she bought tickets again to plays? Did you have to tell Pa that everything's gonna be ok?

Chase and Ashley, Dad sent some pictures and you guys look great! I am pretty sure that school is starting to wind down for Ash. I hope that everything goes well. I actually had a dream about you guys and Ashley and Brynn were helping me get ready for school. They were helping me with my style issues and I was terrified to go back. It was a funny dream and Brynn and Ash kept telling me that I looked so cute in a red and yellow stripped calf-length skirt and a denim vest. It was bad but funny. Dad also said that you had some Ukrainians in your mission? What were their names? Were they missionaries?

Okay so here is the week! Irina got baptized!!!!! It was a really great baptism and we had one of the greatest turnouts I have ever seen! There were so many members and everyone came up to her and congratulated her. Many members brought flowers and bore amazing testimonies. Her baptism was really good. There were a lot of investigators that had a great experience. On Sunday she was given the Holy Ghost by the Bishop and he did an amazing job. I just sat and cried the entire time. His prayer was so sincere and I think that everyone there felt the Holy Ghost so strongly! Zhenya, her daughter didn't get baptized because she didn't feel ready but she had a good experience at church yesterday. We are continuing to meet with her and we will see what she decides. It is all her decision and I am really happy that she is taking it seriously. She is only 14 but she has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying. She is such a great girl, I think she is just afraid of being different. We are meeting with them tonight to do a family home evening and to teach them a little

We met with that couple this last week and we found out that they don't live in our area. They are really great and we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and Plan of Salvation. When we talked about coffee and tea they said that they would go home and immediately throw everything away. They are really great. They were out of town but I am excited to meet with them again this week. We have to pass them though.. But Sister Walker will be taking over and she will do a great job.

So this week I was really studying a lot about our lives here and our roles here. I have really come to know that everything that happens to us really is our choice. Even if it is something bad. We chose to come here when we lived with our Heavenly Father and we voiced our opinion. We said that we wanted to come down to this earth in this time, with these problems. We said that we would do the best we could to chose the Lord. I believe with all of my heart that we are where we are suppose to be. Some of our trials may be harder then others, maybe they may seem impossible, but like it is written in 1 Nephi "The Lord gives no commandments unto the children of men save He should prepare a way for them, to accomplish the thing that He has given them." The Lord knows we can do what He asks, if we couldn't He wouldn't have asked. He doesn't set us up for failure. We set ourselves up for failure when we loose faith in him and in ourselves. I read a quote that I love! "He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure." and another one that I have taken as the motto for the end of my mission, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." If we want to do something then we need to do it because no one can change our lives if we don't have the desire and the intent to do something. I am so thankful that we have the choice. Our Heavenly Father loves us and trusts us enough to give us the choice to return to him and to make something out of our lives. The Lord gives us opportunities through the world and presents us with choices that can change our lives if we choose wisely. Well I am going to get off my soap box now. ha

Well I should probably get going. I hope that all is well with you! I am glad that you had fun running and I hope that you have a great rest of your trip. I love you all so much and I hope that you have an amazing week.

Love you all,
Sister Larsen

I am starting to feel it........

2010-11-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

Thank you for all of the emails and notes! I am so happy every time I open my email and I have a full in box! I am happy to hear that everyone is happy and almost healthy. It sounds like you are all enjoying the beginning of fall!

Thanks for the heads up on school and registering. I just checked the website and I cannot register until the 27th. I am hoping that I will be able to get permission to register before I leave the Internet club but if I don't I might hop back on and give you a heads up. It sounds good to have Christmas on the 31 and 1. I was kinda secretly planning it in the back of my head :D. I can't promise that I will wake up super early... or maybe I might be up before the rest of you. It doesn't really matter to me what we do as long as we get to spend some time together before Chase and Ash take off. Plus I don't really want to celebrate New Years this year... I think it would be super awkward as a newly return missionary and dad hanging mistletoe everywhere. I might need a little time. ha. Oh and it might be good to find out if the Stake President could release me before I head down to school? I don't know if he will be in town for the holiday season.

Mom, I am excited for your race. When do you go to New York? That is so sad about the boat. I guess I will have to start letting go of maybe one last trip. I understand what you are saying about Lott's wife. We always talk about how we are going to have a mission reunion trip down there sometime. I love that place and I am excited about some of the new memories we will be able to create with new traditions.

Dad, I am glad that your hunt went well! It sounds like everyone got the fair share of birds. I love the picture of Dakota with the bird in her mouth! She is so teeny tiny! I have a dream about her last night and I woke up missing you all like crazy. I am glad that work has taken a pause for a minute and that you will get to go with mom and Brynn to the race. Cheer extra loud for me too! Give Mom and Brynn hugs at the finish line for me!

Brynn, Hey pen! So we talked a lot about you this week. A girl we starting meeting with for English brought a movie that she had just checked out from the library to watch and I saw it in her bag. Can you guess what it was? Forest Gump, I bet you were not going to guess that were you? Well it made me think about all of our family a lot, "Penny." It made me laugh and think of all of our nick names. I also found a picture from when we were having the time of our lives on New years. But anyway, I am glad that you have been having fun. That is no fun that you aren't feeling too well. GO to the Dr, we all know how I feel about strep, better to be on the safe side. Good luck this week. You will have to tell me all about it next week. And I want to see a picture of Randy in a baby costume.

Chase and Ash, how is good ol' Boston? I heard that the falls are amazing there! You will have to take some pictures and send them! Ash, how are you feeling? You are getting pretty close to being done! Good luck these next couple of weeks. I don't know if you can but i would love to see a picture of your class all together! Chase, how did your second round of exams go?

Okay, so I am starting to feel like I have been run over by a truck. I don't know where all of my energy is but somewhere along the way it got left behind. This week was a world wind week and I don't even remember it starting. We have been meeting with a ton of people and finding a few new ones as we go.

We started a little game in our district to help keep us all focused and progressing instead of just being comfortable with where we are. We are having the Olympics in our district. Each day we have different events, being on time, number of contacts, number of times we ask for referrals, and speaking Russian on the street. Each day we get a number of points and then a companion will win each week. It has helped us a lot to really crack down on the little things that we don't even notice that we do. It has been a lot of fun and I think that we are winning. ;)

We didn't have a baptism last week, it is this week, maybe I phrased it wrong but we are having a lot of fun getting ready. I love teaching this family and they are so great. They came to Stake conference yesterday and they were ON-TIME!!!! yay! We got to sit with them and answer some of their questions. Tonight also we are going to have a family home evening with them. It is a mom and two daughters. Jenya is 14 and Dianna is 5. We get to play with them while we teach them and it has been a blast. I get so excited to see them and they will call and tell us things that happen during the week. They are really excited for this weekend!

So for a funny story this week. we had a missionary the left for the MTC today. She was staying with us this weekend until she left today. The assistants said that she would be at our apartment at about 9:30 on Saturday night. Well 9:30 came and went and she still hadn't called. I thought it was weird and thought we would just wait a few more minutes. She wasn't a missionary yet so I just thought that maybe she wanted to stay with friends. at 9:45 we called the assistants and they didn't answer so we called again at 10. They answered and said that we should wait until 10:15, still no sign. They called the driver who had dropped her off here at 9:20. She had been waiting outside since 9:20. Well since my phone got stolen no one really knows which number is mine and so the assistants gave her my old number. The poor girl thought we forgot about her. I felt so bad but we laughed and helped her get her bags up. But this morning she got us back because we had to be up at 2:30 in order to walk her down to the taxi. It took us forever to get back to sleep and Sister Zenger and I just sat up and laughed and joked about how tired we were. That probably isn't the funniest story you have heard but I am still feeling the effects.

This week should be exciting and I hope that everything goes well with the interviews for Irina and Jenya this week. They are ready but I don't know if they think the are ready. Well I should get going. I love you all and wish you the best! I am so happy that everything is going well! Send Derrick and Al my love and prayers!

Love,
Sister Larsen

2010-10-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey Hey everyone!

So good news! I saw the special! Bad news I was crying so hard that I barely could see ha. It was amazing! If you could send a special thanks to Carole for me that would be amazing! It turned out better than I could have ever thought! And you guys look great! Everyone keeps saying that you guys are way cute and they say to tell you hi!

Dad, I got all of your pictures! You look great and it looks like there shouldn't be a living bird anywhere in sight. I am sure mom is going to love having pheasant in her freezer for the next year. Kota looks so tired it looks like you are holding her up by the collar in most pictures. You can tell that she is the oldest one in the bunch. Tell everyone that I say hi and I hope that you all had fun. Tell Grant I say "hi" back. I love them all! And give Terry and Steve a hard time for being the only ones in their "go to town" clothes.

Mom, Sounds like you are finally getting to do some of those things that you need to do. I am happy for you. It sounds like you are doing well and thank you so much for going to Liz's farewell. I might send you a letter to forward to her today if I have time. I am jealous that you all got to go to Thriller! We heard the song in a restaurant the other day and I immediately went back to that concert. When is the NYC marathon? I can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Brynn, thanks for the email. It sounds like things are going well. PS. I could use some pictures some time... ha. I think that the Halloween theme sounds like a lot of fun. I keep telling people about the Halloween parties that Jen and Al put on and they love it. Are they having a party this year? What will the theme be?

Chase and Ash, how's its going? Mom and dad said that you are super busy with exams this week I hope that they go well! How was having Ashley's family? What did you guys do while they were there with you? Ash, how is the teaching going? How do you like the school and kids?

Jenny, I was so happy to get your email! It sounds like you are having so much fun and that you are keeping my family busy! I love hearing that you have made good friends and that you are enjoying the experience that you have had with our church! I can't wait to meet you! I am so thankful for the influence you have had on my family! You have helped them so much and they are so happy to have you there! Have a great week and good luck with the play!

Okay so this was a crazy week. Monday we went to a street that I will take you to when you come. It is amazing and there are all kinds of souvenirs. We went a little crazy. But that night we had a great lesson/ FHE with some of the people that showed up at the church. There is normally a senior couple that is here and they are in charge of FHE for the youth but they went home and a new couple hasn't shown up yet. So we were having a lesson and we just decided to combined it with some of the people that didn't hear that it was cancelled and we had a fun night.

On Tuesday I met up with the 2 elders with whom I was to travel with to Bulgaria and we caught a taxi to the airport, where we met 4 other elders from another mission... Yes me with 6 elders all week. It was a lot of fun though. We saw a lot of the city and we tried to do some contacting but it was hard because everyone there speaks Bulgarian. It sounds a lot like Ukrainian and Russian but very different. When I read it I could understand it but speaking was another story. But there were several people that learned Russian when it was under the USSR. It was an interesting city with nice people but I knew I wasn't in my mission. It is strange how you can feel when you are not in the place that you know you are suppose to be. I thought it was a great mission but I am happy to be back to my mission and the Ukrainian people. It freaked me out a little to get on an airplane and to see the city disappear below me. It kinda shot me forward two months and I think I am more scared now then I was before. That day is coming way too fast and at the same time not fast enough. I can't decide where I stand. I just wish you could all come here and be missionaries with me. I think that would be the best of both worlds. ha.

But yeah I got back and on Friday we were able to watch the program on President's computer. It was very well done and I was a little embarrassed for myself because I was sitting in the front and I couldn't wipe the tears from my eyes fast enough. But it was great and I think that everyone that saw it has loved the way it turned out.

Friday and Saturday it was back to the work. I was so happy to be back, meeting with people and teaching in a language that I understand. It feels good to be back in the swing of things. Agness is doing great but she is still out of town. She still hasn't smoked and she hasn't had coffee for a week now. We had a talk last night on the phone and she had totally forgotten that she had been out of coffee for an entire week. She ran out and just never bought more. I reminded her when I asked her about it. She is so great. Also Irina and Jenya are doing great! Jenya was sick yesterday so she wasn't able to come to church but they are doing so well. We will meet with them this week and get them situated for the baptism next week. They are really excited.

Also this week the elders found an amazing family and we are going to meet with the daughter tomorrow. They are from Armenia and they met with the elders for the first time in order to do English but they felt like it was a blessing from God. They all came to church yesterday and the daughter asked what she needed to do in order to become a part of this. We started talking about baptism and she said that she wouldn't feel right getting baptized again but then members turned around and started talking about their baptisms. It was a great Sunday!

I am so thankful for this time here, for the people here and the friendships that I have been able to make. I can't wait for you all to meet these people here and to feel of their love. I am so thankful for your examples and for the support and love that I get from you each week! You all have had such a great influence on my mission even though you are so far away! I love you all! and I miss you so so so much! have a great week and be safe!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Another Transfer Gone!

2010-10-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Thank you for all of the emails and love! I loved hearing about how my parents are huge TV stars in the Big City. Don't let your heads get too big, we still have a long ways before we get Hollywood big. But seriously, I am glad that so many people got something out of it. I still haven't been able to see it. We are waiting for one of the senior couples to get a copy from Carole Mikita and then President said he will show it to everyone. I am a little nervous. I feel like from what everyone has been saying that I am the center! I know I am not but man I wish it was a little less me and more temple and more Ukraine ha. I hope it is not as big as everyone makes it sound.

Mom, As you were talking about the SuperStar moment I may have hit replay in my head and laughed a little. I hope these pills don't have the same effect. I am 100% sure that you will be fine. Everyone I have talked to hasn't even mentioned the side effects that they had from the pills. It was mostly the tiredness from the radiation. I think you will still be the amazing, graceful, lovely, kind, . . . mother we know and love. If you change a little we will still love you all the same. Like everyone here says, "Don't worry, Be happy." haha they love that phrase. Thanks for going to all of my friends' farewells. I wish I could be there so badly especially to see Liz. I hate that I won't see her for 3 years, but I know she will do great. Send her my love and a big hug. And maybe if you could get her address that would be fantastic. You are amazing! Are the girls going to do anything fun while the boys are gone hunting? And thanks for getting us signed up for housing! I have heard that is a good place to live.

Dad, I can't believe it is already that time again, the hunt is on. Please be so so careful. I know how much you guys love to joke around but please take care of yourself and my puppies. But I bet you will have a ton of fun. I loved the story of the guy in the elevator. It made me laugh pretty hard. I am sorry that your eyes are bugging you. I hope that you can get adjusted pretty quickly.

Brynn, how was your marathon recovery week? Did you get some rest or did you find something to fill your week up? It sounds like you did both at once maybe? Mom or dad left me a hint of what you did this week ha. I remember you saying that you have a lot of flowers this week? Good luck and have fun. We talked a lot yesterday about coming home and doing flowers. My companion worked at a flower shop in Provo and it made me a little trunky to get home and get to work.

Chase and Ash, Hey how are you guys? How was having Paige and Ann? What did you guys end up doing? I think I remember that Chase has a lot of test this week so I am sure that you are just hitting the books like crazy now so good luck and study hard. I know you will do great. You always do.

Alright so we finally got to watch conference yesterday and Saturday and I loved every minute! I loved Elder Holland's talk and i just cried the whole time. I don't remember why but something just hit me like a ton of bricks. I also loved Elder Christofferson's talk. I think he hit a lot of things right on the head. But one of the talks that just hit me hard was Elder Oaks' talk about the 2 lines of revelation. I think I have been putting off a lot of my decisions onto other people and asking for others to make the important decisions in my life. I called President a few weeks ago because we don't have interviews as often as we used to and I was looking for some guidance on school. When we started talking I wanted him to just say, "Well Sister Larsen I feel like you will do this as your profession and so you will need to go home and study this this and this." Well he didn't say any of that. He shared some experiences about how he went to school for 10 years trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Don't worry dad I won't go to school for 10 years. You can breath again. But he talked with me about how you have to seek the Lord's will until you find it. So for the last few weeks I have been seeking for the Lord's will for me. I know that it won't all come at once but it will come as I strive to live a righteous life. I think that has been one of the hardest things on my mission. I want to the Lord to tell me word for word what I should do and say, but He just trusts us that we have tried to seek His word and fill ourselves with the words of the prophets. What we have studied for so long is actually what He wants us to say. I don't know if this is making much sense but things are kinda unfolding still in my head. ha. Brynn asked last week what some of my goals are for the rest of my mission. I am looking at 12 weeks right now and I have set a goal to come home every night just asking to get in bed because I have given my all. I also want to strive everyday to seek the Lord in everything that I do. I always ask the Lord what I should do but I very rarely listen. I always here that one of the things that missionaries are most grateful for is that they learned how the Lord speaks to them while on their missions. Well that is what I want to do. Okay enough of my rambling.

This week was pretty amazing. Agnessa still hasn't smoked. She is still struggling with coffee and she hasn't had anything to drink for almost a week so slowly but surely we are working towards her goal. She is amazing though. She has been out of town but she has spent a lot of her time reading and praying. At night she will call us and say, "Sister Larsen did you know that this scripture was in the Book of Mormon? Isn't it amazing?" She will share her thoughts and she is always right on.

We also have been working with ирина and her daughters and they have decided to get baptized on the 30th of December. We are having so much fun teaching them because they really love the scriptures. Also Jzenya is amazing and always has really deep thoughts for a 15 years old girl. You can tell that they really love the Lord and really want to serve Him.

Well I am going to try and send some pictures but I love you all and I hope that you have an amazing week! Thanks again for everything!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Where did Winter come from?

2010-10-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to hear from all of you! I think that today I receive a record high number of emails on the mission! Thank you everyone that wrote. I feel so bad that I can't write you all back but know that they were all deeply appreciated!

So first of all CONGRATS mom and Brynn for killing it in the race! I am so proud of both of you!

So to a serious note, please send my love to the Henriksens! I was so sad to hear about what happened! I bet they are so torn up by all of that! Tell them I love them and I am praying for them! They are such an amazing family and I have always loved being around them. I wish I could send my love in another way.

Mom, again congrats! I am so proud of you guys and I had you in my prayers all day. I looked at my clock and I said they are probably getting ready to run right now... they are still running... they should be finishing soon! I was worrying all day about the heat and hoping that it wouldn't rain. I am glad that everything turned out okay and that you feel good about the outcome! I hate that I am starting to want to run one when I get home because that means I might have to run a little. ha. I haven't seen the KSL TV special but I know you don't look 400 years old!! That is not possible!

Dad, I am glad that the surgeries went well! I didn't get the pictures of the girls running but I got all the other ones. Thanks for sending those! They always make me happy. Remember how I keep telling you that I am giving up candy... well it finally happened. I will tell the story later but we have gone a whole week without chocolate:D. Go us! ha. I am sorry that they forgot you. that is a really sad story but I did laugh ha. I hope that never happens again.

Brynn, GO YOU! I am so so so proud of you! I knew you could do it and I had you in my prayers all day on Saturday! I know you would for sure kick my trash in a race. When is the NY marathon? What do you have to do to prepare? I am also glad that you get a little down time. I just had a thought, you said your cooler is really ghetto yeah? Well I think we should paint it and pimp it out so it goes with our style a little? What are your thoughts?

Chase and Ashley, Thanks for the email. Dad sent me a picture of Chase in his scrubs chillin... cute ha. I am so glad that you have such great friends. It sounds like you do a lot together even though you are all so busy. We talked a lot about keeping a balance in all aspects of our lives and it sounds like you guys have got that handled. I am excited for Ashley's family to come out. I bet you guys will all have fun together.

Alright so here is the run down. Winter came out of no where and I have already donned the wool tights and boots... I don't know where fall went. But it is already so cold here. We sang hymns last night on the main street here in center last night and I thought my toes were going to fall off. It was fun though and we mad some good contacts!

So this week has been interesting. I feel like we have been running all over the place but we have had a lot of really great success and fall backs. The mother and daughter are still progressing but they didn't come to church yesterday. Agness (the daughter) had had a really long night and turned her phone off... so when we called to wake her up she wouldn't be disturbed ha. But she was having a hard time with smoking so we made a deal. We would give up chocolate while she gave up smoking. Since then we haven't had any chocolate and she is holding out on smoking. It has been kinda fun though because whenever any of us has a craving we will call or text each other and talk about something random to get our minds off of it. We also check with each other each night and see if we are still going strong. We had a bad day a few days ago and I wanted chocolate so bad but I called her and we held out ha. It has been interesting how excited she has been about it. Right after we had made that decision one of my friends from one of the other wards came up so me and said that she had brought me something. It was my favorite candy bar in super size!! Then every member tried to give us candy with our tea but when we explained they took it and put it in the other room. they are great.

We have seen a lot of little miracles this week with members and families that we have been working with. One family actually came to church yesterday and it was great seeing them all together. They didn't make to sacrament... in fact they were late to Relief society but hey they made it so I give them credit. They loved it and will for sure be there next week. We have a huge meeting set up with the whole family and a member and her daughter next week and I can't wait.

My campanion is doing great too. We have transfers next week but we won't find out until Tuesday what is going to happen. Poor sister Zenger had to swallow her first serving of Liver. I knew what it was but I didn't say anything until we had gotten outside. She doesn't really like to everything but we had talked a little earlier in the week about how we just need to eat what they give us. I asked her how she liked liver and she started coughing. It was pretty funny and I remembered my first time with that. I also found out today that I am finally going to Bulgaria to get a new visa next week. I am not really that excited because I would rather just stay here and work but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Don't kill me this week because it is such a lame letter. But I spent too much time reading this week. I love you all and I hope that you are doing great! I can't wait to see your faces!

Love,
Sister Larsen

[Editor's Note: Brooke and her companion were featured as part of the KSL special that aired between Sunday conference broadcasts. It was so fun to see her and hear her voice.)

3 Months and I am not counting!

2010-10-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey Hey!!

Thank you for all of the emails. I am always so happy when I get one from each of you. Mom and dad always give me the run down but it is nice to hear how you all are!!! It sounds like you all had tons of fun in Lake Powell and in School. Unfortunately whenever you send the pictures through the silverlight thingy I can't see the pictures. I would have to download a program in order to see them... and I can't really do that. But in small size you all look amazing ha!

Mom, I am so proud of you for finishing strong and for giving your all to get ready for this marathon. Your will power still blows my mind! I can't believe it is so hot down in St. George still. I hope that it cools down. Please drink a ton of water. I hope that everything goes well and that you have fun running together! Hopefully we can all run together next year!

Dad, I hope that everything goes well tomorrow and Wednesday. I will keep a prayer in my heart for ya. I am proud of you for getting up on the ski. Did you show all those boys how it is really done? Did you guys bring the boat back up to SLC? It sounds like you gave those kids a fun time. How was seeing Bishnu? Did he come down to Utah for awhile? How much time did you get to spend with him?

Brynn, Hey it sounds like you are doing a lot better and that you had fun in Powell. I actually was quoting LPAM and AATKA this last week. I told sister Zenger about the mud in my eye story and how the axe murderer was on rampage in Powell. I always laugh when I think of the story. You calling me hook all weekend. I am glad that the Danube and Marge came down with you guys. It sounds like you guys were mom and dad's entertainment.

Chase and Ashley, man it sounds like you guys are busy but loving it. I met someone that had been to where you guys live and they said that they loved it. I am glad that you are liking your classes and teaching. Ash I can just picture you and I bet all of the kids just adore you! I hope you have a better class then ours was with student teachers. Chase at first I thought you were just saying that the class was gross and then I remembered that it is actually the name of the class. I had to laugh at my stupidity for a min.

Jenny, Congrats on getting asked to the dance! I hope that you have an amazing time. My parents said that you will answer Sean.. How are you going to do it? When is the dance? Are you excited? You will have to send me pictures!

So I swear this month has flown by. It has gone by slower than August but I still don't know where the time has gone. I woke up today and realized that October starts this week. Crazy!

Well this week was pretty great. We had a lot of meetings and a lot of success. We have been meeting with this mother and daughter, Tanya and Agnessa. They are great and have been loving everything that we have taught them. They are actually temple referrals and we have been meeting with them since the open house. Tanya is a little more hesitant but Agnessa has already read more then half of the Book of Morman and has a testimony of it. She started reading it from the beginning again because she wants to understand it a little better. These last 2 weeks we have been meeting with them and teaching them a lot about the commandments. This last week we set baptismal dates with them for October 23! They are progressing so well and I feel like Agness has become one of my sisters. She has gone 4 or 5 days with out smoking and now she is trying to stop drinking coffee. She is a trooper and she is doing amazing. We read with them the blessing of the Word of Wisdom and you could tell that she wanted it. They both just soak up as much knowledge as they can. I love teaching them because they really are searching. I will have to take a picture and send it this week.

Also this week we have found a lot of really amazing people that have been to the temple. We had to go to the police station in order to get my phone back... By the way the police found it!!!! yeah!!! But along the way we were able to talk to several people that had been to the temple and it was great because a member was with us and she was able to see that people really are interested. By the end she was doing most of the talking.

Yesterday in church we had a missionary conference. We took the last 2 hours of church and talked about the missionary work in our areas. I had to speak along with one of the elders. Elder Wheiler talked about how we need to work together in order for us to be able to do the work that the Lord has prepared. I know what we all think that missionaries are called to just do the work and we will come to the baptisms but while I have been here I realized that we can't do anything without the help of members. If we just do the work then when we leave so do our converts. But if members bring their friends to church and share with them what has brought them joy, they will accept the Gospel so much better then if a 22 year-old girl from America with broken Russian tries to do the same thing. It means so much more when you hear it from someone you know and trust then from a stranger on the street. I know that we have the Lord on our side and He is always with us so that we can teach His truth but when we are gone these knew members need someone to lean on. In my talk, I talked about how much power members have. They think that what they say doesn't matter. But I know it does. I have watched as member have worked with people for years and finally in the end they are able to help their friends receive the full and ever lasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great conference and the Stake President gave an amazing talk about bringing them to the temple. All in all church was amazing yesterday!

Well I should probably get going but I love you all so so so much! And I hope that everything goes well. Good luck this week in the Marathon! I hope that it cools down for ya.

Love,
Sister Larsen

Back to the Temple...in Ukraine!

2010-09-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Good morning and thank you for all of the mail! I loved all of the pictures and it looks like you are all having so much fun! I am glad that C-wood killed Murry and that Roy won. Good for Terry. The family looks good and tell them all happy birthday for me and Congrats. I swear you haven't taken much of a break since I left. I feel like you are all just constantly running at high speed. I hope you get to take a little time out in Lake Powell.

Mom, I am so glad that you are doing well and I am so proud of you and Brynn for running 20 miles!! I talked to a member here last night that mentioned that she had fought cancer and we were talking about some of the side effects and everything. She said that it really wasn't too bad but that she just got tired. But it sounds like you are hanging in there! I can't believe that it is already that time again for the race. I am way excited for you guys! I hope you get to find some Mom time in these last 3 days and get some of the stuff done that you wanted.I will for sure tell Svetlana hi for you! That reminds me I need to call her tonight.

Dad, sounds like you gave a really powerful talk. (edit) But I am glad that your talk went well. It sounds like everyone really liked it. How is the working out coming along? I am doing pretty good, minus the candy bars and the cookies that everyone gives us... but I have a new goal. I am afraid to see what Jenny would say to that big dress. It might even be fun to see just a picture of the bad boy again.

Brynn, Hey sis sounds like you are staying pretty busy! It sounds like you need a change of scenery. I know that whenever I am in an area for a long time I get really ready to move just to see something new...............

Chase and Ashley, how is school going for you guys? How are your kids doing Ash? Are they pretty well behaved? You guys will have to let me know. I got the picture of Chase in his scrubs, lookin good!

Jenny, It looks and sounds like you are having a ball and that you are staying pretty busy. I hope that everything is going well and that you are making some good friends. How are you liking American Football? That was always my favorite season! I hope that you are enjoying it and I can't wait to meet you!

Alright so here is a run down on the highlights of this week. It has been another whirlwind week that has flown by! I feel like I just wrote you. So we had a lot of really good meetings this week, zone conference, and a session at the TEMPLE!!! I can't explain how amazing it was, but I guess I will have to try.

We gave up half of our pday in order to take the time to go to the temple on Friday and it was worth a lot more then that. As we sat outside and waited we talked and looked in awe at the amazing building towering above us. The temple president came out and gave us some words of wisdom and some very inspiring thoughts that really helped me to focus on the meaning of the temple as I sat through the session. Also as we dressed and I waited for my companion in the hall I watched all of the workers scurrying around trying to get everything in order but there really was such an amazing feeling because 3 weeks ago there were hordes of people there and now it is a sacred house of the Lord. I cried as I remember the time I had spent there before my mission and I am so thankful for the love that I have for the temple. I think a lot of that comes because of the example of my parents. I realized something that I think is really important this time. These last few weeks I have been really concerned about what I need to do when I get home and as I sat after the session I realized that the Lord will direct us if we really dedicate our lives to Him. I realized that I might be able to do a lot on my own but I can't do what He wants me to do with out him. I loved being there and I don't know when we will get to go back but I hope it will be soon.

Zone conference was also really good. We have moved everything to a monthly schedule and not a transfer schedule so we will only be having zone conference every other month.. bummer. I really love zone conference. But we starting working on part of the training that we got last week. It was really great to practice and get ideas from each other and then we went out and worked. I love this work so much and I am starting to get bugged whenever something like lunch stops me from working... I hope I am not getting too weird. I should probably cool it a little.. ha. But Sister Zenger is doing amazing. She is catching on really fast and she is always so positive. I don't think I have heard her complain once and I have had her running almost all day everyday. It is kinda just how things have worked out, I promise I am not trying to run her out. She is great though and a really good missionary. She has a strong testimony and you can tell that she really wants to work. She is a lot of fun!

So we met with one of our temple referrals this last week and it was pretty amazing. She name is Luvbov, It means love, and she came to church last week. We met with her during the week and she loved every minute of our meeting. It was a lot of fun meeting with her and I think that she will do great. Also another one of our temple referrals stopped drinking coffee and tea after our last meeting and she has really enjoyed the Book of Mormon.

Well I just found out that I am not going to Bulgaria this week I will be going in October so I guess we will see what happens with my visa stuff. But I gotta jet! I love you all so much and I hope that all is well! My prayers are with you!

Sister Larsen

PS. I don't think that Sis. Walker told her mom yet but she said she would today... Thanks for checking on that. And thanks for the box of Reese's bars. Man they were amazing!

FALL IS HERE!!!!!

2010-09-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!!

Thank you thank you for all of your emails! I love you all so much and I loved all the emails. I really loved the Farrellisms but I have all of my mail get forwarded to my home email and I guess it didn't make it because of the mouth that grandpa had. Maybe try and avoid sending anymore Farrellisms, or anything like it, because this is a filtered email system and I could lose my email privileges if it keeps happening... but I loved them ha.

Mom, to answer your questions, I was talking with Sister Walker and I think that we might want to live together. Maybe either at that place or maybe at Bellmont. We kinda want our own rooms if that is possible. Mostly we don't really care as long as it is clean and if there is a chance that I will have a car it would be nice to have a parking spot. Maybe talk to her mom and see what you think is best. It might be nice just to lock something down and then not have to worry about it. Thank you for your email. It really was a spiritual pick-me upper. I love reading about how you have come to realize truths about life and about the eternal scheme of things. It helps me to think of things that people really are searching for and helps me to know how to help them. I am glad that everything went well this week and that you are still feeling pretty good. And I am so glad that you are enjoying those little notes. I really hope that they give you just the right amount of energy that you need.

Dad, I loved reading your outline. I don't think that anyone can judge you for saying the truth. They may not like it because they are guilty of it but one thing I have learned is that you have to give them all of the truth and not just the sugar coated part because if you don't give them all the truth then it isn't from God. Also you might want to look at the chapter in "Jesus the Christ" about Apostasy and how a lot of it started from the inside of the church to the outside. I think it is Chapter 40. When I read it I thought about your talk and thought that you might find something that could help. By the way I am glad that there were no injuries at BBall... ha

Brynn, I am so so so happy that your wedding went well. It sounds like it was a killer job. Did you take any pictures? You will have to send some when you get a minute. It sounds like you have been pretty pooped lately. How is getting ready for the marathon. I think that Sister Walker and I are going to try and run with you guys when we get home. Maybe having her in Provo will help me to train a little better ha. What do you have going on this next week? anything new? Tell Jamie-jella-beana that I say hi!

Chase and Ashley, It sounds like you are all doing amazing! I guess you start school this next week! good luck to both of you! It will be so much fun! Mom and Dad said that they got to talk to you on Skype! It sounds like you have had some pretty fun experiences already. I can't wait to hear more about everything. Btw, keep an eye out for a really smart, cute, funny guy... just in case....

Jenny, I was so happy to get your email and to hear all about your experiences this last week. It sounds like everyone is being really nice and that things are going well. I have heard so much about you and wish that we could meet sooner but time will fly. Congrats on being in the school play! That should be a really fun experience for you! The best part about Cottonwood is being involved in as much as you can. That is what will make this experience memorable.

Alright so to answer mom's second question.. I think it would be cool if you used Svetlana's story. She was my first convert and an experience that shaped my whole mission. I couldn't understand a lot but I felt the spirit so so strong and I know that she did too. As she was investigating the church she was embraced by the members and they will never ever let her fall too far away. Maybe you can used part of one of my first letter's about when we gave her the baptismal date and then about when I saw her in the temple with her family during the open house. Or maybe something from this letter.

So this last week has been really interesting. I spent almost all of the week in Borshigovka with Sister Robinson and Murphy as we waited for our companions to arrive and we had training every day from 9-5. It was like a mini MTC and it was amazing! We have started to change the way that we use PMG and I love it! I have been wondering why I have been teaching the way that I have for the last 14 months! We have started a new way of asking questions that really make us listen to the people that we are teaching. In short it just helps us to see the concerns of our investigators that we can know how to really help them rather then just hearing something that we have heard a million times and trying to fix it right at the beginning. The whole training got me pumped and ready to work! It was a really great start to this transfer because as a mission we have receive over 600 referrals from the temple that are not members of our church. Out of the 13,000 people that visited the open house that is a pretty good number of referrals. Our area received the highest number of referrals and of course I haven't been there for about a month. To add to it. Next week I have to go to Bulgaria to renew my Visa! I will be there from Tuesday to Thursday...

So Saturday night we got our new companions. My companion's name is Sister Zenger and she is from St. Louis. Crazy thing is she and her mom have been reading my blog for awhile. It is crazy that my blog is actually being read ha! But she is super cute and so ready to work. I feel bad because she had to sit through 8 hours of church meetings yesterday and I remember how tired you feel after that flight. But her Russian is pretty dang good. She was talking to the members a lot more then I was my first day! She was laughing and having a good time. We also had a really amazing meeting with a member that lives here and her husband lives in Iran. I think she is feeling kinda lonely so we went over and had fun talking with her and playing with her son. They are a really amazing family and I think it was a good first meeting for Sister Zenger. She participated a lot more then I expected her to so I think we will be okay. It is kinda overwhelming a little to think that all of the work is sitting on my shoulders and I am a little stressed. We have a lot of work to do to catch up on all of these referrals and to get things moving with that.

Quick little story because I want to boast to my family. So I got pick-pocketed on the bus and my phone got stolen. The church reported it and the police actually found it so I spent a few hours in the police station trying to file a report. When I first got there the guy didn't believe that I had only been here for a year and couldn't understand why me Russian was so good so he took my passport and started questioning me about where I had been, who I lived with and why I was here. Then he said that no one learns Russian that well and that he didn't believe me. I felt kinda proud of myself, but I know that my Russian still isn't perfect. [Editor's note: Brooke wanted me to leave this out of here post because she didn't want to brag, but as her dad, I will brag for her.]

Well I got to head out. I love you all. Have a great week! Tell the Winder 9th that I say hi and send my love! Sorry I didn't have time to send a note!

Love Sister Larsen

Transfers, Celebrations and Dedications!

2010-08-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!

Thank you so much for the emails and the updates on everything! I don't think words can explain what a crazy amazing week it was but I guess I will have to try.

Mom, I am so so so glad that treatment is going well. And congrats on 20 miles. I was just thinking yesterday about how I need to get me fat bottom up and start running. But it is starting to get cooler so my motivation is getting lower to get outside in the mornings. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the papers and especially the jokes ha. I knew that you would like those. by the way thank you for continuing to put those names in the temple! I know that prayers are always a huge help.

Dad, Check you out fighting with the Apache's.. Please be careful ha. It sounds like you all had a packed week and that you are all really enjoying having Jenny around! I hope that she really liked temple square! Every day I picture in my mind that temple and I can't wait to be there again. I hope she felt the love that I have felt when I have been there. It is just a really special place. When you were counting down my time you forgot about Halloween... it is somewhere in there too. haha. Have you still been swimming in the mornings? I have decided for this transfer to try and cut out all the candy that I have been eating. I think I have said that every transfer but this transfer I really will do it. Maybe we can do it together?

Brynn, Brown Chicken Brown Cow!! Check you out! It sounds like you made some killer decorations! I love that everything was gold and glittery for the EQ appreciation night hahaha. I bet all of the men loved the gold cow horns ha. I love it! I can't wait to see what you come up with for our shop! Good luck this week with that wedding. You will have to send me pictures when you get done!

Chase and Ashley, How was D.C.? Ash how is your family doing? It sounds like you summer is starting to wind down. Good luck this week with orientation and classes that you have. I am excited to hear how your first few days go in School.

Jenny, Hey how are you holding up? It sounds like my parents have you running none stop, but they say you are having fun and keeping up with everyone. How are classes going? Do you like Cottonwood? Have you made some good friends? Also how did you like being a real cowgirl? Keep me updated when you can on how things are in Salt Lake.

So I guess I will start from the beginning of the week and work my way down.

Tuesday we got all moved into our new apartment after going to see one of our investigators who was in the hospital after an accident. She is doing pretty good but she is pretty beat up on the outside. I think that everything will be okay though.

Wednesday we had a regular day of work and we went around to some of our members and investigators to do some final lessons with Sister Podvodova because we had a feeling that she would get transferred. We did some final inviting to the cultural event and we met with one of our recent converts and had a lesson with her.

Thursday we found out that Sister Podvodova really was going to get transferred and so we planned over a big bowl of ice cream and chocolate ha. I was really sad to actually hear that she was getting transferred. We have had a lot of fun together. We also had some really great lessons with our investigators.

Friday we had another interview with a guy from the MormonChannel. I think you can listen to in on the church website. But it will be a story on the Ukraine temple that will air I think in late September or October. It should be really really good though! Then we went back home and I planned while Sister Podvodova got her bags together. We also had some good lessons in the evening with a less active and an investigator. Also the Groupman's did a musical fireside. They are a couple that live in Utah and the husband taught or teaches at BYU. They both play the Violin like angels. It was really amazing and it really helped some of our investigators get some answers to their questions and concerns.

Saturday, transfers... I found out that I will be training!!!! Dang... I am a little nervous. The new missionaries still haven't come yet so I have kinda been a floating Sister for the last few days. There are 3 of us that will be training and only one of the sisters is a Russian speaker so right now I am in a threesome with 2 Ukrainian speakers that have to put up with my Russian all week. We have a huge training this week for all of the leaders and trainers because they are changing some of the teaching methods for missionaries and then our missionaries will come on Saturday. So I will be out of my area all week and be back in my first area again.

Finally the good stuff-- Saturday night was the cultural event!! It was amazing! There were members from 8 different countries that came to preform for us! And they all did amazing. They prophet spoke about how we should always remember that night and the things that we say and heard there. He even sat down at the piano and played for us a few numbers! By the end of the celebration I was in tears because I just felt so much love for this mission and for these members! I just thought how lucky I am to be here and to be a part of all of this. Towards the beginning the Choir sang Hark all ye Nations and they had all of the missionaries come up onto the stage. As we stood there the whole audience stood and gave us a standing ovation, including the prophet. I know that I personally have not made the greatest impact but it hit me that each one of those people had been found taught and baptized by missionaries. there are very few members that have been born into the church and even if they were baptized when they were 8, they were taught be the missionaries when they were 4 or 5. I felt the love that this people has for "their" missionaries. They weren't applauding us but they were applauding missionaries in general, all over the world. It felt good to be a missionary.

The last performance was Ukraine! I felt so much pride and love as they did their cultural dance! They did amazing! Everything was perfect and I couldn't help but just feel so happy and alive! I love Ukraine and Ukrainians and I can't wait for you all to come and meet the people that have shown me so much love these last 13 months.

Yesterday was the dedication and we were allowed to watch all 3 sessions! I can't believe that there are members sitting in the temple now serving their Lord! I am still in shock that all of it is over and that there really is a house of the Lord here in Ukraine! Each of the General authorities spoke (pres. Monson, Pres. Uchtdorf, and Elder Nelson) and a lot of the members and members of the 70ty. It was all so amazing and it really was a historical moment in our history. They talked a lot about developing characteristics of the Lord while we are serving Him, and they spoke a lot to those that would be working in the temple. I cried most of all of the sessions, I think most people did ha.

But no I didn't get to meet any of them. A lot of the elders came to help clean the temple to get ready for work this morning and they got to shake the prophets hand but we never got the chance. We all watched a broadcast in Center so we were a ways away. I talked to Carole and we did an interview with her on Camera and she said that she will interview you guys and it will all kinda be together. My guess is that it will air around conference, so keep your eyes open.

And to answer some of the questions I have left out. It is getting cooler here and the trees are already changing and leaves are falling. I think fall is here to stay after a killer few weeks of really really stinking hot! We survived the heat because we were in the chapel during the open house but I know that the elders are a lot tanner then they were a few weeks ago ha. I spent the last 2 days with Sister Clark before she headed back down to Odessa. She is without a companion too because they are trying to find her a mini missionary. Also Sister Walker and Sister Podvodova will now be serving in the next area over. They got white-washed in, so it should be an adventure for them.

Well I should probably get going. I hope that was enough info for you guys! I don't think that I can really explain through email how amazing it all was and I know I didn't do it justice. I hope you all have an amazing week! Good luck with everything and have fun in St. George!

Love,
Sister Larsen

One last thing is that President has now clarified that we can no longer email friends. We can only use email to write to the President and our families so if anyone asks we can get mail but we can't write back. Thanks a bunch!

I can't believe the Temple Open House is over!

2010-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone and Welcome Jenny!!

Thank you so much of all of the emails and the pictures. I got all of them! I also received a package from mom a week ago. It had stuff for oreos and such. Thanks a bunch. There was something about gift cards written but we didn't get them. I don't know if you put them in the box or not but they didn't make it. The box didn't look like anyone had gotten into it. I just wanted to check so that if you did send it that we would know for the future. I am glad that all of your week went well. It sounds like you are all so busy and doing well.

Dad, It sounds like you are so tired and that you might have to take some time and teach Jenny how to golf before it gets cold. She might already know but it might be some good R and R with the girls. What is going on in Bermuda? Sounds like you have a crazy few months coming up with work and church. How were the meetings with Elder Hales? That sounds like it was pretty eventful! How is your German? It sounds like you may not need it as much but I bet it is fun to chat every now and then. I am doing good by way of money and I think I should be okay until the end of my mission.

Mom, I am so happy that your first week went well of radiation. And I am glad that you are keeping your running up. You will have to let me know how being back at cottonwood felt. How is your business coming along? Have you had any time to even think about it? I really enjoy hearing about what thoughts you have read ha. Also I saw Carole on Saturday and she gave me a great big hug and said it was from you. We didn't have a lot of time but we talked for a few minutes and she said that you are all doing great. Thanks for doing all that stuff for me for school. I can register here I think I just need to know what day I can register. I think it will be easier because I need really certain classes and I might try and do a double major with Russian, I don't really know yet we will see.

Brynn, I am glad to hear you are staying busy. One thing I have realized is that life never really slows down, we just changed what we are doing a little. I think Larsen's only have one speed and that is busy. It will be fun to have Jenny around, it sounds like you guys have already hit things off! I hope that things get a little better this week and that you can get used to juggling everything. You have always been good at being able to do everything but know that you need to sleep sometime in there as well.

Chase and Ashley, I loved hearing about all of your adventures. I am so so so excited for you and it seems like you are already enjoying the new people and new experiences. It sounds like you are in the perfect place, an hour from the beach, close to your schools and not to far from the temple. I would say you are pretty lucky. I am glad that you have already met so many good people. Chase I completely relate to what you wrote about. I have to say a little prayer when I know that someone knew is coming.

Jenny, Welcome! I am so sad that I wasn't there to welcome you in person but I am sure that the family did a good job of that! I hear that you have had a packed first few days. I promise our lives aren't always crazy. I hope that you have an amazing first day at Cottonwood. I went to that school and loved it! I hope you will have fun there and that you will make some good friends today! Good luck and have fun!

So after 3 really busy weeks we are finally starting to do missionary work again. While we were at the temple we had to be hostesses and not really missionaries. It was hard not to answer every question with my testimony of what I truly believe but we had to answer with straight facts. I don't know if I really succeeded. It is hard to talk about something you love so much with out sharing how much you love it. Well in short it was amazing and I am way tired. It was a different kind of work to stand all day and not teach but now we are in the process of contacting all of those people and meeting with them! So the fun has just started.

In this last week at the temple there were a lot of people! Many of which have family members or friends that are members and are now sincerely interested in learning about the church. Being at the temple open house was amazing and it brought be back to the beginning of my mission. It was amazing to be in that room when people came through after their tours. I saw return missionaries be reunited with converts and old investigators and members reunited with life long friends that they haven't seen in years. It was amazing to see the pride on the members faces and the happiness when they brought their friends and family members. It was great to feel their fire and love for the gospel and for the temple. There is one family that I have been very close to my entire mission from Borshgovka. The mom and her daughter and her daughter's family are all members but the husband is not. The husband lives the laws of the gospel but for some reason will not get baptized. We met with them several times while I was working there and he started to read the Book of Mormon but still had no desire. We talked to him so many times about the blessings of the temple and how families can be together but it seemed like it didn't effect him. Well he went through the temple twice and the last night he decided that he wanted to go through again. His daughter has no idea what has come over him but she said that she feels his heart is softening.

Also my first convert who has completely separated herself from the church came the very last night of the open house. I called her so many times but to be honest I had lost hope in seeing her there. Our last night after our last shift there we went on a tour. At the end of the tour our guide was held up as we were waiting to leave the temple and another group came up behind us. Svetlana came up from the back of the group and gave me the biggest hug. I have never seen her so happy! Her husband was also there and the last thing I had hear was that she had left him and was having serious problems. At the end of the tour I sat with her for a few minutes. She still has a lot of problems and a lot of things to get back into order but she was reminded of that spirit that she felt before her baptism. All of her family that was there felt the power of the spirit and they all expressed desire to return there. I love this work so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity to work along side of the Lord. I know that the temple will bring power to these people and will bring those back that were lost. But we can't let them forget that spirit, we can't lose them.

And finally there was a woman that we had been meeting with for several weeks who when we asked if she wanted to know more about us or our church she said that she believed in God and that was all that she needed so we continued to teach her English with out the spiritual thoughts. On Saturday after our English practice I felt prompted to invite her one last time to the temple. She said that if her plans changed she would come. Well we walked out of the church after our meeting with her and she called and said her plans had changed and she needed directions. We told her how to get there and we were there when she came through at the end of the tour. She said that she loved it and she had no idea that we were Christians! She said that the whole time she was in there she kept thinking, "I have got to talk to my girls about this." She said that next lesson she wants us to start from the beginning and she wants to know more. She also wants to find someone to be sealed to in the temple.

These are just a few of the stories that have happened this past week and I feel so blessed that I have been able to be here to see people feel the Love of Christ in His House. Carole was here and I am so happy that she is writing a story about the temple. She interviewed us about the work and about the people. It was fun to talk to her. We might meet up again this week to do a little more on the missionary work here and the missionaries. She is a really great woman.

As to the Authorities of the church coming, I am not sure. I know that they will be at the cultural even on Saturday and then the dedication on Sunday. I don't think we will have an opportunity to meet them but it will be great to see them on Saturday. Sunday we will be watching the dedication from our church building here in center. We get to watch all 3 sessions, and we actually have transfers this Saturday and I will probably be saying goodbye to cute sister P. She will be heading out to her second area and I will be holding the fort down here in Kyiv. Well I should get going but I love you all so much and I hope that everything is going well!
I love you so so so much! Have a really great week!

Love,
Sister Larsen

PS. It is cooler, our fleas are gone and we should be moving tomorrow :D. I think I got all of your questions.

Open House Madness!

2010-08-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!

Thanks for all the emails! It sounds like everyone is doing really great and that things are still changing. As time is flying by I am starting to get nervous to come home because I feel like there has been a constant change since I left. Not that change is bad, it is just different, and I am excited for all of your adventures.

Dad, Congrats again!!! I am so proud of you! Yesterday we talked about being an honest person in all aspects of our lives and I used you as an example of someone that can go far and can create a reputation for being a trust worthy person. You are truly one of America's Best! That is crazy about the mine being that hot, and I thought it was hot here! I hope that you can always remember your college that gave the Indians a place to go to the bath room and some snacks as they were protesting. That story always makes me smile.

Mom, I am so happy that you got my package. I think that there are now more papers then days but I guess you can figure out how many days you can take out 2 when you really need it. I am glad that the first few days of radiation have gone pretty well. It seems like they are taking really good care of you! That is so crazy that Jenny is already coming this week. I feel like I just found out yesterday that she would be coming.

Brynn, Dang that is a bummer about that one kid but hey things will work out just the way that they should. Don't get discouraged. I hear you have a ton of flowers and work right now. Also Congrats on the 19 miles!!! That is pretty big! When I think about running that much my stomach turns over!

Chase and Ashley, I am glad that you got settled okay and that your ward was pretty welcoming. That is always a good feeling when people notice that you are new and welcome you with a smile. You never know how the members are going to react and you just say a little prayer that they will feel comfortable. I am jealous that you got to go to Kirkland and the Sacred Grove. I have really had the desire to go there since I have been out here. It is so close and we just don't take advantage of it. Keep me updated on what's going on.

So we are one week into the open house with one more week to go. Total so far we have had about 5,000 people that have been through the temple. Many of them have been members but a lot of them have brought their friends. There was a bus that came from Odessa for a day and also from Harkov and Donyetsk. Sister Movchanyuk (My trainer) is here and she will be here until the end of August. It was good to see her, but also weird because she is still Sister Movchanyuk to me.

We have spent most of this past week at the temple again. We usually have 4 sisters there all the time and we trade off but we have been there almost everyday. During the week it is a little slower but Saturday it was pure organized madness. There were 1,700 just Saturday alone. We were able to meet a lot of really interesting people and a lot of people we saw for the second time because they brought their friends and family. We haven't really been able to teach anyone that has been yet but one woman came to church yesterday and really loved it. She couldn't hear a lot but what she did hear she loved. I also have been learning a little Russian Sign Language. We have a family in our ward that is deaf and so we have all been trying to learn so that we can talk to them a little. I was so grateful for the little bit that I have learned because yesterday a group of deaf people came and I was able to talk with them a little. I didn't understand a lot of it but they were very patient with me and we wrote a lot of the time. They were just happy that we were willing to try and talk with them. I hope that we can get in touch with them soon. All of the contact information that we get goes first to the office and then we receive the information in order to contact them if they said that they wanted to be contacted. I am excited to start talking to those people that are ready.

This week has also been really hot here. It has been mostly in the 40's which I know is really really hot. I know in the sun one day someone told me it was 47 but that just seems unreal. I was happy when we were in the air conditioned room in the chapel. I heard that this week it should stay in the 30's and get cooler from here on out. I hope that it does, because most places here don't have air conditioning.

So this next week will be more temple and lucky us we get to look for a new apartment again. We are having some problems with our apartment now and so we have to move. It is not fun looking for apartments while on a mission because first of all it is stressful and second of all we are not natives and so we have all kinds of laws that we have to follow. I don't want to move but it is very necessary. Don't Post This... We got fleas!!! I don't really know how it happened but some how our apartment has been infested with fleas. We had them fumigated this past week and we are now trying to move because I guess our apartment breaks all kinds of rules. We live by the elevator so they think that a few jumped off a dog and into our apartment as we were walking in. It has been pretty bad the last few weeks and I have been covered in bug bites. It was pretty funny through all of it because my companion would always pray for our "friends" to die! Two nights ago we slept for the first night without getting eaten alive and we said, "Sister I can really feel that we are alone, isn't it great?" Then she prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for killing our "friends." I laughed so hard! She is so funny! So yeah that is the biggest reason why we are moving.

Well I should probably get going. Today is not officially our P-day because we were working at the temple but I love you all and I am so happy that all is well. Good luck with everything this week and give Jenny a hug hello for me and wish her luck on her first day of school. I love and miss you so much.

Love,
Sister Larsen

My all time favorite scripture is Eccl. 3: 1-8, 11. But my favorite Missionary scripture is Moroni 7:33. I don't know which one they are asking for so I guess you can pick.

It is finally here! The Ukraine Temple

2010-08-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
It sounds like you all had a pretty emotional week! It sounds like you got Chase and Ashley off on the road and that things are almost in one piece still at the house! I wish there was something more that I could say that would cheer you all up a little. Although it was a hard week it sounds like you had some fun moments in there too!

Mom, I hope that you know that you don't always have to be so strong. You can cry every now and then and no one will hold it against you! It sounds like Ellie got everything that she deserved. I have been telling my English students everything that Ellie does each week and every week they ask about my crazy dogs! I keep hoping that I won't have any stories to tell them but they really enjoy them. but mom, take some time for yourself. I know you have been strong for all of us but maybe let us be strong for you for a little! I sent you a little present that I really hope gets to you soon. It is to help you on the hard days and make the easy days maybe a little easier. It was the only thing that I could I felt like I could do to help so I hope that you find some comfort, inspiration, or laughter in it!

Dad, you are great! I don't know how both of you do it but you both seem to get all the work done and still have so much time to spend with us. I swear there are 2 of each of you! I am trying my best to get everyone baptized here but I keep running into this thing called free will. I guess Heavenly father has a greater plan for all of us that we just have to trust in. I talked with President and he said that if you guys really wanted to come for the dedication you can. He is okay with it but we probably won't be able to meet at all, because whatever the first presidency says goes. Think about it...

Brynn, I am so glad that things are going well and that you are feeling better. I am glad that the weddings went well and that you felt good about all of it. I can't wait to get to work with you again. How has it been working with Carly? Is she a good worker? I am so glad that things aren't awkward with Ben. It sounds like you are both handling it pretty well.

Chase and Ashley, I heard that you guys are writing a blog worth reading! How is the drive going? I am sure you have had a few good laughs and cries by this point. So that I don't cry when things go crazy I always think about the journal entry I can write that night and how my kids are going to react when they read about some of the experiences I have had. I am sure that when everything is said and done you will look back and really laugh!

So I am going to start out by saying that my shifts aren't working really well and my pinkies are starting to hurt so if a letter isn't capitalized don't hate me.

this week has been a really long exciting tiring week. we spent almost all day every day at the temple for VIP and media open houses. It was really interesting to see how the people reacted when they came through at the end of the tours. Our role is to stand in the room at the end of the tour in the chapel with the refreshments. we are not really allowed to teach or to go up to people so we really just kinda stand around and wait for people to ask us questions. we are allowed just to talk to people like normal people ha. We can ask them how the tour was, what they liked and didn't liked. It has been fun because we have been able to answer a lot of questions.

The VIP tours were a little quieter and really nice. There were a few military people that came through and really enjoyed it! Also a judge that is a pretty big deal here came and loved it! She went through with a group and they sat and talked about it for quite a while after the tour ended. I think there were some people from the government and there was a huge group from the media here. All of the general Authorities for the Eastern Europe area were here leading the tours and they answered a lot of the questions on those days. It was a little nerve racking meeting all of the members of the 70 from this area.

On Saturday there were about 1,200 People that came through and loved it. Many people asked when we have meetings and when we can meet with them. I am excited for these next few days to see how many people come and to see what there reactions are. We did have a few protesters of course but they haven't been much of a disturbance. They have their right to say what they think just as well as we do. They have been pretty quiet and nice about it. I respect them a lot for not being rude and mean.

This next week we will be in our area a little more which will be nice since we didn't really have very many meetings last week. We will be at the temple almost every day but not all day. I hope that we get to get more meetings in. We met with Liliya this week and she doesn't seem to scared to try again. To be honest I think she forgot all about it! It will be interesting to meet with her this week and talk about going for it again. Galina hasn't been seen or heard from since a few weeks ago. I think she has been drunk since that day. It is so sad but I hope that some day her time will come because she really knows it is true.

Well my time is almost up. I love you all so much and i hope that all goes well this week. Mom good luck with radiation. Know that our prayers are with you! I love you all and miss you so much!

Love,
Sister Larsen

August is here and the Temple is done!

2010-08-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

I am so happy that Mom doesn't have to have Chemo!!!! I already thought that it was for sure that it wasn't going to happen so I was already not worried about it but still happy to hear! Second, I can't believe that it is already August! It feels like time is flying by! I also got an email from Carole Makita and I emailed her back. Also I talked with the office about doing the interview and they asked if I would feel comfortable doing that so I think they also got an email from her! She should be here on the 20-30th of August so she will be at the end of the open house and get some of the reactions after the temple is already open and working!

Mom, Again I am so so so happy for you and I wish you the very best this week as you start Radiation! I hope that you don't get to tired and that everything goes really well! I am happy that you got to go for a long run even though you were pretty tired! It sounds like you are getting back to your old self and that life is still crazy! I hope that this morning you will get to take a few minutes and get some rest before this week comes again. By the way that dad explained it, it sounds like you have another packed week ahead!

Dad, I am glad to hear that surgery went well and that everything good and healthy. It sounds like you have a lot of really big cases that take a lot of time too! Also that is way cool about the concert in Deer Valley. It sounds like PBL has changed a lot thanks to the good lawyers there! I bet it was great to get to sit so close to the first presidency! Good luck this week with all of your depositions, work and more work! Yes I got the card to work and I am doing good money wise.

Brynn, I am glad that you had such a great week! It sounds like the flowers are keeping you really busy! That is crazy that Chelsea is getting married! You will have to tell her congrats and hi from me! I want to see pictures of all of these weddings. I am glad that your flirting is getting better! I might need the help when I get home. I haven't even tried in so long that I don't think I even know how. Whenever a guy talks to me I just look straight ahead or I start to feel really awkward and just give them the elders' number and run away haha. It should be interesting in a few months ha. I have gotten back to my sleep pattern for the most part and I hope that you have too! Getting so tired that you can't keep your eyes open really helps.

Chase and Ashley, This is your big week! The move is coming so fast! I can't even believe that summer is almost over! What day does school start for both of you? How was the BBQ yesterday? You guys are gonna have so much fun! Enjoy every minute of it because you are never going to be at this point of your lives again.

So this week has been very fun and very eventful. We were working at the temple all day on Saturday and I can't believe that it really is done! We had a training for all of those leading the tours and how we need to answer questions. The Open house will be different from the ones that I have been too in Utah. Normally in Utah we watched a movie and then we just kinda walked through the temple in one huge line. Here they have set it up so that you are in groups of about 15 or less with tour guides that explain a little about the rooms. All of the guides are members and it is usually in Ukrainian. We (Sisters) are stationed at the table of books in the concessions room. We stand at this table and answer questions once the tours end.

Saturday was for all of the workers and their families that have been working on the temple the last 3 years. It was interesting because we had about 200 people that came and a lot of them were families! Most of the if not all came very nicely dressed, in slacks and the women were in dresses for the most part! I was really surprised that they had noticed the way that we dressed and they tried to dress like us! It was really great! We answered a lot of questions and a lot of people really enjoyed the tours, the temple and a lot asked for Copies of the Book of Mormon! I think we gave out more of them then anything else! It was great! As the night slowed down one of the couple missionaries told us that we should go through with one of the last tours so we did! We got to see the whole temple and it is absolutely amazing! It really is the Ukraine Kiev Temple! Even though it wasn't dedicated you really could feel the spirit so strongly. These members have waited for so long and to see them just stand it awe at the base reminded me that the Lord really does provide for His saints!

This next we we don't really know how much we will be at the temple. It really depends on the members and how much they can be there. This week we have an open house for the neighbors of the temple, the media and for those from the Government and dignitaries. It should be interesting to see who comes and to see the reactions of this first group of visitors. I don't know how you could leave that place with a bad feeling even if you tried so I think it will go well!

This week we were really trying to work with the members and those who are less active to help them to come and to bring their friends. We have also started a new schedule where we are out at 8:00 in the mornings and then we come back to do study in the late morning/ afternoon. It has been interesting because we can't find anyone that wants to meet us that early so we spend a lot of our mornings contacting around the metros and walking around the city. We have definitely learned the city a lot better!

Well we should probably get going! Sorry I forgot to get a picture of the temple this week but I will for sure send some next week! I am glad that everyone is doing well. I love you and miss you!

Love, Sister Larsen

One week to go until the Temple Open House!!!!

2010-07-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!!

Hey family! Man it was good to see pictures of Lake Powell and to hear how the week was! It sounds like you are all doing well, even my accident prone dad! I am sorry about your fingers! I hope that everything is okay!

Mom, I hope everything goes well with the doctors this week. What is the radiation treatment suppose to be like? What are the side effects and the process of the whole thing? I know what Chemo does but I am not really sure what Radiation does? I am glad that you are feeling better! Everyone here sends their love. I am excited for you to get to do some projects for yourself for once. I want to see pictures of skirts that you make for yourself. That is cool about the pillow idea, I am sure that they are deeply appreciated! I have made a goal for when I get home to go to the temple every week! I really don't think there is anything better! I feel like it has been so long since I have been there that I have forgotten everything! I am excited that in about a month we will be able to go!!

Dad, How are your fingers doing? I am guessing that you have taped them together and they will heal just fine right? I hope so! How is the swimming going in the mornings? Are you guys still going every day? It has been so hot here it has been painful to workout in the mornings! I have to really remind myself that I only have 5 more months to get back into shape! I think it will be a real challenge!

Brynn, I am so happy to hear that you are back to your funny self! It sounds like you guys all had a lot of fun down in Powell! I am glad you all got to spend some time together! I feel like the summer is pretty much over too! I swear each year fall comes a lot faster then the year before! I have told Sister Podvodova all about Powell, the Tube and everything that comes with it and she made me promise her that when she comes to visit that we will take her!

Chase and Ashley, I loved the pictures of your new city! It looks like a lot of fun and you have a lot of stuff really close by! I might have to come live with you guys next summer ;). That drive sounds really long but I am sure that you can make it fun! I bet you can find that aqua CD somewhere and listen to that the whole way there! I hope that the drive goes well and that get a few last fun things in before you go!

So this last week was a pretty normal week. We worked really hard and we had a lot of lessons! One of our craziest lessons was a woman that really wants to be baptized but she doesn't want to meet with us, read the Book of Mormon or the Bible for that matter, come to church, or make friends with any of the members... I still don't really understand why? She said that she just likes it here but she doesn't really care if it is true or not. The first time we met with her she seemed pretty normal and she wanted to get baptized so we gave her a date, later that week she didn't show up for our meeting and then she came to church on Sunday and said that she didn't want to come. Again she didn't come to our meeting and church so we just figured that was it with her. Well she called us and wondered how her baptism was going to work on Saturday if there was a service project in the morning. We were really surprised because we had only met with her twice. We decided to meet the next day in order to talk about it. She came and then she got mad at me when I told her that we would have to push her baptism back a few weeks! She asked why she couldn't just pay us and get baptized and then everyone would be happy! We tried to explain to her that it doesn't work that way. She didn't want to listen so she said that she would come to church by her self and find people that would baptize her for money! I was so confused by the end of the lesson! She came to church yesterday and was mad as a hornet! She wouldn't even say hi to us! I just smiled and told her to have a great day, I couldn't think of anything else to do!

This week was also full of a lot of really great meetings. We met a woman a few weeks ago named Jonna. She is awesome! Her husband found the church in prison and asked her to find it here in Kiev. The elders went and bought some t-shirts from her on P-day and she started asking them questions. We went back later that week and starting teaching her little parts of the lessons while she is working. She works 7 days a week with out any days off. Her daughter lives with her mother-in-law in another part of Ukraine and she only gets to talk to her on the phone. She has had a hard life but she has really been searching. We teach her and then she teaches her husband everything that we had taught her. He will get out of prison soon and when he gets out they are all planning on coming to church, and to the temple. She asked this last week about baptism but she wants to wait until they can all be baptized together as a family! It is really get meeting wit her because you can tell that she is really searching for truth and she really wants her family and daughter to have those blessings that await them!

Last week the crystals were hung on the chandelier and the furniture is all going in at the temple! They are cleaning the grounds and the inside of the temple this week and then we have our first open house on Saturday. Sister Podvodova and I have been asked to be there and learn how to do everything and then we will train some of the other sisters and they will train the next sisters, until we all know what we are doing. Next week we have an open house for the neighbors of the temple and then the media open house. The first few open houses will be sort of practices for everyone and then the actual open house for the public starts on the 7th. We know that the weeks of the open house all of the sisters will be staying in Kiev and we will be on exchanges most of those 2 weeks so that everyone will get a chance volunteering there and our areas won't suffer too much. It should be a really packed few weeks! I am really nervous for this weekend because we will be at the end of the tour ready to answer any questions that will come. I am nervous that my Russian is not going to hold up! I am really praying that the gift of tongues will really take over and I can rely on the Lord a lot.

Well I should probably get going but I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week! You are all in my prayers every day!
Love,
Sister Larsen

Two More Weeks Until the Temple Open House!

2010-07-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

I am so happy that you had a great time in Sun Valley! I loved the pictures and I am happy that you got to see and do some new things! I CAN'T believe that Arnold really was having a party!!! That is crazy haha! I thought you were joking for most of the emails but now I am pretty convinced that he was having a party! Nothing could have been better! I also have a hard time believing that so much has changed there! I swear that place has been the same since the time it was all built, I didn't think that they would ever change it! I guess everyone has to keep up with the times! Everyone looks amazing in the pictures that you sent! (I think almost every one of those sentences had an !!, well what can I saw it is me:D.)

Mom, I am so happy that you are feeling better and that you got to run a few miles in Sun Valley! I am also so happy to hear that there is no need for chemo! I have been talking with some people, sharing my experience here learning about your cancer and it has helped people to see that life isn't always filled with sadness and heartache even when things might be a little tough. So many people have taken faith in the Lord after hearing how much faith you have! And I know that Chase and Ashley will be leaving soon but please don't get a bird!!! Remember that we can go out there when I get home and see them!

Dad, how is your case going with the oil company? I don't think I even know which side you are on? I guess the real important question is Are you having fun? It looks like Sun Valley was a lot of fun and that you had a few good rounds of golf. I am sure you dominated as always! I loved the pictures! Everyone looks really good, and really happy.

Brynn, I loved your story about the bedroom! I wish I could have been there to enjoy the moment with you! I have pictured the whole scenario and thought about how I would have reacted. I love the dress you got in SV. You look really good!

Chase and Ashley, Thanks for the email! That is crazy that you only have 3 more weeks! I am so excited for you guys. I think I say that every time but it will be such a great adventure! It sounds like you have had a good summer bonding with the fam. It is good to hear that even though you are married "you still want to do things with the fam!" I am sure that Cory and Haley will have a blast with you guys this week! By the way Chase, I think I finally understand a portion of how you felt on your mission. It is hot as ever here and I am dying! We also don't have any air-conditioning or fans so I feel like I am lying on the boat at lake Powell in the beginning of August!

So this week has been super interesting and we have really been able to feel that the open house is coming so soon. We have had a ton of journalist and reporters calling the church and some of them have been able to come to the church to take pictures and do interviews. On Thursday we met with one of the journalists for one of the biggest media companies in Ukraine and we interviewed with her. She was a young girl but she has been writing for the paper for about 7 years. The article should come out on Friday and it should be interesting to see what she writes about. She asked us a lot of questions about who we are as people and the effect that the church has had on our lives, friends, and families. It was interesting to just sit and have someone ask questions that they are really curious about and not just about the church. I realized that people don't really know who we are as people. A lot of people know we don't drink or smoke, we wait until marriage and we try to be good people but they don't know that we ARE Christians, and we are still real people. We study, hold jobs and work hard, we mingle with people around us but we try to stay strong to the covenants that we made with God. I think a lot of people think that all Mormons wear a badge, black pants white shirts and ties all the time, some do but that is because we are missionaries or maybe they work at a museum or something. Anyway, it was interesting to talk to her.

Also this week my companion was sick so we spent a few days inside so that she could sleep and get better. We couldn't figure out what it was so we finally went to the doctor and he gave her some medicine. She is feeling better today so we are looking forward to a good solid week this week. We still haven't been able to meet with Lylya the grandma that "kinda" got baptized but she comes back next week from working the last 3 weeks so hopefully she still has the desire to move forward.

Saturday the elders had 2 baptisms and it was really great. One was an 8-year-old boy and his mom was glowing. He was really happy himself because he was worried that his father wouldn't let him get baptized. The other man was a 40 year old man who has known about the church for years and he finally felt the need to be baptized. Yesterday at church he asked for a huge stack of invitations to the temple open house to give out to his neighbors. He lives in an area that no one knows about the open house and he asked if he could go door to door and personally invite everyone that lives around him! I love the spirit of recent converts!

Well I should probably get going but I love you all and I am so happy that you are all happy and healthy! Thank you for your emails, love and support! I couldn't ask for a better family! Have a good, safe week and know that I am praying for you!

Love,
Sister Larsen

One year in the rearview mirror!

2010-07-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

I love opening my mail and getting great news! I am so happy that everything went okay with mom's results and that everything is looking good now. Everyone that knows asked about how you all are doing and if there is anything that they can do to help. There isn't much here but just know that you have a lot of prayers from the other side of the world.

Mom, I am sorry that you weren't feeling the best this last week. I am glad that the pain has gotten a little less and that you were able to get around the last few days! Sun Valley should be really good for all of you! I can't believe it is already that time of year! I am excited for you guys to have a little bit of a break and kinda relax in every sense of the word.

Dad, That is a pretty cool gig that you got! You would be hired to take such a huge case, even people over here are talking about that oil spill! I am proud of you! I hope that everything goes well down there and that you get to go up to Sun Valley with everyone! Just know that I am proud of my papa, keep up the good work!

Brynn, I am really excited for you to get to Sun Valley! Go get some ice cream on you free day, read a good book and go for a run! There isn't anything better then a week in Sun Valley! I love the quote from President Hinckley that has helped me through every hard day in since I was in high school. "Everything will be okay in the end, if it is not okay then it is not the end!" We get stronger from every experience and we learn what we need to learn the key is being patient and doing what we can to be positive and look for the good!

Chase and Ashley,
Sounds like your time is getting short in Utah! I think I say this every time but I am really excited for you guys! I think you will have so much fun! It should be way fun to have Haley and Cory there for a few days and to get to go to Sun Valley and Powell! You will have so much fun! How was the Stadium of Fire and you Anniversary?

So the last few days as I have written in my journal I have been thinking about how fast 1 year flies by. It is not only on a mission but everyday has the same amount of hours and time goes and we can't ever get the time back that we lose. I can't believe it has already been a year! Crazy!

This week has been a crazy one! The Patriarch from the Eastern Europe area came and we had a fireside with him. He served as mission president in St. Petersburg, where my comps family is now serving. He told us about his mission experiences and how the work has changed in Eastern Europe and generally all over the world. It was interesting as he talked about the other missions in Europe and how they once were and how they are now. He served his first mission in Germany a long time ago and he has been able to go back several times to all of his missions.

Also this week we had a really emotionally trying experience. One of our investigators took a turn for the worse and I think it was so hard for all of us that know her. She was the happiest most optimistic person, let alone homeless person I have ever met. I really felt like every meeting she was teaching me how to be a better person. Well this last week she didn't show up to our meeting which isn't like her, she is usually early and reading! We prayed and went out to look for her because we didn't know where she slept or hung out during the day. We didn't find her but the elders found her the next morning. We had a zone meeting but after the meeting we went to go and talk to her. When we met with her she was drunk, I guess she is an alcoholic. At first she told us that it wasn't her choice so we tried to help her with what we could but then at the end of the day she went back to the same place and had drunk even more. Everyone that lives there said that she is usually good for a week and then the next few weeks she is in her own little world. It was really hard for all of us to understand how she was so prepared but so not!

Also President came with us on a lesson and that was really stressful for both of us. We feel like he knows everything and we wanted him to feel like we were capable missionaries. I don't know what he thinks now after the lesson. It was a good lesson but still you never know. Well I should get going my time is almost out! I love you all so much! I am glad that everyone is doing better this week and I hope that everything is even better this next week! I love you all and thank you for you support!

Love,
sister Larsen

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

(Editor's note: Brooke's return date is Dec. 30, 2010! YEAH!!! Brooke's sweet friends Kilee and Liz stopped by the house to wish Teresa well)

I am so happy to hear the good news. Actually the day that I found out my going home date Sister Park in the Office called me right back and read the letter to me that you sent to the office. I was very grateful and I cried the rest of study! haha

Mom, I am so glad that the surgery went well and that you are feeling better now. I want you to know that all of the missionaries in my district have you in their prayers! They also wanted me to thank you for the pumpkin chocolate cookies that you sent! They loved them! I am excited to read your talk that you gave last week! I can't tell you how relived I was to hear about your surgery. I was able to watch part of the lecture that the doctor gives and it brought me a lot of peace of mind. Oh and by the way I got the package with the oreos! Thank you so much! I bowl everyday before we leave the apartment!

Dad, Thank you for all of the pictures and emails. I especially liked the scripture in Proverbs haha! It made me laugh pretty hard! I hope that you kill the uncles in Golf today, but more importantly I hope that you enjoy the game! I laughed and almost cried a little when you told me that you hugged the doctor! I bet that isn't the first time that something like that has happened to him but I bet he wasn't expecting it from you haha!

Brynn, I love you! I am so sorry! I know how it goes. It is rough but know that the Lord is with you every step of the way! Something that President told me when I talked to him this last week is that most of the time it is the hardest to find out what the Lord's will is for us, but once we find out we have to follow it! I know that we have been blessed so much and I know that the Lord is always happy to give us the knowledge that we seek. When we want to do His will He will reveal it to us. You said it right when you wrote that we are really really lucky girls! We have two great parents and the best brother and sister in-law in the world! Keep your head up.

Chase and Ash, Happy anniversary! How was the concert? What else have you done this week? Chase PLEASE be careful! I am so sorry I bet it hurts like the dickens! (Editor's note: "hurts like the dickens" yup she has been gone a year and sounds like a missionary) How was Logan? How is work and everything? What things do you have planned for the rest of the summer?

So this week was kinda all over the place. The Lord has kept us really busy which has been really good! We had exchanges this week with Sister Larsen and Sister Clark and we went to the ballet "Swan Lake" to start it off. Sister Clark stayed here in center with me and Sister P went with Sister Larsen. It was interesting because Sister Clark already served in this area when we first got here so it was fun for her to meet with some of her recent converts and "such as." We worked really hard and we were really tired by the end of the day on Thursday.

The rest of the week we were doing everything that we could to get ready for the baptism. We called around and got jumpsuits and we called the members because they didn't really know that it was going to be this weekend. Well Saturday came and the members that had parts in the program came except for the member that was suppose to baptise her... He didn't even call us. Well we were a little stressed out so we went and talked to her son and he just jumped up and said that he would baptise her...... (Editor deletions at the request of the writer...but very, very funny!!!) .... Let's just say in short the baptism didn't actually happen. She got really scared and decided that she will get baptized in a few weeks. We finished the rest of the meeting and had refreshments. She came out and kissed us smiled and left. We were left confused and in awe! I guess she will try again in 2 weeks when Galina gets baptized. We talked to her on Saturday night and she said that all was good and she even invited us to come live with her.

All in all it was an interesting week. We met a lot of really cool new people and the members have been awesome. Every member invites us into their home with gladness and it is amazing feeling. I feel like a have a little family here too! They aren't you guys but they really try and take care of us and love us like we are part of their family!

I love you guys so much and I miss you everyday! I am glad that things are looking up there and know that I pray for you every day! I am thankful for your love and support! You are all so amazing and I look up to your examples! Have an amazing week, be safe!

Love
Sister Larsen

Thanks for the Support!

2010-06-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

Wow, I have the greatest family and friends in the world! I feel like I am the one that everyone is trying to comfort and here I felt bad that I wasn't there to comfort Mom and Dad! Thank you for the emails and pictures! I love you all so much! It was good to talk to you all again but I am asking please let's have that be the last phone call!!! No more hitting your head on the trunk of the car, choking on milk, I don't know what else but please just be careful!

Mom, I love you! I am thankful for your positive attitude through all of this because it helps me see that it may not be as bad as I think. I keep reminding myself that I am a drama queen, so whatever I think it is, it is about 100 times better! I hope that everything goes well for you this week at the doctors and I will be praying and fasting for you to be able to have a clear prompting on what decision will be the very best!

Dad, YES I GOT THE CARD FROM MADDY!!!! I told you guys on the phone but I guess you weren't on at that moment and I think it got lost in everything. But yes I have the card. I haven't tried it yet but the paper work said that it is ready to use right now. I just need to register it online, but to be honest I don't trust these computers so I will either wait until I get to the office or if you tell me what you need to register it I can send it. I am glad that everything is looking up there and thanks for sharing your love for mom with me.

Brynn, I am actually thinking about maybe running a race when I get home but I will need a lot of time to train. I am a lazy butt when it comes to morning exercise. I exercise but not enough to work off all of the candy we eat. Let's make a deal with all of us to pick it up and leave the candy behind! Deal! I actually just remembered the "Brown Chicken Brown cow" joke last week and I told all of the missionaries that we were with. They laughed as hard as I did! I wonder if that is a sign that we are all just weird or if that joke really is that funny.

Chase and Ashley, thanks for the email. I will try and send something to Britney next week. I am running out of time here. I can't believe that you have been married for a year! Man time flies! Keep me updated on your lives and how everything is going! I am super excited for you guys to get to Boston! I know it will be hard to be away from everyone but you will meet some of the most amazing people there! You guys just attract fun good people!

So these last few days have been a little tougher but I have seen some of the most amazing miracles. This week started out really tough because almost everyone canceled on us. We met with Ludmilla, the lady that got baptized last week and she was just the happiest I have ever since her. I think that was the turning point. We also met with another one of our investigators who was planning on getting baptized in 2 weeks and everything seemed to be on track. Our week was starting to look up. On Saturday we had a Missionary ward activity where we tried to help the members overcome their fear of sharing what they love with those around them. We did the trust fall and a lot of the older men and women in the ward got up and fell like a champ! We then took the members out on splits with us to contact in Kiev. The streets were pretty empty but we had some really great contacts! I think they really liked it. A lot of people didn't come but I think that those that did come really felt that it isn't as hard as they think!

Then when we got in on Saturday I saw "private number" on my phone and I almost considered not answering it... but then when I heard Mom's voice on the phone my first thought was "she really shouldn't have left the number on the cupboard... wait I never gave them this number!!" It wasn't my favorite thing to hear but I was happy to hear all of your voices. After our conversation I couldn't really sleep and I was having a hard time controlling my thoughts so I started reading the Book of Mormon. I don't do this very often but since I am right now in the ward chapters of 3 Nephi I decided to open to a random page. It was the story of when Jesus healed the blind man, then I did it again and it was the story of King Naaman. I thought, man this is pretty cool so I continued to open randomly to different parts of the scriptures, every time was the same, a story of someone being healed by their faith and the power of the priesthood! I felt right then a comforting feeling that everything is going to be okay. I know it might be hard but I have never been so grateful to know what no matter what the outcome is and no matter if we have 40 or 10 years all together we will some day sit at the Savior's feet all together! Isn't that a great thought!

I also read a story that President Mckay told about a little girl. A little blind girl was sitting on her father's lap. He had become tired from travelling a long ways and a friend asked if he could hold the child. The man took the child into his arms and the father asked the girl if she knew who was holding her. The girl answered, "No, but I know that you do." Heavenly Father knows and even though we can't seen what this entire process is going to be like I have faith that He knows and He will help us!

Yesterday was a blessing. The elders gave me a blessing of strength and they said that everything will be okay! There were a few tear jerking moments, like when we sang "Love at Home" (I think that is the first time I have sung that song on my mission and of course it had to be the day that my heart was so tender! I kinda just had to laugh at myself!) We also met with a lady that really wants to be baptized! It was our first meeting with her and she said that she loves the feeling at church, when she reads the liahona and when she sees us. She asked who she needs to talk to in order to be baptized. I smiled at her, broke down crying and we set a date for her to be baptized on the 31 of July! I bet she was a little scared but I couldn't help it! I was happy that she would soon have the knowledge that I have and hold so dearly!

Well, last of all I wanted to inform you that our baptism that should be in 2 weeks has moved up to this Saturday and now we have the task of finding a jumpsuit that would fit a grandma about 1/3 the size of me! We are going to the totally opposite side of the spectrum! I will let you know what it all turns out next week. It should be fairly interesting!

Well I love you all! I pray for you all daily! My testimony in the Plan of Salvation has grown so much on my mission and I KNOW with my whole heart that this Gospel truly is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the Gospel of Good News because even when you get bad news your heart can rejoice because of the knowledge that Christ has enabled us to receive the highest blessings! I love you all and I wish you the best this week!

Love,
Brooke

Editor's post

2010-06-27T18:07:00.001-07:00

Hi Readers!

I wanted to let you know that we got to talk to Brooke yesterday afternoon. We contacted her mission president to inform him that we would be sending Brooke an email this weekend informing her of Teresa's breat cancer diagnosis. He told us to just go ahead and call her Saturday night. So, we did just that. After breaking the news to her and reassuring her that all would be well, we had a nice, sometimes teary chat with her. She is doing well and will be home in 6 months!!!!

We got a package from her with some audio CDs and some photos. Here are a few photos we thought you might enjoy!

We feel great about Teresa's prognosis because at the end of the call, our precious little missionary offered a prayer asking for blessings of health and strength to be with her mom.

Thanks for supporting and loving our daughter.

Mike

SURPRISE!

2010-06-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Thank you for the emails! I am glad that you all have had an amazing few weeks and I am so happy that the party went off without a hitch! I was trying to be really careful not to hint anything in all of my letters! It sounds like the party was a smash and that mom really felt like the queen of the ball! It also sounds like Boston is amazing and I might need to come and check things out when I get home in December... yeah it will be towards the end of December most likely after Christmas around the 28th. Sorry to break the news! But I still love you guys! I got another box yesterday with the summer clothes! Thank you so much! I am looking forward to trying some of them because it is so hot and humid here!

Mom, I am glad that you had an amazing birthday and that all of your dreams came true. It sounds like you had a packed weekend in Boston with the Lakers and Celtics, the Red Sox and the crazy parade! I am will have to agree with you that a week in Cape Cod sounds pretty nice!

Dad, I got your letter to the German student! She sounds pretty cool! I am excited to meet her! I did get to speak with your friend a little on the phone. He told me how you guys are doing and how excited you were for him to meet me. We were both pretty sad that it didn't work out. They were are a train to Odessa when I called them. But I will meet up with Maddy when she comes up to Kiev on the 25ish of this month. They seem really nice.

Brynn, I hear you did a really amazing job on the flowers! I am glad that everything is going well and that you got a little rest this last week! I hope that you enjoy your new job this week and that you can adjust okay! Do you have a lot of weddings this summer? Are you staying pretty busy with flowers and stuff? Have you still been looking at a shop to buy?

Chase and Ashley, I heard that you had a great trip to Boston and that both of your schools are pretty amazing! You apartment building doesn't look to shabby either! I am excited for you guys and excited to hear about all of your adventures!

So this week has been really great! Sorry I didn't write yesterday we had an amazing zone conference which I will tell you about in a minute. So this week started off with a lot of meetings we were able to find a lot of new investigators and it seemed like they were just coming to us. We didn't get to see a lot of the city yet because most of our lessons are at the church building or really close to our apartment. We like about 15 mins outside of the city center in a really pretty area. It is still big city but it is a little quieter which is okay with me! And we have carpet! The only problem is the city has turned off the hot water for the summer so every morning we have really cold showers. We both have little colds because of the cold water but we are on the mend now.

Friday was Sister P's birthday so we went to lunch with some of the Elders in our district. She was not feeling well at all the whole day! I felt really really bad for her! It is not fun to be sick on your birthday but we also still had to work all day... She has started feeling better but then I got what she had ha ha. As companions we share everything!

Sunday was a pretty amazing long day. One of our Wards (yes I am working in 2 Wards in the stake) is doing a 24/7 fast where each person fasts for 12 hours so that someone is always fasting until the temple dedication so that the temple will be finished by that time! Sunday was our day to fast but we decided just to do the 24 hours together. We have 2 wards which are about an hour apart so each Sunday we get to 6 hours of church and then we have ward council and other meetings! I will never complain about long Sundays another day in my life! ha But This Sunday was fast Sunday and I bore my testimony in both wards. Something really unusual happened which really strengthened my testimony. About 5 or 6 members came up to us and gave us names and numbers of people that they wanted us to meet with. And the members met with us after church to help us plan a baptism on Saturday of a woman that we have been teaching, Ludmilla! They have taken a huge part in the work here and I am really excited to work with them!

Okay so now to tell you about Zone Conference. So yesterday we had an amazing zone conference and President shared with us a tone of stories about his mission while teaching us about how he discovered how to become a powerful teacher. It was pretty amazing because I could really relate to him as a missionary and I got a lot out of hearing his personal experiences. After zone conference I looked out the window of the church and I saw some of the missionaries walking up the pathway to the Temple carrying boxes and then they disappeared inside! President then told us that there were some smaller boxes and that if we wanted to help we could! We were able to carry a bunch of boxes into the temple! The couple that is in charge of the temple allowed us to look into 2 of the sealing rooms and the Celestial room! IT is BEAUTIFUL and really close! The grounds are almost done but there is still a lot of work for just 2 more months! Please keep the workers in your prayers! I felt such an amazing feeling there and how the Lord truly does have a plan for us! He loves us so much that He provided us with knowledge and a way to return to Him! I could feel His influence even though it isn't even done yet! I can't wait for 1 1/2 more months to see the finished building!

I need to go and I promise I will try and figure out how to send pictures from this place! I love you all! I hope that all is well with you at home and that you have an amazing week! If you have the chance go to the temple and remember what a great blessing it is that we have so many so close to us! Thank you for your love and support! I miss you all so much!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Happy Birthday Mother "T"

2010-06-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone!

Happy Birthday again mom! Sorry again about the lame letter last week. We went on a small excursion to an old fortress and we got back with very little time to email. Sorry again! I am glad to hear that everyone had fun at all and Derrick's last night! I got the package with the watch (thank you), all of the cake mixes and Crisco! I am excited to make some of those sweets! I also really loved the talk. I have really been studying on how to recognize personal revelation better!

Mom, I am glad that you have had a relaxing birthday week, and that you have a great day planned out ahead of you! I will pray that you can get that new outfit because we all know how good it feels to feel cute on your birthday! I am sorry that Ellie ate your shoe! That would make me so made. My landlady's dog almost ate my shoe while we were over there saying good-bye last week... I guess she was upset that I was leaving too haha. You will have to let me know how your actual birthday and your birthday week end up!

Dad, I am glad that all is well with my ol'd. I looked at a picture that I have of us at the Jazz game this morning and it made me smile as I started my language study! I am way jealous that you will be in Boston for the Playoff games. I am sure that the city will be really active and energized. Be careful walking around! I am also happy to hear that you are swimming again. We have decided to run with our district because they live really close and so we will meet and run a few times a week.

Penny, I am proud of you for going back to school! It will be a good experience for you to finish up down in Salt Lake. I hope that everything works out for you and that you get to finish up in 3 semesters! How are all of the flowers coming this summer? Are you super busy? I am guessing that you are having weddings almost every weekend!

Chase and Ash! I am glad that you guys have been having some fun while you are still in Utah. It sounds like you have been working hard but still finding some time to chill. That is crazy that none of the guys from your year came to play. I bet that was fun to get out on that field again though! Have you been to any Bee's games lately?

Alright so I bet you are wondering where I am and who I am with. I am back up in Kiev in the center of the city!!! I talked with Maddy and she will be up here in a few days so I will call her and try and meet up with her some how, or have her drop off the envelope at the church. I am now the "senior companion" (I don't really know what that means because we are always just companions ha) and my companion is Sister Povodova. She is from Ukraine but her dad is now serving as the Mission President in St. Petersburg! She is a really amazing missionary and she has only been out for 2 transfers! We are really excited to be working together and we have already had a lot of fun together! She is probably one of the sweetest girls I have ever met! Our area is really huge and it covers most of the city! We are actually serving in only 2 wards in the stake but the cover a lot of land. I will most likely be here for the temple dedication and then some, I could possibly finish my mission here which I wouldn't mind.

Last week we finish the week out by saying good-byes and teaching some really cool lessons. Vlad came back on Friday and so the elders will now be working with him to get ready for baptism. Katya has started regressing. She still hasn't come to church and she said that she wants to wait until the fall because she wants to go to the beach in the summer. It is really sad because she knows it is true but she is allowing fear to get in the way!! Kristina came to church on Sunday and loved it! She even stayed after and talked with one of the members about baptism and what she needed to do! I am so sad to leave that area but I am excited for the things to come.

We came up to Kiev on Thursday night and when we got here Friday we had a big transfer meeting with President. We went out and worked for a lot of the day and then we all met at the temple site to have dinner together and to prepare for our meeting the next day with Elder Scott. On Saturday we had a 4 hour meeting with Elder Scott and he gave us a lot of information. He taught us how to teach and he invited up some missionaries to teach a lesson in front of him!!! How terrifying is that! I learned a lot and it was interesting how he just talked from his heart the entire time. He just spoke pure inspiration! He told us a lot of stories and tried to help us see how we could understand how the spirit speaks to us! It was amazing!

After the meeting we came back to our area and Sister P helped me to kinda get to know the area.

Well I love you all so much and I should probably get going! I hope that you have an amazing day/ Birthday/ week! Good luck this week with everything and have fun in Boston!

I love you and miss you!
Sister Larsen

A New Record in Odessa!

2010-05-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Thank you for the amazing emails today! I couldn't help but smile the entire time I read each email! I love Mondays because I get to read how great you guys are! I am glad that you all had so much fun in St. George! It looks like everyone is tan and ready for summer now! I hope that Dennis heals up okay after his athletic attempts! That is way cool that he is doing that though!

Mom, I am excited for your big splash in your 50th year! I think starting a business at 50 is a great way to do something big in a big way! I am excited to see how this all works out! I think that you will do great things for the Sister Missionaries! We seriously need it! I am glad that you had people to run with you every day! That sounds like a lot of fun!

Dad, I am glad that you had a pretty good birthday week! It sounds like you had a lot of fun with the youth! I am glad that they all sang happy birthday to you! That is crazy that you are getting a foreign exchange student! I am excited for you to be able to practice your German with her! I am honestly a little shocked! You guys always surprise me!

Brynn, I am glad that things have gone well with your surgery! And I am way proud of you for getting on the guy's case yesterday! That made my blood boil to think of it! It sounds like you all had fun and that everyone got some golf and Sun, but the question is did you get in a little TJMaxx?

Chase and Ashley, I heard you guys are moving out this week! I always hate moving but it shouldn't be that bad right? Allen and Ashley's baby is adorable! You will have to tell them congrats for me! I showed everyone in the Internet club haha!

So last week we had a really slow week as a zone. It was one of the lowest weeks I had had on my mission but this week was the best week our zone has ever had. We set a goal to find 16 new people as a zone. The most that Odessa has found is 15 in one week. Last night, at 9:00 we ended up with 20 new people to teach as a zone! It was one of the most intense weeks ever! We were all working as a team to try and reach these goals that we set and we blew them out of the water! We definitely saw some miracles this week, along with some disappointments.

We met several really cool families and it felt like people just came out of now where! We found this awesome woman that wanted us to help her with her and her daughter with English and it was one of the coolest lessons we have had in a long time. We talked with her about how important families are and how they really are the foundation of Society! We taught her about how it is important to teach your family because that is where they learn the most basic lessons of life and how church is a way to strengthen them but it shouldn't replace the family! It was really great and I am excited to go back to see her!

President has really been stressing that we talk to everyone and try and have really natural conversations. It is harder then you might think to be natural as a missionary, it takes some practice. So since we started talking about having natural conversations I have really been trying really hard to just make it part of my character to talk with everyone. I will admit that some days I get tired and I am not as open but I really do try my best to just bring a smile to some one's face on the bus or on the street. But anyway most of the conversations turn into an English contact and then they turn into investigators but about two weeks ago something that has never happened to me before happened. I got on a bus and sat down next to an older lady, I was really tired and I struggled with the spirit before I actually got the courage to talk to her. I started talking about the weather which turned to families somehow and then she really looked at me a asked me why I was here. As I handed her a Family Proclamation, I told her that I was a missionary and that I wanted to help others find happiness and truth, and that God has blessed me with such a wonderful family and I want others to have the hope of finding that themselves. She seemed pretty interested and I asked her if she new anyone that was looking for happiness and she started telling me about her niece. Her niece had lost everything and no one knew where she was. This woman is originally from Moldova and she felt like she needed to move here and try and find her, but she had no contact info for this girl. One night she was walking on the street and she saw her niece living on the street freezing to death. She brought her home and took care of her and is now helping her to get her life back together. I gave her another Proclamation and got her number. The past few weeks it has seemed like she was one of those people that would tell you that you could come when she had time but it didn't really seem sincere. But, yesterday I called one last time because our appointment didn't show up. She asked if we could meet her at the church and give her any kind of literature that we had. She had given the Family Proclamation to her niece and her niece read it and wanted a "Book." We gave her a tour of the chapel and she just seemed so happy. She had just moved here and she felt like the Lord had blessed her to talk with us and to find and help this girl. When we gave her the Book of Mormon and a pamphlet on the Restoration she looked at the picture and said, "I have seen this before!" She had a huge smile on her face! When we left her I reminded her to read the introduction to the book and she smiled big again and said she was going home to look at the picture right now! haha I love seeing little miracles like this, it seemed like our week was full of them!

We met so many really amazing people and also some of our friends here that have refused to take a Book of Mormon took one happily and they were excited to read the chapters that we suggested! I love this work! There really are so many miracles in everyday!

I should get going but I love you all so much and I hope that everything is amazing for you! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Larsen

p.s. Photos are of our FHE group, the grapevine outlined entrance to our apartment and the young woman in our branch.

A Beautiful Morning in Odessa!

2010-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hello fam!

So it is a beautiful morning in Odessa! The sun is shining, the dogs are barking and the streets are busy with people! It is starting to feel like summer. Thanks for the emails and it sounds like you had another eventful week!

Dad, Happy Birthday again! I hope that your day is filled with lots of Birthday fun! It sounds like you have the ideal day planned out except for the whole work thing. The streets are celebrating St. Mike Day... Well at least one of my Less Actives! She loves you! We are going to go to the Burger Club to celebrate your birthday today! You will have to tell everyone that I say hi and that I miss them! It sounds like you should have a really fun weekend!

Mom, Thanks for telling dad not to say anything about November. He may have left a few hints throughout the letter though! That is really cool about Ryan Roundy! That will be an awesome experience for him! I don't know if I want to live in a really small room! I think I might have enough of that by the end of this! It would be nice to live with someone that I knew though. It sounds like you all have a packed week coming up! I bet St. George will be so much fun! That book sounds really interesting! You might need to pass me some of your knowledge through email so that I don't come back a huge sister missionary!

Brynn, I am so happy that your procedure went well and that things are looking good! I was worried about you on Wednesday and Thursday but it is good to hear that all is well! It sounds like you guys had a great time in St. George! I bet it is really hot down there! By the way, thanks for that last little piece of info, I was kinda starting to stress out this week, wondering what I should do. I will talk to President and see what he thinks and then let you know.

Chase and Ashley, I am glad to hear that you had a pretty good start to your Birthday Ashley! That is cool that Adam and Erin get to come down this weekend to spend some time! I bet you are really excited! How is your summer starting off? Chase how are you liking your new job? What do you really do?

So this week was one of our slowest weeks in a while. We have some meetings but we have been having a hard time finding new people to teach. We have been working with this lady Katya and she is really cool. She didn't come to church yesterday which was a bummer but we will be meeting with her this week and she has shown some interest in getting baptised. She really wants to go to a baptism this weekend and she what it is like. I am excited to meet with her this week. I guess we will see. This last meeting with her was really good. She said that whenever she reads anything that we give her she really feels so peaceful and happy. We told her that it was the spirit and she seemed kinda surprised. She has liked everything that we have told her and she really likes the feeling in our meetings. She is really great and I could really see her being a really great member of the church!

This week we were on exchanges with the sisters in center Odessa. Sister Movsisyan came here with me and Sister Ethington went to center with sister Navasyardyan. It was an interesting exchange and my head really hurt after because Sister Movsisyan doesn't know very much English so it was all Russian all day, which is not bad but my Russian is better than hers... I felt bad for everyone that we met with ha! she is a really great missionary though! We worked hard and we had a lot of fun! She is a really sweet girl! Quick funny story... We were gluing up fliers for English and a guy was walking behind us pulling them down. A little boy came up and told me and I turned back and started walked back to where we had just been. The guy saw me and I yell HEY and starting running after him. He took off running away from this little girl in a mid-calf skirt! He ran away with a lot of our fliers but at least some of the stayed up! The best part was that he ran from ME! haha

Well I should probably get going but I wanted to show you all a clip from dad's letter and how he is "not" mentioning November!!!! I would hate to crush his hopes on his birthday but I don't even know how possible November is... I love you dad haha! I don't think he ever got the award for being subtle.

Dad's email read: "So, I was thinking about you this week and just thought (November) that whatever you decide to do (November) about coming home will be fine by us (November). Mom has told me to stay out of it and not mention (November) the release date (November) so as not to influence your decision. (November). I assured her I wouldn't say another word (November) about when you should consider coming home (November). So if you want to wait through the cold and dreary, miserable winter, we'd be happy to welcome you home in January. I just can't say to you: You should come home in ___________. See I didn't say it!"

Can you say subliminal messages!?!? haha Well I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful week! Dad have an amazing Birthday! Thanks for the letters, updates, support and love! You are all amazing! I love and miss you!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Long time no talk! Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone!

I can't tell you how happy I was to talk to you all yesterday! I know you were all probably very upset with me making you get up at the crack of dawn but I really loved every minute of it! I love how great our family is and how we can talk about everything and nothing and it is always great! Just hearing your voices made my day!!!

Mom, by the way happy Mother's Day!!! I think I got so excited to hear your voices that I didn't even say anything!!! I am really sorry! But I hope you had a great mother's day! It sounds like everyone made it pretty special! It sounds like your little company is taking off in the right direction! Skirts really are the big need! In the missionary packets they have pictures of skirts and they forget to tell you that you can actually dress pretty normalish! That was the most frustrating thing, is not knowing that you can wear cute things that are just modest. Also it would be really nice to have pockets... in case you need any ideas haha.

Dad, Thanks for the pictures! Everyone looks a little different but everyone looks really good! Ellie is a skinny, lurpy thing isn't she! I never noticed how gawky she is! She is dang cute! But my Kota is the cutest little thing in the whole wide world! It looks like you are still doing a great job with the singles! It seems like they love you more then ever! You are so great to really bring them into your lives like that! I love how open you are to everyone!

Brynn! I am glad that your song went well and that you feel good about it. Mom said that it was perfect and I can't wait to hear it! Thanks for recording it for me! I am really excited for you and everything you have going on! You look beautiful in all of the pictures that dad sent, of course! I am so glad that you are happy! I hope that everything goes well this week! Please keep me updated on everything that happens! I will keep you in my prayers!

Chase and Ashley, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!! I hope that you have a really, really amazing day today! I heard you guys made some killer rolls for dinner last night! It was really great to talk to you and to hear kinda what is going on, and what is coming up! You guys have some really fun adventures coming up soon and I am really excited for you!

Well, you guys mostly got the run down of the week. It has been a pretty normal week. We have been having family home evening with some of the single members and our investigators and it has been a lot of fun to get them to interact with each other. We have kinda created our own little group of our investigators and members. They are the most mismatched group but they work together really well. We have Inna, she is our investigator and she just run and plays with all of the boys! She is hilarious and she is this tall skinny girl that always has a huge smile on her face! Then there is Elliah, he is a recent convert and he has long black dreds and wears all black. Stas who is just a friend of the elders but he doesn't really want to investigate. He is this funny guy that runs around and screams a lot. Hopefully I can get a picture of the possy tonight and send it next week. I don't really know how but they all work together and we have so much fun! They also really get involved in the spiritual thoughts at the beginning. They are awesome!

This week we met with Katya again and it was really awesome! You can really tell that she has been searching for the gospel, for the truth. Everytime we sit down to pray with her the spirit just floods the room. Yesterday she came to church but she left because she was late and didn't want to walk in, and she thought it was wierd that we were sitting down while we were singing. She is so sweet and I can't wait to meet with her again this week. You can tell that she really takes it seriously and that she really wants to know. She always brings her own Book of Mormon with her and really tries to study it with us. She is investigating several other churches but she just wants to find the truth. This last week we invited her to find out if she needs to be baptized. I think she already knew that she did because she asked what that would mean she would need to do after. She said that she really wanted to pray and involve the Lord to see what He thinks. We told her that it was probably a good idea! She is really great.

Well anyway the rest of the week was pretty much the same old stuff. We did a lot of contacting on the streets and we taught a lot of english. Oh we did have Zone Conference on Tuesday which was really cool! President talked a lot about families and the roles of Men and Women! It was really interesting because they are so intertwined that they hard to separate and talk about one with out the other. It was really great though and it really made me grateful for my family and for the separate roles of Men and Women and how they are divinely different for a reason! I love how it all just works together!

Well I love you all so much! I am so thankful for your examples and for your love! I miss you all so much, more than I can really explain but I am so grateful for your prayers and your concern for me! I hope that everything is going well! Pass a Hello to everyone and tell them that I love them! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Larsen

May Flowers!!

2010-05-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Editor's Index to photos: Brooke and her adopted pup, her post mission shoes, in Odessa with man swimming in fountain, and checking out some Idaho plates!

Good Morning,

I am happy to tell you that I am sitting in a short sleeve shirt and I am actually feeling really warm! It has really warmed up here and we haven't had snow in a really long time! I am sorry that you guys had snow, that always seems to happen, right when the flowers start to bloom it snows one last time!

Mom, I am jealous! I love NY! I heard that your flat wasn't very good though, that is never fun! At least you are usually out and about and not really spending a lot of time there. You will have to let me know what you found out! I hope that everything went well for you guys there! I am glad that you guys have started doing some family history. A lot of the members here are really into it. A lot of them stay after church for 2 hours and do family history to get ready for the Temple. They also love to sit and show you what they found! It is really cool to see some of their old records in Russian! I don't know how they read it!

Dad, Sounds like you have had dog duty a lot! I am sure that those dogs just love hanging with you! Sounds like you had a pretty packed week again! I am sorry to hear about the Jazz! It sucks that they are playing the Lakers again! I wish that they could just tear them apart, just once... maybe while I am there though ha. That is scary about Times Square. Did they figure out who set it off?

Brynn, Happy Birthday again! I am happy to hear that all went well even with the snow. I think you should record this song and send it to me so that I can hear it. You really have my interest peaked! Thank you for looking up my school schedule, I was actually really wondering about that. haha. That helps a little actually. I will see what I can do to find out when I should be coming home.

Chase and Ashley, Hey how did your week go? Ashley I am pretty sure that you have finals this week so good luck with those! Chase how are you liking your new job? Are you working in Provo or in Salt Lake? What are your plans for this summer?

So this week was a lot of the same old stuff. Nina is still in the hospital resting. She has some other health problems so they just want her to rest for a little but she should be home today or tomorrow. She is doing fine thought. This week we had a lot of really good meetings! We met with this woman named Katiya. The elders tracted into her in February and she has been really busy and hasn't had time to call, but they gave her a Family Proclamation. She had read it so many times that it was really old looking. We have been trying to meet with her for almost a transfer and it finally worked out this last week. She asked a lot of really great questions and she accepted a Book of Mormon within the first few minutes of the meeting. She couldn't come to church yesterday because she got sick, but we are meeting again with her later this week! I am really excited! She is one of those people that really just wants to get to the point and know if it is true or not! She is really awesome! I can't believe that she was found through tracting. I read something today in Jesus the Christ. Elder Talmage was talking about the different parables that Christ uses to teach and there was one parable that I had never really noticed. It talked about a sower that sowed seeds and then went on to work in other places. The seeds grew, not because of anything he did but because of forces completely out of his control. I always seem to forget the influence that we have on people even when we are not there for every step of the way. And also that sometimes people just need a little time to let their faith grow a little! It was a really great chapter!

We found out this week that Vlad will probably leave this week for either 2 weeks or 2 months!! I am really sad because he is so close and I am worried about what will happen when he is so far away from Nina, us and the Elders. I guess I need to put a little more faith in the Lord that His will is what is best for all of us! I feel like so many people here have been so close to accepting truth and then something happens and they get pulled out of our reach. I guess we are not meant to change every person with whom we come in contact.

On a lighter note, Agnessa, one of the less actives we have been working with has been to church 3 times and has really enjoyed herself. She is really making the steps to go to the temple and to be worthy to go even if she can't get there. It is so great to see people changed their lives for the better! She has been ready in the Book of Mormon a lot and I think that has made a lot of the difference! She is really great! Remind me to tell you a story about her next week!

Speaking of Sunday! You can call at 6:30 if you want. I have church until 3 but we should be back at the apartment by 3:30. I just hope that no one kills me for making them get up so early! Well I can't WAIT to talk to you! I hope you have an amazing week, I love you all!
011-38-Area code- Phone# (050)353-6185

Love
Sister Larsen

Hey, Hey, The Temple is Coming!!!!

2010-05-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful morning, what a beautiful day!!

Good morning fam! I am glad to hear that all is well in the Big City and down in Happy Valley! It sounds like you all had a very eventful and exciting week! Sounds like all of the events went off without a hitch and I am stocked that the Jazz are doing well. Of course that is how it would work out the one season that I am going to miss! I am guessing that they will go to the finals this year and I am praying that they don't, because I don't know if I can stand missing it! haha. I just have to count on you recording it and saving it for a year.... haha

Dad, Thanks for the sports update. It always feels good to be clued in a little to what is going on. Sometimes I feel so out of the world, which is probably a good thing. I was feeling a little like you are and it has helped so much seeing the sun shine outside. Just getting outside and remembering that everything that we have is because Heavenly Father loves us so much that he wanted to surround us with wonderful things and wonderful people. I have to look at everyday as a new day and as a new adventure. Sometimes I feel like a do a lot of the same things everyday so I have to find the one new excited thing that sets that day apart from the rest. It makes each day seem so much more exciting!

Mom, I am glad you got a little run in and some Chuck-a-rama. It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun! You and your running still blow my mind! I don't know how you do all of it. I want to run but I just don't know how I will manage to keep up with all of you! I am sad to hear about Coach. I had heard that he had had a rough go, but I don't think I really knew how rough it was. It is strange the way that life takes sudden turns. I hope that his family is doing okay. It just reminds me that we always need to be ready because we never really know what is going to happen tomorrow.

Brynn, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope you have an amazing birthday! I am sorry that you were so sick! It is always a bummer being sick, and I know that you have slept past 2 in your life!!! haha I think we all have if we ever slept in the room downstairs. I am proud of you for running this last week! I need to start running again so I can keep up with you guys! I am sure that you are just loving the Jazz right now! I hope that Carmello is getting worked over by Fez! Thanks for sharing that story with me! That is an amazing story! I don't think that I have ever heard anything like that before! I know it is true but it was just so apparent to her. Tell her that I say thanks for sharing that!

Chase and Ashley, Congrats again Chase and good luck Ashley this week!! Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you too Ashley on the 10th! I am sure that these last two weeks have been super stressful! Ash you will have to let me know what is going on for your student teaching. I don't know if I remember right but you will be graduating this summer yeah? Chase will you be selling in Salt Lake or Provo for the summer? I am super proud of you guys!

So I have some good news! We found out this week that the Temple dedication will be in August!!! The open house will be from the 7th until the 21st and then the dedication will be on the 29th. I have no idea where I will be in August but I am really hoping that I will be up in Kiev. We also found out transfer info and I will be here again with Sister Ethington. We were both with our companions for 3 transfers before we were put together and we will be staying together for a 3rd, which we are both pretty happy about! We have so much fun together and we have been working pretty hard. We really really want to see some success this transfer so we will be working hard! It is crazy how fast time has flown by! It feels like just a few weeks ago that we came down here together! I am seriously hoping that time starts to slow down a little because as I look at the rest of my mission it just seems shorter then I expected! We have 2 transfers and then the temple opens the next transfer and then I only have 3 more transfers after that!! Crazy!

So this week was pretty mellow. We had some really good lessons and some missed appointments but that is just missionary work :D. We have started working with this really really great family and they seem to enjoy talking to us about religion. The daughter wanted to meet with us for English and her Godmother joined in on the next meeting. The Godmother has had some health issues and she said that she has been praying for Heavenly Father to send someone to help her find truth. The mom of the girl is a very strong Orthodox but she enjoys talking to us and she has said that we seem different and she likes it for some reason. I love going to their house because I just feel like I am around a really great family. They have two other younger children that love to come and talk to us. You can just feel the love in their home.

Yesterday we had a pretty scary experience. We have been working with Nina and Vlad. They are progressing at different paces and so we are trying to pass Vlad to the elders and we are going to try and continue working with Nina. So yesterday we set up a meeting with Vlad and the elders at Nina's apartment. We were waiting for Vlad to get home and Nina was fixing something in the kitchen while we were waiting. All of a sudden we hear the scariest loudest scream I have ever heard in my whole life. I thought that for sure I was going to walk in the kitchen and her hand or arm was going to be gone! When we walked in she was intact but she had just been electrocuted by her washing machine!!! She had been shocked pretty bad and she already has some heart problems. We called the ambulance and they came and took a look at her. They ended up taking her to the hospital to keep an eye on her. She is doing fine and everything turned out okay but I think it hurt and scared her pretty bad! We were all a little shaken up after that! We are going to call her today and see how she is doing. The doctors said she was going to be fine but keep her in your prayers.

Well I don't really know how to transition from that.... So I am just going to ask about mother's day. Would it work for you guys to call me at 4 again Ukraine time and 7 your time? When is your sacrament? Let me know if that works for you..

Well I should probably get going but I love you all! I hope that you have an amazing week and a great party this weekend! Tell everyone that I say and I love them!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Spring time in Ukraine!~

2010-04-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Good morning fam!

Thanks for the emails again! It sounds like you have an exciting week ahead! I am glad that everything is going well and that spring is finally on its way there. It is so nice here. Everyday it is getting greener and greener! It finally feels like spring and I am already dreading the winter again. I think that soon I will forget how cold it was and I will be wishing for some snow. I hear it gets unbearably hot here... I guess I will find out soon enough. So today we went to a huge, I mean huge market. It reminded me slightly of my trip to NY with mom but I think we would do a lot more damage here! The elders bought a million really pretty ties. We had a lot of fun. We ended the day playing football on the beach again. It was a beautiful day!

Dad, Thanks for the pictures! I am glad you got a quick Powell trip in this week. I am sorry to tell you but even if I was graduating this year Chase and I are in different departments so you would have had to gone to 2 anyway... might as well spread them out a little right? Good luck in Vegas, I hope everything goes well over there.

Mom, Congrats on your diet! I am proud of you! Maybe I need to start something like that. I eat so much candy because it is so dang good here. I am glad you got to be on the other side of the marathon this week. It sounds like fun. I am thinking of MAYBE, MAYBE running when I get home. We have been bad because my comp has been a little sick but it looks like it is warm enough again to go. Good luck this weekend!

Brynn, Hey how was your week? Did you have fun at the marathon? Good luck to you too! I hope everything goes well. ..... I thought of you all day today because we went to this huge market, it is 7 km long!!! It was amazing and packed with stuff! You will love it!

Chase and Ashley, The big college grads this week! Good luck with everything. I am sure that you are dominating finals! I hope that everything is going well. I am so excited for you both but sad that I can't be there. You will have to send me pictures!

So this week has been a little slow but it has been really good. We had a lot of really great meetings and the weather has been so beautiful! Sister Ethington and I got proposed to at the same time. He had heard about our church a little but he asked us to give him our hands and here that is normal to shake someone's hand when leaving and he lend down to kiss my hand and I just yelled "forbidden!!!!! forbidden!!!! forbidden!!!!!" in Russian and we ran away. It was really funny.

In my last interview with President I told him that I felt that every transfer I have been where I needed to be and that I always felt like Heavenly Father has placed my there for a reason, while last night I felt like that again. We were in a lesson with Nina and Vlad. Nina is an older woman and Vlad is renting a room from her. We were teaching Nina and she said that Vlad was really interested in talking to us as well. For the last few week we have been teaching him and we have known from the first visit that they are both so ready. I have felt over the last few weeks that we probably wouldn't have gotten through to Nina if Vlad hadn't moved in. Nina still doesn't feel ready but she knows that she needs to get baptized and she wants to have her daughter start talking with us too. But last night as we were talking with them, both Sister Ethington and I started to feel really urgent in the work. We have been talking a lot about baptism and we have been trying to set a date. He asked why we needed to set a date and I felt like it was my responsibility to see that they got baptized. I got one of those feelings like I told these people that I would come here and I would give them the Gospel. I felt as if I had promised them before, especially him. I felt as if he was my real brother and she was my aunt. I have never felt such and urgency to do the work. I think I realized last night how many people we promised before we came here that we would bring them the Gospel. I realized how short my time is and how much work we have to do. I loved having that realization because it makes me want to work so much harder. I love this work so much!

I also had another realization as we were on our way home. We were on a bus and we had had an interesting conversation about how the devil tries to influence us and pull us away from the truth. I looked up and there were 2 empty seats in front of us and in my mind I filled those seats with some of my grandparents. I had a feeling that my ancestors were all around us. I have been studying a lot about love and how strong it is and how the love of God can overcome all. It is the power behind every action of our Heavenly Father and of Christ, and it should be behind our actions. Love is such a strong power and I love that we have that on our side! I am so blessed to have so many people around me that are so easy to love!

Speaking about love we got some info on phone calls. I can do it again at 4 like we did last time (7:00 am your time) or later in the evening at around 8 or 9 here which is 10 or 11 your time. I don't know when your church is. I can do it anytime after 4 my time. But just to warn you it might changed because I really think that I will be leaving next week. We find out transfers this Saturday and I will let you know on Monday if I am leaving or staying. If I am leaving I will have to talk to my new comp next week and we will let you know what times work. Let me know what works for you and your church schedule. Dad you might have to miss out on a few early morning meetings or come home a little early.... I home that doesn't make you too upset ;). Well let me know what you think.
011-38-Area code- Phone#

Well I should get going but I hope all is well and that everything goes well this week! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Larsen

HALF-WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Crazy to think that this week will be 9 months!! It blows my mind. It feels like I just got here, but that I haven't seen all of you in forever! Thanks for all of the emails--I laughed a few times while reading! I wasn't really homesick, more just wondering how much of an effect I was making out here. Sometimes it is just frustrating when you can't really see the results of your work. This last week the Lord really blessed me to see that I am making a difference even if I don't think it is working.

Mom, I am sorry that you had all of that to deal with. [Editor's note: Ellie went nuts on Sunday while we were at church: got into the dog food bins and then got into a sack of dog food. Looked like a snake that had eaten a pig. Tore up a carpet pad, puked in the house, and otherwise caused all manner of destruction. Anyone want a puppy?]. I told the missionaries that are here with us and we were all laughing, but feeling bad for you at the same time! Thanks for putting my name in the temple, this week was a lot better. I am excited for your clothing line! I hope that all goes well. I know that the sisters will be forever grateful!

Dad, I am glad that you have been able to take a breather with work. I am jealous that you got to go to the temple so much! Man I miss the temple. Thanks for the pictures! How are the Jazz doing? I hope you got all of your yard work done. If you want to wait a min I will be there in a sec....Ha Ha! I am sorry I was such a bum growing up. I hope the dogs help more than I did.

Brynn, . . . . I love you! I was using the soap you sent me and it made me super happy today.

Chase and Ashley, Good luck with finals this week! I can't believe that you are graduating. Thanks for your email. It gave me a good boost today. It is wierd how your emotions here change so fast, how a bunch of small things can bring you down, but one small really good thing and bring you up higher then you were before. I am excited for you two! Ash it sounds like you had a fun weekend in DC. If you have any pics I would love you see them. Tell Kylee hi and congrats. Kels got engaged this past week apparently!!!!!

Well this week has been great. Last week I was able to hang out in Kiev for a good part of the week and see some of my old friends. We went to Lena's and she is doing a lot better then I thought She was doing. She said she was having a little bit of a hard time but after talking to her I feel so much better! She is awesome! President gave me the okay to call her sometimes just to check up on her. That made me happy.

So we don't really have a ton of time but I want to give you a quick run down on the week.... The time I spent with Sister Howell and Sister Walker was really fun and we did a lot of great things. It was awesome to see some of my investigators and some of the members! I really love that ward so much! They have a really special place in my heart, but I really missed being in my area. It is strange how you feel like you can only do your best work in Your area. When we got back we caught up with some of our investigators and had some good meetings. We were able to watch Conference with all of the missionaries in English which was amazing! It was nice to understand all of it the first time! I love that the focus was on families and Christ! It made me think of you all a lot!

Yesterday we had a great lesson with Nina and Vadem and we committed them to pray about being baptized the weekend of mother's day. The one bad thing is I will probably be gone but I am really excited for them! We will find out this week if they really want to be baptized or not! Keep your fingers crossed! And your hearts full of prayers for them.

Sorry this is a short email, but know that I am doing well, the work is True and Christ is risen!!! I love this work and I love this country! I am glad to hear that all is well at home! I love you all so much!

Love,
Brooke

Happy Easter and Hello from the Bronx (Kiev)

2010-04-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

I am writ ting you from my old area! I am up in Kiev this week while my companion is in Bulgaria renewing her visa! Thanks for the Emails and the package! I just got the Easter package today and I loved it! Sister Walker was just telling me how her mom sent her a bunch of oatmeal and I had a serious craving for some Quakers!

Dad,
I am sorry your trip got cut short! Those wild storms are always a love hate relationship! It is cool to sit and watch but only for a few hours, unless something goes wrong and you have to run up and down the beach trying to fix something! I am glad that you had a few days of R and R. I am jealous that you get to go to New York! I love that place.

Mom,
I never thought about the military really being the first missionaries to get into countries. That is interesting to think about! I still think it is so cool that you have a real picture in your mind of where Christ walked! I have been thinking about that a lot this week and I actually used the story of the widows mite with one of our less actives! It helped me remember what a small sacrifice the Lord asks of us in comparison to the sacrifice that He willingly gave for us. I am excited for you to go to the temple again now that Ellie is under control at home! I just saw the Kiev temple for the first time in a long time and it looks pretty much done on the outside. They are just doing the grounds! I almost cried when I saw it!

Brynn,
...... If it makes you feel any better I didn't dye any eggs either. It was a busy year. Next year we can make a bunch! Looks like you guys did have fun on the egg hunt! Tell Ben that I say hi!

Chase and Ashley,
Good-jobbers! It sounds from everyone's emails that Ashley dominated in the Easter egg hunt! I am proud of you Ash! I am sure that you guys are getting ready for finals soon! Good luck with tests! I don't know if it is this week or if you still have a few weeks to go... Let me know how your lives are going!

On Saturday night we got home and we looked out the window and there was a good line of people walking to the churches outside our window. There were a ton of people on Sunday morning walking with their baskets full of eggs to be blessed by the priest and the Church. Like you said Dad, I have never seen that many people at Church since I got here! They have really really strong traditions here for Easter.

OH, so great news! We had a really really great week with almost very few awkward weird moments (we have a lot of those as sister missionaries). So this week Julia came back!!! She is that girl that was golden that lived with really awful people! She is back and she found a job here. Since she left she has read the Book of Mormon almost everyday! She is reading it with the Bible and really trying to learn as much as she can! She is so cute and I really am so happy that she is back! I can't explain to you how happy we were when she called us and told us that she was back in Taierova! We had a really great meeting with her about how the Book of Mormon and the Gospel can really help us to change our lives! She is awesome.

Also we have been working with Nina and one of her tenants Vlad. Nina is an older lady, who when we first starting meeting with her was impossible to get her to commit to meet with us. Finally when we caught up with her she said that a man that was renting out one of her rooms really wanted to talk with us. We started teaching both of them the first lesson and it turned out great (this was a week or two ago). He has read that Bible and has a really great knowledge already but the great part is, is that he got it all himself and wasn't influenced by others! This last meeting on Saturday we asked them to prepare to be baptized by the end of the month. They said that they felt pretty good about it but that they needed to pray about it! Vlad came to the last part of church yesterday and he thought it was pretty interesting. He also prayed for the first time in one of our lessons and during the prayer the spirit was really strong! They are really great people and you can really tell that he has really been searching for a really long time, and that she just needed someone to help her along the way. It has been really great teaching them.

So I am up with Sister Walker and Sister Howl this week and I will be here until Thursday! I am so excited to be back in my old area. Today while we were shopping for some stuff we saw 2 of the members and I was so happy and excited to see them! Pasha almost gave me a huge hug and I had to stop him by grabbing his arms ha ha. It made me so happy though! Tonight we are going to Lena's and I am so so so excited! She is one of my really good friends here and I can't wait to see her! She is great!

Well we really have to go but I love you and I hope that all is well! I hope you have a really great week!

Love,
Sister Larsen :D

PS. congrats to both Whitney's

Some new photos of Brooke!

2010-03-31T15:54:00.001-07:00

Another Year Come and Gone!

2010-03-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Can you believe another year has come and gone! And just think only 361 days until my next birthday hahaha. Tell everyone thank you for all of the emails and everything! You will be happy to know that all of the emails worked mom! I got my packages a few days before my birthday! I opened the small one right when I got them and saved the big one for my birthday morning! Thank you for everything! I loved everything. Thanks for the pictures in the emails! They made me smile!

Dad, I am glad you got to play a million rounds of golf! It sounds like the weather was pretty good in St. George. I am glad that work is keeping you busy. I hope you get a few bball games in soon! I keep thinking about baseball and basketball, it is kinda bad... ha

Mom, Your email made me pretty happy. I am glad that your divinity eggs turned out pretty good this year. I don't think we have ever been able to do it in one batch before! How is the running coming along? And how is your little business working out? I have people asking about it all the time.

Brynn, congrats on singing! I am glad that everything went well! I tell people all the time about your set of pipes. How is that little shop looking? Have you heard anymore on it?

Chase and Ashley, I image that things are starting to get super busy as school is winding down. Ashley how is teaching are you enjoying it? How are your students?

So sorry about no email yesterday, we had Zone Conference so that is why I am a day late. We had a really great zone conference. President talked a lot about Christ and his role both before this life and His ministry. It was really cool and it gave me a lot of strength that I have been needing lately. I have felt a lot like I have not been getting enough spiritual strength during my person study to get me through the day but this helped to give me a little extra push.

This week was a little hard to be honest. We have a lot of cancelled appointments which is never fun. But we did find a really great investigator names Vadem. He is renting the room of one of our investigators and it was a little awkward at first because he is a really young man, but in the end we had a really great lesson with him and Nina. He knows the bible really really well but he feels like there are so many holes in it. We have spent the last couple lessons explaining the Restoration and the need for prophets so that we can help him feel in some of those holes. They have read everything that we have given them and they always has really great questions. I actually get a little nervous going over there because he has a lot of questions about the book of Revelations and then he sparks questions in Nina and then we get really off topic. They are great though and they are always excited to see us.

Again we were not able to meet with Ira and her family. One of our co-workers was in the hospital so her and her family had to work for her all week and they were not able to meet with us but we will hopefully meet with them on Saturday.

My birthday was pretty uneventful. We woke up and I opened my package, Thanks again! I loved it! Brynn and Aubrey the soaps and cards were awesome! Sister Ethington made me breakfast and after study we went to McDonald's for lunch haha. I know really Ukrainian! We took an hour bus ride to our other area and got dogged and got back on a Bus to come back to a RS activity. We celebrated the birthday of the relief society which was cool. They sisters are pretty strong women here. After we got stood up again so we went and glued up some English ad's and did some phone calls... I have making phone calls it is really scary because it is really hard to understand! Other than that we just laughed and had fun. We stopped by 2 less actives and set up appointments to come back and meet with them.

Tonight we are having a party for our English class and I am pretending that it is my birthday party haha. I know I am a nerd but oh well. Well sorry it was short this week but I have to go. We are going to the beach again to play football! I am excited! I will try and remember to take a picture and send it!

I do have one request for the next package... could you send me some more pictures of you guys! Not ones that are printed on computer paper but ones that I could carry around with me and show. :D. I really need one of Dakota and Ellie because the only one that I have you can't even seen Kota. Also if you could send me a picture of all of our family from grandma and grandpa's birthday-- that would be awesome!

Well I love you and hope that all is well! Thanks again for the emails and love and packages!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Thank You For All the Birthday Wishes!

2010-03-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hello my amazing wonderful family!!

I don't know if you have heard this lately but you are all amazing! Thank you so much for the emails and the love! You guys are so good to me!

Dad, I have to say I am pretty sad that the Reminisci is taking sail. As I read your letter I thought of a lot of great memories that we have made on that boat and on our little chaser1. I hope that we can continue to make memories down there but just in a different way. Thank you for helping create all of those memories. I really treasure our time down there and I tell people all the time about Lake Powell.

Mom,
I am sorry to tell you, but my packages haven't gotten to me yet. A lot of people are going up to Kiev this week so hopefully they will be there. If not, don't worry about it. It may be a little unbelievable but I am not really worried about my birthday this year, it kinda doesn't even feel like it is March here either. The work goes on haha. Although it would be great to see you go after that package company! I wish I could get that on tape haha. But thank you for sending me stuff. It is great just to know that you are thinking about me!

Pen, Thank you for your millions of emails! I was surprised when I opened my mailbox today and I had like 9 letters! Every time I think about you I just smile haha. I am way proud of you and everything that you are doing! I was just thinking that you might need a sip of soda for sustenance.

Mase and Ash, I can't even imagine how it would feel to wrap things up with school. When you translate the phrase "Enduring to the end" into Russian and then back into English it actually means "suffering to the end" I think that I would feel more like it were suffering to the end, I hope you choose to look at it more then an opportunity to get that last little bit of knowledge rather then the way I look at it. I am proud of both of you for going strong till the end and I hope that everything goes well with tests and stuff! I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left!

We have another 6 weeks in Odessa together! Transfers are this week but nothing will really change for us. We will continue to work in this amazing city! So this week has been really good. Just 4 weeks ago we only had 4 lessons total to report to our leaders and this week we have seen a serious amount of growth. We have really seen the Lord bless us, especially with finding new people that He has prepared. We set a date for a woman that lives in Illichovsk to get baptized in the beginning of April. We set up a lesson to tell her that we couldn't work with her because we needed to work with those who wanted to get baptized and we walked out with a date! I was in shock most of the lesson because we just brought up baptism and she said I want to get baptized, what do I need to do. We told her we would help her understand everything and explained to her what it meant. She was really excited about it. We still have a lot to teach her but hopefully she will get baptized the week after conference! Her name is Svetlana and she is a really interesting person.

Illichovsk is a really interesting place and we always come out with funny stories. After we left Svetlana's we had planned to meet with a less active, which didn't happen. So we went to the beach and did some contacting. I started talking with an older couple and it turned into an interesting conversation and we were all kinda laughing and just talking. The man was joking with us about our accents and he turned and petted my head (I don't know what it is with people and my hair here). Then as we turned to leave he grabbed Sister Ethington's head with both hands and planted a big kiss on her forehead!!! I tried to stop him by grabbing his arm but he had a target set and he wasn't going to give it up. We turned and walked away laughing and I spent the rest of the day apologizing for letting her get kissed. It has been the big joke all week in our district.

On Saturday, our branches here in the city had an open house. They are getting ready for the temple open house so about once a transfer they have these smaller ones so the members can practice. Only 6 people came, but the members were really excited about talking with them about the church. Also everyone that came felt the spirit pretty strong except for a guy that we starting talking to on the street, he had started a little early in the day with the strong drinks ha. We spent most of Saturday talking to people on the streets and inviting them to the open house. We have seen some of the effects of it already, 2 women came to church yesterday that couldn't come on Saturday. They have invited us over to their apartments this week to talk to them a little more. It was fun to see the members get involved and I think they trust us a little more after seeing us really trying to help them be successful! It was also really fun to work with them a little more.

To answer some of your questions, The work is great, hard but great! The only thing I don't really like is being rejected by those that you have already come to really love. I mean no one really likes being rejected but if it is at a door or just on the street it is not really a big deal. It is the times when you have really put your heart into lessons and shared everything that you love and then they don't except the gospel, that is the only part that I don't really like about this work. But I have just had to remember that they have their agency and pray that they will have a change of heart at some point in their lives. Other wise I really love the work. I have started to feel really comfortable just starting really random conversations on buses and on the street. Saturday there was a man standing on the street looking at an apartment building. I crossed the street and stood next to him and tried to see what he was looking at. He glanced down, smiled and continued to look. I asked him what was so interesting and we just started talking, it was really natural to switch things over to the gospel and just talk. I don't think I changed his life but I have just started to love talking to random people. I have also felt my love and interest for the the people here grow. I am feeling great! A little tired at times but I think every missionary feels tired all of the time. My spirits are lifting as the mornings come earlier and earlier. I love waking up to the sun shining on my bed rather than waking up and feeling like it is the middle of the night.

And to answer the question that you are all waiting for.... Honestly I don't think we are going to do anything special for my birthday. We might make breakfast but we have a pretty full day planned, I just hope all of our lessons work out. We might talk about birthdays in English on Thursday as well but that is it. I know not very exciting, but hey that is life ha.

So, I don't know if I have told you lately, but I really really love you! And that just made me think of a worldly song.. oops haha. But really I do love you! So since I have been on my mission I haven't cried very many times, I know it is pretty hard to believe, but this last week my heart has been very "tender" (as mom would say) and I have had some really amazing thoughts about each of you! I want you all to know how much I love you and how grateful I am for your support, AND say sorry for all of the dumb things I have put you through... like the guilt trip for missing the first few hours of my 10th birthday haha. I have used that story a few times this week, trying to show how we can get stuck on the little things that don't matter and it just makes our life ten times harder. We need to look on the gifts that God has given us, like the amazing people that surround us every day. We went to the ballet this week as a zone and it hit me that I am going to be 22 and there are so many things that I have not done yet that I dreamed of doing. I was a little disappointed in myself but then when I got home and laid in bed, I thought of all of the amazing things we have all done together and I just smiled because it is impossible to do everything that we want, but it is possible to do everything that matters most and I think that is what we have done as a family. Thank you again for everything and for helping me remember what is important! I hope that you all have an amazing week and that all goes well! I love you all so so so much and I miss you even more!

Love,
Brooke

(The Birthday Girl ;) )

Happy Women's Day!

2010-03-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Good Morning and Happy Women's day!

It was good to hear from all of you this morning. It sounds like everyone has had a pretty eventful week except for the dogs... I am glad to hear that all is well in the big city and down in P-town. I got some of your letters because the Zone leaders went to Kiev this last week but there weren't any packages at the office for me so I don't know. The ones for Christmas took exactly a month but that was when I was up there. Transfers are next week and the district leaders will be bringing back mail for us if we don't get transfered.

Dad, it sounds like you were pretty creative on finding ways to get out of the house and keeping the hounds from doing too much damage. I am surprised that they still got in the kennels at the end of the day yesterday. I wish I had had my drivers license when we got kota. I thought that those pictures were at Grant's house. You will have to tell him hi from me. Oh by the way dad, a lady here has a huge crush on you! I will tell the story in the main part of the letter but it was really, really funny.

Mom, I am glad you and Brynn had fun and I am glad that you really only had one mishap instead of 4 or 5. From your's and Brynn's letters it kinda reminds me of our trip to NY when we had all of those black bags. I think you guys may have hit a new jackpot. It sounds like gma and gpa had fun having you down there. They were really excited when you told them that you were going to go down in an email that I got from them.

Brynn, again I am glad that you had fun. I had this funny image of you standing at the border and how much worse it would be with both of us. haha It made me laugh. Good news this week is no chicken hearts or really strange food :D. But we are having a ward party today so I might be singing a different tune around 3:00. By the way the Black sea was pretty dark when we were there but it was also really cloudy.

Chase and Ashley, You sound like you had a pretty fun week/end. I still can't believe that you are getting ready to move to Boston. Each week it is hitting me more and more how far away that is... But it is okay, I keep hearing about this whole skype thing, sounds pretty cool!

So this week has been just as eventful as every other week. Today we are starting week five down here and this Saturday we find out about transfers again. I think this has been one of the fastest 6 weeks of my life. We have had more happen in these 5 weeks then I could imagine. I think that everyday when our leaders call to check up on us we have some crazy story to share with them and I think we might have to sit down with my journal when I get home because there are just too many to remember right now. Odessa is great and it always keeps us on our toes.

So we are working with 3 branches down here, some more than others. The 2 that we mainly work in meet here close to where we live. We meet in the front of an apartment building that has been turned into one building, or maybe it was just built attached... I can't really tell. But it is a nice building and it really stands out so people ask what it is. The 2 branches are really great but small. There are about 100 members in all of the branches but on sundays about 20 or so come. In RS we usually have 4 other sisters besides us, but there are enough for the branches to function as long as everyone has 4 or 5 callings. The members are really willing to take their share and 5 other shares of the work. It is great. All of the Branch Presidents are really great. One is really young and they are expecting their first baby. He served in New York City on his mission. The other one is awesome as well. He is a little older and actually reminds me a lot of dad. His son-in-law is in the stake presidency and agreed to act as the branch president in the branch outside our city. All are great men and are really willing to help.

We went with the branch president that served in NY to deliver flowers to the women in the branch today because it is womens day and everyone gets flowers. It is a really big holiday and most of the women get work off. It reminds me of Mother's day but on a bigger scale. There have been flower shops all down the streets all week.

This week we met with one of our members who hasn't been to church in a really really long time. We got to her apartment a little early so we glued up some advertisements for English practice. Some really, really drunk old man snuck up behind me and jumped out and scared me. Sister Ethington was watching him the whole time but she didn't understand what he was doing until he jumped out and yelled boo. We talked with him for a little and he reached out to give us both a big hug and we quickly stepped out of reach. Then as I was looking down to get my planner I felt his fingers run into my forehead. He was trying to move my bangs but his depth perception was a little off and he ended up smacking me in the head. We started to walk away and he grabbed my arm and he and Sister Ethington played tug-o-war over me for a little. We finally got away and laughed the whole way to our meeting.

We finally got to our meeting with our member and she forgot who I was. She thought I was lying to her when I said that I was there the last time she met with the sisters. Finally she believed me when I showed her my pictures and when she turned to one of the pictures of dad she said, "Oh Michael, I remember Michael." I started laughing so hard. She kept turning back to that picture and just saying "Oh Michael." So Dad you better look out when we come back. We wanted to talk with her about the temple and encourage her to prepare to go to the temple this coming year and to prepare to be able to go to the dedication. . . . . We had a great lesson from there on out and she agreed to start preparing to go to the temple in Kiev. It is crazy how fast you can forget truth when you are continually strengthening your testimony.

We also had a great lesson with Tanya. She is 15 and wants to get baptized this summer. We were questioning her desire to get baptized and we had a very straight-forward lesson with her. We told her that we are here to help her to prepare for baptism but she needed to show the Lord that she really wanted it. She said that she wanted it and she has been making a lot more of an effort. We met with her again and she started our lesson by asking us what is happiness for us, remember she is 15. I told her that for me it is being with my family and making my Heavenly Father happy, because I know that when he is happy with me it means I am doing the things that I need to so that I can live with him and my family forever. She told us that she feels like there really aren't people that are good in her classes at school and she really wants to meet more people like us. She said told us a story about a boy at her school that she wants to help because no one talks to him and everyone beats him up. We told her that the Lord would help her find a way to help him. We are meeting with her again tonight and I can't wait. She is really great. I feel like I was sent here for her, just for her. We have such a great relationship and I feel if nothing else happens here, if I can help her, that will be enough.

This is a really sad story please don't post it. . . . . [omitted]

Last good news that we got this week, Julia will be moving back this week :D. We are going to try and help her find a job so that she can stay here. She will be living with those same people until we can find a new place for her to live, which I hope is soon. The economy is so bad here that people aren't really willing to let her stay with them without receiving rent for the room. I hope that something can work out. She is great.

Well we should probably get going. I love you so much. Sorry if I didn't get all of your questions answered. I will try and take more pictures this week. I am really bad and I always forget but I will try and send some soon. I love you! Have a great week and tell everyone hi for me!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Chicken Hearts and a crazy letter!

2010-03-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

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

The Sun is Finally Shinning

2010-02-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Good Morning everyone!!!

I can't explain to you what a beautiful day it is today. We woke up in our new apartment with the sun shinning in our windows! I almost forgot that you could see the sun that early! Thank you for all the emails! It sounds like all is well with the Larsen crew this week. And I want you all to know that I am starting the count down to my birthday in my journal on the 20th day of February. I think it is the latest I have ever started on my count downs haha.

Mom, I am proud of you for getting things moving. So many sisters here want to see some of the ideas that you all come up with. I know you guys will do an amazing job! I know that I am looking forward to being your Guinea pig. If I can, I would make one suggestion. Pockets on skirts would be one of the greatest things because we have cell phones and it is annoying to always have it in your bag. Just a thought. I am glad that you have enjoyed the Book of Mormon facts! I love getting that kind of stuff. It is so interesting to think about all of the things that are in the Book of Mormon from different perspectives. That is funny about the dinner. I wish I could have seen the counter with just hamburgers haha. I love it! That is also way cool about all of the LDS athletes! I love that they are showing a good side of the church!

Dad, thank you for not getting hurt this week. It brings peace to my soul haha. It sounds like you have a stressful next few weeks coming up. I hope that everything goes okay and that you remember that you are super dad so you can do anything! I hope that you find some time to go down to Powell and get some fishing in before things get to crazy. It seems like that season should be coming up soon!

Brynnie! I am glad that you had a good week. I sounds like you are less stressed and that makes me happy. I can tell a lot about how you are feeling from your letters, I like it because I feel like we are really talking too. I am excited for you to go on splits sometime with the missionaries. You will have to let me know how that goes. I know that they would love it if you just offered to go one night. Also why was johnny wearing a corset? Is that really needed? haha I laughed so hard when I read that... And really long nails... foo.

Chase and Ashley, I can't believe you are getting ready to be a little graduate! Remember when you told me that when I got my license we would have flying cars. I don't know why I just remembered that but it made me laugh because that was a few years ago and we still don't have flying cars. But I can't believe that you are graduating! I wish we could all graduate together. I think you should both just stay there for another 1 1/2... just a thought. Well I hope that school is going well and that married life is treating you well. Oh I just got an email from Alyse and she got engaged on V-day! you will have to give her a hug and tell her congrats for me!

So it has been a crazy week. On Monday we spent all day looking at apartments with our poor Zone leaders. The mission has a rule that our leaders have to approve apartments before we can give a final word. So they agreed to come and look with us so that we could just sign when we found one. Around lunch time we were in a mall sort of a thing making phone calls and Elder Bowen said, hey that guy has a nice watch he has to know someone... he went up to about 3 people like that asking if they had any connections. Well to make a long story short, by the end on Monday we hadn't found one, we were soaking wet and freezing because it had snowed all day, and our agent's car broke down and he had to take a marshutka home. We ran home to hurry and pack a bag and change to go to the train station. We broke our tub the day before so we couldn't shower and we didn't have time to eat dinner. We met the other sisters at the station and we ate McDonald's on the train. The ride wasn't bad and I think that was the best I have slept on a train.

Sisters conference was great! President and Sister Steinagel talked to us about how virtue is power. It was really interesting. We also learned a lot about the culture of Ukraine and we even got to try and play one of their traditional instruments :D. We finished up and had lunch and we went to Romeo and Juliet, the ballet! It was great! After the play we hurried to the train station and caught an old Soviet train back. It was a little creepy because the train was really old but it was also really fun. I felt like I was really in Ukraine ha. I loved it. Also throughout the day we were calling agents and still struggling with the apartment thing. The poor Elders looked at apartments for us all day.

We got back in the morning and the Elders had some good news for us at district meeting. We were going to meet our landlord that we really really wanted to sign on Monday. She had convinced her husband to work with our contract! We signed and got all moved in on Wednesday! The Elders also had an opportunity to work with our agent a little bit and teach him some doctrine.

Thursday we met with Ulya. She is the girl that came to church last week. She told us that she started reading the Book of Mormon and she said that she felt so much light and so many good feelings! She said that she went with on of her friends to an Orthodox church and she felt that light leave. She feels so good and church and we were really excited that we had found someone that the Lord had so well prepared. Then she told us that she was moving the next day back to her village 5 hours away. The church isn't in her area yet and our hearts broke. She started crying and she explained that she was living with people that she just could not stand to live with anymore. They were so rude to her and they were drunk a lot of the time and she just couldn't deal with it anymore. She said that she is going to try and move back and find a job but we all agreed that this was probably the best thing for her right now. We are just going to try and talk to her over the phone and stay in touch with her.

These last few days we have spent teaching less actives and trying to find new people to teach. We also spent a lot of time getting lost. It is a smaller city but it is still really, really big. It is a really beautiful city. Center is really pretty and the areas that I am working in are close. I am really close to the sea and you can actually see it from our window I heard... We still haven't seen it because it is foggy (we hear a fog horn every morning, It's cool!) There are more brothers here then there were in Kiev, but there aren't very many.

There were also 2 baptisms and our agent that helped us find our apartment came!!! It was really cool. Yesterday we sang at the baptism and the man told how the elders knocked on his door and his entire life changed from that day on! It was a really cool baptism.

My companion is great. She is from Tacoma, Washington. She lived here teaching English before she decided to come on a mission. She will go home in August so she will probably finish here. She is super nice and we get along very, very well. We laugh a lot while we are on the street. She is just a very loving, tender hearted girl. I have already learned a lot from her.

Well I think this is the longest letter I have ever written and my stomach is eating itself. We are going to try and make it to the beach sometime today... I don't know it might have to wait until next week. But I love you all! I am glad things are going well and I am praying for you all the time! Good luck this week!

Love
Sister Larsen

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-19T15:52:00.000-08:00

Good Morning and Happy Late Valentine's day!!

Thanks for all of the emails and love! This week started to warm up but the snow is back...

Dad, Seriously you need to be careful!!!! You are making me nervous with all of your stories lately! Please Please take care of yourself! It sounds like you had a very eventful week and I am super sorry. But it sounded like it ended on a good note with a few rounds of golf. I am glad you are doing better and I hope that this next week looks a little better for you.

Mom, good luck with all of your decisions. It sounds like you and Brynn both have a lot of changes ahead. I hope that everything works out for you and you are in my prayers. Sister Mov always used to say in lessons that when we want to talk to the Lord we go to our knees and when we want to listen to the Lord we open our scriptures. That doesn't always work for me but I thought it was pretty good advice.

Brynn, I am actually dying right now because I really want to see a picture of that dessert!!! It is almost driving me to the point of crazy.... crazy I'm not crazy.... haha. I am glad that you had a great Valentine's day! It sounds like you did a very good job planning a great day! You have taken some serious steps from when you kept asking me how to flirt. I would bet my life savings (which isn't very much) that you are way better than me now! It is probably better that way. Honestly, I am starting to get a little weird. I feel so awkward talking to guys my age that I can't really act normal. It is the weirdest thing!!

Chase and Ashley, Sounds like you also have a pretty eventful week! You can count on me coming to visit where ever you end up! I think you will have an amazing experience anywhere! Boston will be lucky to have you! Also congrats on your headboard. It sounds like you turned out to be a pretty good craftsman.

So we totally forgot that it was Valentine's day yesterday!! Everyone here buys flowers all the time so it was normal to see men carrying flowers home. We realized as we were on a bus home. It made for an interesting conversation as we asked a couple how you say Happy Valentine's day. Here they congratulate you on holidays and for being born, it is pretty cool haha. The couple thought it was funny that we couldn't figure it out on our own and it made for a good conversation and contact. I don't think every much will come of it but we made them smile so we felt good after. haha.

Well, we had a few days of sun and a lot of slush as the snow started to melt but the snow is back. It is snowing pretty good right now. We spent a big chuck of our week last week searching for a new apartment. We have almost closed on two but then we figured out that our agent didn't tell them about some of our requirements and the landlord wouldn't do it. We are very close to being homeless right now so hopefully we can find something today. It has given us an opportunity to find some new people that could be investigators but we will have to see how that all works out with time.

We haven't really had a lot of meetings set up because sisters weren't really working in this area last transfer, so we have been trying to meet with members and get referrals from them. Sister Walker and her companion are working in the center area of Odessa and we are along the coast and to the south of them. We have a huge area and it is hard to remember where everything is, but we are slowly getting the hang of it. It has been fun because we have really had to do everything by ourselves. We have called the elders and some members a few times when we have gotten lost but it has been mostly on us. I have enjoyed it a lot actually because I feel more responsibility and I know that I can handle it. My Russian has also improved but I think that my confidence has improved more. I have realized that I just need to speak and then we can figure out together when I am trying to say haha. Everyone is very patient!

Yesterday a girl came to church. She hasn't been meeting with missionaries lately but she is amazing. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and she came to all of church yesterday. She asked to take home the gospel principles book and she was answering and participating in every hour of church. She is a teacher for Ukrainian Lit. and she is really smart. We have an appointment to meet with her this next week and I am super excited!

Also tonight we are heading back up to Kiev for a sister's conference tomorrow and then we will be back in Odessa on Wednesday morning. I am not really excited for 2 nights on a train but I am really excited for the conference and hopefully I will be able to get my mail!! We also get to go to a ballet tomorrow night with President and Sister Steinagel!!! They are awesome and I seriously can't wait!

Well we have to go but I love you all and I hope you all had an amazing Valentine's day.

Love, Sister Larsen:D

Brooke's new email

2010-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Editor's note: slight change to Brooke's email address. It is now Brooke.larsen@myldsmail.net

Odessa on the Black Sea is my new home!

2010-02-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

Sorry that I am late. We had Zone conference yesterday and we moved our p-day to today. I definitely felt the love as I opened my almost completely full mailbox today! Thank you for all of the emails and love! I am going to let you think a little longer until I tell you exactly where I am...

Dad, I got all of your emails this week and the one for last week. I was a little worried about you all week and I am glad that everything is okay! Please take care of yourself!! I worry about all of you over here! It sounds like you also had some long over due R and R.

Mom, I am glad that the dogs have made you relax a little:D It is good every now and then. It sounds like some how you are still managing to find things to do even when you are at home. The mission is providing us with Co2 monitors so don't worry about us.

Brynn, I have really learned that when you are reading and searching not only the scriptures but talks from the prophets you can really learn a lot. Each of us feels the spirit so differently but there is a talk from last general conference that talks about receiving answers. He said that there are three ways, we will receive peace to our minds, we will have a stupor of thought, and last sometimes the Lord leaves it up to us to decide because he trust us and knows that we will make the right decisions, and we need to just make the decision and present it before God. Good luck with everything. I will pray for you.

Chase and Ash, Thanks for the email! It sounds like you have a nice relaxing Valentine's celebration! I am glad that everything is going well and I hope that Ash has her first good experience teaching! Good luck! I am proud of all of your accomplishments! Way to find a new hidden talent with these bed boards!

So I am in Odessa! My new companion is Sister Ethington. She is from Washington State and she has been in Ukraine for about 7 months and she will go home in August. She is a very, very cool girl. We had a fun train ride down here. We had 6 suitcases in this tiny train compartment and it was really funny to watch us try and get situated with everything. We have been whitewashed into this area. (Editor's note: "whitewashed" is missionary slang, I think, for assigned as a new pair of missionaries to a new area where neither has any experience in the area). Sister Walker was working in Odessa but she was working in Center because we didn't have enough sisters to work in all of the areas. Right now we have 3 investigators that they have continued to work with so we have a lot of work to do to get things going in this new area of Odessa.

It was really hard to leave my old area. I will miss a lot of the members there! They are so amazing! I will especially miss the women that I was able to work with and teach. It was hard to leave my recent converts and investigators because I will always worry about them. They are so great and I really want them all to come to know the truth with their whole hearts.

We arrived Friday morning and we realized that our apartment is about 30 mins outside of our area so we will have to try to find a new apartment this week, which should be interesting because neither of us know the words for that. We planned and then had a few meetings on Friday with one of our investigators and some members. We are covering 3 areas and one of them is about 1 1/2 hours away. We are working in черьемишки ильичевск and таирова. We went to 2 of the branches last week and they were a little standoff-ish but hopefully we will have a chance to get to know them a little this week and we can really try and help them. The area is huge but it is a beautiful city. We are very close to the coast although I haven't seen it yet.

Well, I should probably get going. We have to set up these new email things. I am really, really far from the mission office so I will only get mail once or twice a transfer... But thank you for everything. I will be back in Kiev next week for a sister conference and then back here. Well I love you all! Have an amazing Valentine's Day!

Love,
Sister Larsen

I am getting transfered this week!!!

2010-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone!

Dad, Hey I heard that you had a little accident.. are you okay? Chase said that you might have broken your arm? I hope that everything is okay and that you didn't get hurt too bad.

Mom, It sounds like you had a very scary week. I have realized something here, that the Lord prompts us in a way that we will hear. If all we need is a causal thought then that is what He will give us. If we need a voice shouting in our ear that that is what we will get.

Brynn, .....

Chase and Ashley, Congrats on getting into Tuffs!! That would be a way fun place to live and whenever I have money I promise to come and visit you where ever you end up! Thanks for the emails and for filling in some of the blanks! Sounds like you are both very busy, and like your little headboard business is about to take off ha. Thanks for the updates on everyone too.

I just heard about those missionaries and that is so sad!! I can't believe that they died. I wonder if I knew either of them? They didn't say their names.

So, I really can't believe that it is already February and that I have been here for 4 whole months and on my mission for almost 7!!! It feels like I just left home but it also feels like the MTC was another lifetime ago. So this week has been one of the coldest weeks I have ever felt in my entire life but I am very grateful that I wasn't in Moscow because it was -50 there from what I heard. It has finally reached above 0 but I am not sure how long that will last. Today is a toasty 5 degrees and I am loving life!

We got transfer info on Saturday night and I am headed to a new adventure in a new area. I am so excited! They only tell us that we are leaving but we don't find out where or who we will be with until Thursday at transfer meeting. I am 100% sure that I am going to Odessa though and I think that I will be either with Sister Ethington or Sister Walker. Both are great and I will be lucky to serve with either of them.

This week has been a little bitter sweet because I really really love this area, and these people here. After each lesson I just think only one more week with them. Yesterday was really sad because I had to say good-bye to the ward. They are amazing. If you took off the roof you would just think that it is any other ward in America but when you talk to the people you learn of their stories and all I can say is I love this ward. A lot of them told me that if I didn't bring you all that they would be very mad at me and never talk to me again. They really want to meet you all! Man, I love them. haha. Sister Movchanyuk went and told the Bishop that I needed to share my testimony so I was crying knowing that I would have to say goodbye and then had to get up and speak in Russian. Russian with an American accent and serious tears is a bad combo.

This week we have a lot of meetings to say goodbye and try and get those few people that are close to baptism to give them a final shove. We have started preparing our recent converts for the temple next year and I am happy that I might still be here for some of them. Then on Thursday I will spend the day waiting to get on a train. The trains here are nice. There are just four beds in a room. The ones that we ride on there aren't any chairs they are just made to sleep on. They are very hard to sleep on though because it stops a lot throughout the night and yeah it is a train. But we will get there on Friday and get to work.

Well I should get going but I love you all and I hope that you have an amazing week. Sorry if this letter was a little dull.. Next week will be a little more exciting, I hope!

love, Sister Larsen

A crazy week ahead!

2010-01-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

Hello family,

How are you all doing? I hope that you have all had an amazing week! It sounds like you have all been very busy with the new little pup! I am glad to hear that she is keeping you on your toes. I have heard some frustration but I haven't heard anyone call her Kujo yet so things must not be too bad. [Editor's note: Oh, I have called her Kujo and worse--trust me! Teresa says: "Mike, Dakota needs a little friend. Let's get a puppy." Puppy arrives. Next day Teresa says: "Oh, by the way, I am leaving next week for Israel. I will be gone 8 days. Enjoy Kujo...I mean Ellie."]
Mom, you are probably off riding a horse in Jordan or standing in the tomb of Christ. I am so jealous of your amazing adventure!! I hope that you are all having an amazing time. Also tell Carol to try not to steal any earrings this trip! Tell everyone that I say hello and please take a lot of pictures for me!

Dad, How are you holding up? I am so excited that you are in the bishopric still but sad to see the old one go! You will have a blast and I think that those kids love you! They have really needed you and mom and you are the best man for the job. I am glad that Kota is starting to warm up to little Ellie and I don't even mind hearing about the piddle patch! I have told everyone about my little princess dog back home.

Brynn, congrats on your new calling. It sounds like you are the new big pinecone (that is how they say big cheese here) in the ward. A lot of the food here is great but you would have serious problems with the meat here. They don't know what lean meet is. I only had one big fall this week but I only came out with one bruise so it wasn't too bad.

Chase and Ashley, How are things going for you? Have you been able to find a new job in Provo? I hope that things are going well for you and that school is fun. How are you liking your personal finance class? You will have to tell Pro. Marsh I say hi!

So there have been some interesting turns that have come this week. We set a goal as a zone for 6 baptismal dates this week. As a mission we were able to get 4 the week before so we made a really high goal. Sister Mov and I were not expecting to contribute too much because we have had to pass all of our progressing investigators because they have either all moved out of our area or we found out that they didn't live in our area in the first place. We have started calling this our Bob transfer because all of our investigators are Bobooshky (grandmothers). Anyway we have this less active family that we have been working with since I got here and they haven't really come to church a lot. We called them to set up an appointment and the dad asked if we could come over and teach his neighbor this week. Of course we agreed and called him the next day. We went over and taught her the first lesson and she loved it. We gave her a Book of Mormon with a bunch of pamplets. We went back over to teach her again on Saturday thinking if the spirit was right we might give her a date. When we went back, she had read everything that we had given her and we had a great lesson. At the end of the lesson both of us had the feeling that we should wait until after church the next day, but then she said, "hey does your church baptize?." Sister Movchanyuk answered yes and asked if she wanted to be baptized. She said of course. The next day at church she went up to the Bishop and told him that she was going to be baptized and we set a date for the 6th of Feb. I was super excited and she is super awesome! I am excited to work with her! This area has really been prepared by the Lord and I think that the temple has brought an amazing spirit especially to the ward!

We had interviews with President this last week and he hinted that both Sister Movchanyuk and I will be staying in this area for a 4th transfer. She is going home in March and next transfer will be her last transfer. We will see what happens though, transfers aren't until the first week in February so we have some time.

We got a phone call from the Assistants this morning and I will be going down to Odessa this week with President and another sister from this area. We will leave Wednesday night and take a train and arrive Thursday morning. Sister Walker is down there so hopefully we will be able to work together for the weekend! I will at least get to see her so I am way excited. I also keep hearing all of these amazing stories about Odessa so I am really excited to get to go. We will be coming back Sunday morning so I will spend most of the week down there. When we received the call I felt really bad being happy because both of us really wanted to go! I am way excited though!!

The rest of the week has been the same. It is still freezing and the windows on all of the buses are so frozen that you can't tell where you are and your face freezes while you are waiting for the bus to come. It is a lot of fun haha!! Russian is coming, I am starting to really understand more which is really nice but right when I think I am getting it everything goes into Ukrainian and I feel fresh out of the MTC again, that is the real frustrating part. It has also been hard because our study keeps getting interrupted and I haven't felt like I have had a full study in about 2 weeks, it really slows down the language. I am starting to speak a little mixed languages because I say what I hear and it isn't always Russian. So I will say a Russian word with Ukrainian word endings and sometimes a Russian sentence with a random Ukrainian word. I will be surprised if anyone understands me soon.

Well I should get going I love you all dearly and hope that all is well!! Have a great week, good luck with the dogs, and I will talk to you when I get back from Odessa :D.

Sister Larsen:D

Liver and Sala

2010-01-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone!

It sounds like you have had a very eventful week!! The puppy is so cute and I can't wait to see how she grows up. Will someone please give Daktoa a big fat kiss for me and sniff behind her ears? I feel bad that she is so upset! I hope that she adjusts okay soon. I can't believe that the Prophet came to your church again?! That is crazy! I know that a lot of the people here would be astonished if that were to happen.

Dad, I am actually really sad that you are getting released. I am not going to lie, I didn't really like that calling at first because I felt like I was always getting replaced by the YSAers but I am so thankful for that calling and for all of the people that we have met because of it. They have been a great support to our family and I know that you have been a huge support to a lot of them. I know that they will be forever greatful for both you and mom in their lives.

Mom, I hope the puppy drama will calm down soon, although I do remember it getting worse before it got better. I remember a Kujo puppy coming out at some point. I am sure that little Ellie will be better with Kota there to show her the ropes. Also I hope that you have a lot of fun on your trip!! Did I say that I was jealous? Cuz I am! You will have to tell me everything that you do and send me some pictures!

Brynn, Thanks for your letter and support. I am glad that the tides have changed and you get to have a little puppy fun for a change. That was one of the longest summers of my life. Everyone would just leave me at the house all day everyday and I couldn't do anything because I had to puppy sit. Good luck with everything this week.

Chase and Ashley, How is the new semester treating you? Are you super busy or is it not too bad? Ash when do you start student teaching? Chase are you collecting all of your teeth for dental school? Did you hear from UNLV?

So this week has been a very eventful week. On Monday we met with our Ward Mission Leaders neighbors and it wasn't everything that we thought it would be but we are still going to try and work with them. On Tuesday we met with a girl who wanted to learn English. It was a really cool lesson and she is really ready for the gospel. At the end we were really excited and then we found out that she doesn't live in our area. That was a bummer. Wednesday we had Zone Conference. The Area Authority came from Latvia and talked to us. It was really cool. He talked about truth and what truth really is. He said something that I really liked, "Truth cannot be hid" It is true. Truth always makes itself known. It was an interesting conference.

Thursday we met with Lena and helped her do some service. She has been in Moscow and said it was hard with her parents. They kept making remarks about her now being Mormon. She is doing really good though and we are still seeing changes in her. She is awesome and I have really loved working with her!

Friday was one of the Assistant's birthdays and we wanted to make a big snow man by the metro to advertise for English. To make a long story really short, the birthday boy ended up splitting his pants within the first five minutes, getting dog pee all over him, laying in the snow to get the dog pee off and then he spent the rest of the night sick from the food he had eaten for dinner. It was really, really funny but I feel really bad for him. We had put an English sign out while we were making the snow man and a pack of wild dogs peed on the sign and ran away. He didn't realize that it had been peed on until he had picked it up and put it on the snowman. We all died laughing.

Yesterday we had a lot of dogs (Editor's note: Dog or dogged = missed appointments). Our entire day opened up so we changed our plans a few times. We went to meet with our Bob (grandma) and she was busy and couldn't meet so some how we ended up at the same apartment last week that fed us sardines. I didn't eat them last week because I was sick so I was dreading what was coming this week. We walked in a sat down. The next thing she said to us was "Do you want Salla?" Salla is straight fat!!! Seriously just cooked fat! And I ate it because I had no other choice. She also gave us a plate full of noodles and some kind of meat. I ate the meat first, knowing that I just wanted to get it out of the way. After we left, Sister Movchanyuk asked me if I wanted to know what I had just eaten. It was liver!!! I don't know what kind of animal it was from but it was liver!!!! I wanted to throw up! I went home and ate a big bar of chocolate after!

Well it is still cold and there is still a lot of snow! But the last few days everything has been melting so I hope that it doesn't freeze soon! It is very, very icy but I haven't fallen this week so that is good. The work is starting to pick back up after all of the holidays and actually our ward brought a bunch of their friends yesterday! There were a ton of non-members at church yesterday that we didn't know. We were trying to get all of their information and meet with them so that they could understand what they had just experienced-- it was really cool! Well I should probably go! Sorry it is a little scattered today. But I love you all dearly and I hope that all is well!!!

Good luck this week!

Sister Larsen

HAPPY UKRAINIAN NEW YEAR!

2010-01-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

Hey Family,

Good morning! Yes, in Ukraine I get to celebrate 2 Christmases and 2 New Years! Twice the holidays but they are definitely different from home. It sounds like you all had an eventful Christmas and New Years.

Mom, I can't believe you encouraged Dad to get a new dog and you are still going a million miles an hour. You have no idea how jealous I am that you are going to Jerusalem!!! I have set that as one of my 5-10 year goals!! I want so badly to see the places where Christ worked, especially after teaching people about His life and His gospel! I want to see pictures and hear about everything!

Dad, I read the first part of your letter and was really sad that I only got the first 2 lines but then I found the rest! I am impressed with all our your goals! ..... I also can't believe that you are ready to go back to doggie kindergarten!! I am glad that a lot of this will be happening before I come back. After hearing both you and mom talking about potty training, waking up in the middle of the night... it doesn't sound like a lot of fun! I am sure that this little one will be a little calmer with Dakota around.

Brynn, Sounds like you have had an amazing and slightly stressful few weeks. Your blessing sounds absolutely amazing and I am so happy for you! I remember after I got mine I just wanted to sleep and I think I came home ate and slept for a long time. Hearing about you doing baptisms has made me really think a lot about the temple this last week. I can't wait until the temple opens here and I can go again. I miss that strength that you receive from the temple and I want to go so bad.

Chase and Ashley, I can't believe that you are moving into your last semester! It feels like when I come home that everything should be exactly the same but I know things will be very different. I really hope that you hear from UNLV this week!! I hate just waiting and feeling out of control. Your Christmas and New Years sounded pretty eventful!! But it sounded like a lot of fun!

Okay so this week has been very snowy! Here it snows and it is really hard to walk through snow up to your calves (I know because my skirt barely touches the top of the snow). Then it freezes and you are walking on snow that has been walked on so much that it is really really thick ice. Then it snows again and then process is repeated again and again. Let's just say in short that it is really hard and scary to walk. Last night I had my first serious biff and I am feeling the side effects today. I am a little sore but no serious damage. I am sure that it was hilarious to watch though! haha

So for New Years we have to be in at 4:00 on New Year's eve until 11:00 on the 2nd for safty reasons. We got together with all of the sisters in Kiev and made pizzas and watched "It's a wonderful Life". We sang songs on the guitar and just talked and ate a lot of American candy from everyone's packages. It was a lot of fun. We stayed up until 12 which was so hard!! I was ready for bed at 9. We heard fireworks like crazy outside but we couldn't see anything because the center sisters' apartment is on the first floor. In the morning we made pancakes and watched Ben-Hur. It is a really old movie and I was a little surprised that President gave it to us to watch. We also watched the last quarter of the Holiday Bowl BYU against Michigan. After that Sister Movchanyuk and I hurried home and planned our next week and then just relaxed the rest of the night. It was a very quiet New Years, and I am still not really sure how Ukrainians celebrate it. On the 2nd, our ward had a big Christmas party for the primary kids. All of the kids dressed up in costumes (which I didn't really understand). There were Batmans, supermans, wizards and princesses, it was cool though, and they played a bunch of games and Santa Came. They call him ден марось (Den Marose).

After we went and visited a Bobbushka (grandma) who sent us a letter asking for a Book of Mormon. We took one to her a few weeks ago and she has been reading. We went and taught her and she wants us to come back. She said that she felt really good about what she was reading and she is a very attentive reading. She understands a lot about Joseph Smith and she likes what she has read. She is really cool.

Tonight we will meet with our Ward Mission Leader and his neighbors. They came to a baptism and then to church 2 weeks ago and really liked what they saw and heard. I am excited to meet with them tonight; they seem like a way cool family.

So I was thinking about names for the new puppy this week and there is a girl here and her name is Agata. I think it is a really cool name. We have only taught her a few times but I love her name. I don't know -- think it over. Well I want to send some pictures so I should go! I am excited to get my pouch mail!!!!! Thank you so much for sending it!! I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! Good luck with the dog this week!
Love,
Sister Larsen

Happy New Year!

2009-12-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

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!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

2009-12-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

Good Morning And Merry Christmas!

I am sure that you are all just busy getting ready for Christmas this week. Thank you for the emails and pictures! It made my day to see all of the pictures and the house looks amazing as always!! I received my packages on the 18th :D Thank you Thank you Thank you!! It has been a serious struggle to save them for Christmas.

Mom, I am sorry that you have been sick all week!! It is never fun to be sick around the holidays but I am so happy that you are feeling better and back to celebrating the holidays!! You are doing all of the amazing things that you always do. ........ The fireplace looks very empty with only two stockings.

Dad, You seem busy as always! Thanks for the pictures and for all of the hellos! You will have to pass on a hi back from me. I am glad that you have had the singles filling your house again. I hope that you didn't hang mistle toe all over the house again so that everywhere you walk you have to kiss someone. (Editor's note: Of course we hung mistletoe all over the house--part of Teresa's more kissing campaign) I told my companion about that and she just laughed. Thanks for the letter that you sent to the YSA's it was really good to read.

Brynn! I can't tell you how proud I am of you!! ......... I can't wait for you to go do baptisms and to hear all about it on Friday!! I want to hear every detail! Also I think that your gingerbread house looks a million times better this year!! Although the woman looks a little sketch from a missionary'point of view--- hahaha! I love it! Tell Ben hi and Merry Christmas

Chase and Ashley, You are both hopefully done with finals and just relaxing/ working for the holidays! I can't believe that school is either over or very very close to being over!! I am sure that it will be a relief when all of your finals are done. How are the two of you going to celebrate? Are you going to start any new traditions for the two of you? Chase I still want to hear about your night with the missionaries? Did you have any cool lessons?

So we found out transfer info on Saturday night and I will be staying in my same area with Sister Movchanyuk. We are going on for round 3 which is unheard of for sisters. .............. (Editor's note: Let's just say Brooke is learning from a challenge and experiencing the ups and downs of having a 24/7 missionary companion). But anyway we have had a lot of success in this area together and so we will try and keep it up so that we can continue to help this ward prepare for the temple opening.

We have our baptism on Saturday and I can't wait. Lena came to church yesterday and was participating in all of the lessons and she signed up to bring something to the Christmas lunch next Sunday. She is so cool! We were talking to our MCL and she just walked up to him and asked him if he would baptize her without really saying anything else. We also got to hear Svetlana testify about Joseph Smith on Sunday and she prayed at the end of Relief Society. It is so awesome to see the people that we meet continue to progress and to become part of this family.

We also had an older woman come to church. Her name is Natalia and we have been teaching her for a while with little progress. When she came yesterday and said that she feels like she has found a new family. She lives alone and is very lonely so it was great to have to sister at the ward exchanging numbers with her and inviting her to come and do things with them! I love our ward so much.

So for Christmas we are giving up most of our p-day again to have lunch together and then probably have a lesson or something in the evening after our PHONE CALL!! yay! We are also having a "large transfer meeting" on Christmas Eve, President wanted to have a Mission conference but you have to have a general authority here to do that. He is bringing all of the missionaries into the area to have a large meeting to make a push for these last two weeks of the year so that we can reach our goal. We still have a long ways to go but with a few miracles I can see it happening! Well I want to send some pictures of all of the snow here. It hasn't stopped snowing almost all week. Today has been the first sunny day in a long time but it is still -17ish. Man it is dang cold! I have 3 pairs of socks on, usually 2 skirts (only one today), 2 pairs of gloves and about 2 shirts, a sweater and my downcomforter coat! We do what we need to inorder to stay warm. I also sent this weeks letter from our mission president. I thought it was a really neat story that you could share with your ward or just read. It helped me to remember that we are all really searching for the same love of Christ in our lives.

Well I love you all and look forward to talking to you on Friday.

Love, Cecmpa Larsen

Editor's note

2009-12-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

The last two posts are out of order. I posted her email from this morning first and then realized that I had not yet posted her letter from last week. Enjoy!

Mike

Good morning from Kiev!

2009-12-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

Hey Family,

First things first before I forget. I told the office that you would be calling at 4:30 my time and 7:30 your time. We are not moving.. I don't know what I said in my last letter but transfers are on the 24th and we don't find out until a week from this Saturday if we will be transfered. We then won't find out until the 24th where we will be going and who our new companion will be. There is a very good possibility that either I or Sister Movchanyuk will be transfered. I am guessing that I will be transfered but I don't know, it is just a guess!

Mom and Dad, It sounds like you will be having a lot of fun this week! I hope that you are both safe and having a blast! The ship sounds amazing and I can't wait to see pictures! And Happy Anniversary!!

Brynn, your title to your letter was amazing! I laughed out loud and I could see kota's little scratching face in my head. I am sure that you are loving staying with her! Congrats again to you and Ben on the big 1 year! Sounds like you had a lot of fun making the gingerbread house! Tell him hi for me!

Chase and Ash, Congrats on getting into Boston and Temple! I think you should go to Boston, but I know that my opinion counts very little against budget and Ashley. Although it would be really really nice to have you close so that we can see you a lot more often. That is awesome though. Thanks for the updates on everything! I hope that I get to talk to you both on Christmas morning. I know you will be with Ash's family but maybe we could do a conference call again or something. I think it is awesome that you are helping out the missionaries. We are always looking for people to come with us on lessons or to let us have lessons at their houses so that our investigators will realize that mormons are normal people. And that to be Mormon you don't have to live like a missionary. I decided a few weeks ago that I will have the missionaries over to my house (when I have a house/apartment) several times a month, because they really really need the help. Thank you for being willing to help!

This week was full of dogs. We had an amazing week planned with 25 lessons and several member referral lessons with the members. We only had 13 lessons this week and none of them were with members. Our members are awesome and they are always looking for opportunities to share the gospel. They are always handing out pamplets and fliers for us and this week we had two families invite us over to teach their friends! It is always great when you get a phone call from a member that says, "hey come over tomorrow night and teach my neighbor at my house. I have been talking to them about you and they want to hear more!" After that call I couldn't wait to get to work. It ended up that one family went to the Orthodox church this week and the other neighbor was "sick." Also a lot of the lessons that we had planned didn't show up and wouldn't answer their phones. We call that "being dogged." That, I think is the most frustrating thing ever! We actually are dropping several of our current investigators because they just aren't keeping commitments and moving forward.

Anyway, on a happier note, we are still working with Lena. She is doing well, still not progressing like we want her to but she is trying. We decided not to drop her because she told us that she is really scared to come to church on Sunday. We told her that it is a big change but if she would just come and see what church was like she wouldn't be as scared. She did come to a baptism that we had at our church this week though and she liked what she saw. We will meet with her tonight and see how things go.

We had exchanges this last week and again this week. The sisters from a city about an hour away came here and we all worked in our area. I was with sister Anakashan. She is from Armania and barely speaks any English. We spoke all day in Russian. I was actually surprised at how much I both understood and could say. She was speaking very easy Russian but sometimes we would both be sitting their with our Dictionaries, mine English to Russian and hers, Armanian to English. It was nice to work with someone new and see the way that
she teaches. She is really nice and has an awesome story. This next week I will be going for a day with Sister Movchanyuk's first trainee. It should be fun to see and work in a new part of the city.

The temple is looking amazing!!! They have almost all of the trees in and they are starting to take the scaffolding down!!! you can see the full back side of the temple and it is beautiful! Most of the windows are in and they just have the stone on the upper part of the outside. While we were walking out of the church one day we ran into the Architect and he showed us pictures of the inside. They are putting in the wood work and it looks so beautiful. He said that they were already starting to do finishing work on both the inside and the outside! We have had such great weather that they have been able to do a lot more then they planned on doing. It is 3 Degrees today and we saw some of our first snow flakes today but it still isn't sticking!!! Heavenly Father is still helping align my will with his by degrees :D.

I love you all and hope that all is well with you! Have a good week and I will talk to you all in a few weeks! By the way, I am expecting some letter letters soon:D. I know you sent packages already but letters are really really nice:D just a hint. I love you all dearly! Thanks for the emails and the support! Tell everyone hi for me!

Sister Larsen

Winter Has Arrived in Kiev!!!

2009-12-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!!

Welcome home Mom and Dad!! I am glad that you had a wonderful trip! I have been thinking about how nice and toasty you have been these last few days and I realized today that it finally happened.. my tan lines are completely gone!!! I am very very very white!!

Mom, Thank you for the email!! I am glad that you are both home safe and that you had so much fun!! It sounds like an amazing trip! . . . .

Dad, I am sad to hear that you will be released soon. I was hoping that the YSA ward would be able to take care of you while I am gone . . . .

Brynn, I can't tell you how proud I am of you!!!! . . . .I also want to see one of your christmas cards! You should send me one if you have an extra! One last thing.. I was thinking about the time that Mom and Dad left and the fridge broke and was flooding the kitchen. You just have all the fun times when you are watching the house. I am glad that you didn't blow-up or freeze to death.

Chase and Ashley, . . . ..

So this week has been interesting both good and bad but I think that is every week on the mission. I have been struggling with my teaching and I have been feeling very homesick this last week because it just doesn't feel like Christmas at all. There are no lights, no trees, no Christmas music (except where there are missionaries), . . . .). There is no Christmas spirit. The big holiday is New Year and Christmas is secondary. But finally this week turned around. We taped up lights on our window and one of the senior missionaries gave us santa hats that we wear while we are planning and eating at night. The members decorated the church and a Christmas tree. It is feeling a little closer to the Christmas spirit. I read in the Liahona about a family that didn't have much to give their friends for Christmas so they and sang Christmas Carols to their Landlord. It helped me remember that the spirit of Christmas isn't the decorations or Santa but it is Christ, how do you forget that as a missionary? It is about loving the people around you and helping them feel the love of the Savior.

The bad news of the week is it dropped to the negatives this week. Right now we are at a toasty -7 Celcius :D. It is cold. It hasn't really snowed hard here but there is always a constant flurry of snow. There is snow on the ground and those pee puddles that I told you about are now ice and slightly scarier. It seems that the colder it gets the taller the boots get, higher the high heels get and the skirts keep getting shorter.

The good news is that Lena has decided to get baptised on the 26th :D. She came to church yesterday for the first time. She has been to stake conference but not sacrament and she was so excited about her decision. She cried most of the meeting and she was telling all of the members after about her decision. It has been a long confusing road with her but she is amazing and she is going to be an awesome member. The night that she decided on a date she was asking a question and she kept bouncing back and forth between "Is it your, I mean our, Your, our, your, our church? She finally decided that it was no longer just our church but it was her church too! It made me so happy!

Some other good news is that I bought a fur hat :D, but I feel really dumb wearing it. I wore it one night but I just feel like a poser. It is a real fox fur hat and I think it is pretty awesome though! I am thinking about making it the new fashion in Utah because it is dang warm. I will try and send a picture. Well I can't wait to talk to you next week and I can't believe that it is next week! I will let you know what is going on with transfers next week. I will be sad to leave this area because our investigators are awesome and the ward is amazing!! But it could be fun to spend Christmas eve on a train! We will see what happens! I love you all.

I hope that you still have to country code that I sent 2 weeks ago because I don't remember it and if I look it up right now I will lose my letter but here is the rest of my number: 050 353 59 78.

It is a cell phone and we are told that we really only have 30-40 minutes but if you are really insistant we can talk longer... I do have two requests though.. think of some things or questions that you might have and write them next week so that I can have some answers for you.. and second, I love you all very much and I miss you very much but if you can try not to miss me too much in your letters I think it would help me not feel so homesick. Thanks for your support and help! I love you all so much!!!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Moving into December!!!

2009-11-30T06:15:00.000-08:00

Hey family!!

Dad, Thank you for not falling off the roof completely!! I would have been very upset with you! I am very upset with you for playing bball!! I swear you weren't supposed to be doing that anymore?! Be careful!

Mom, I am glad to hear that you are busy as ever, and that someone will make you rest for a few weeks! I am excited to hear about your trip after you get back.

Brynn, Congrats on all of your feats this last week! I have been telling stories about the two of us together and have been thinking about you a lot, especially today. I was thinking about our drive back from Vegas after the Alicia Keys concert and singing Wicked as loud as possible to stay awake. We have had a lot of fun these last few years. I think Ben would really like the gift you suggested! Tell him Hi and congrats to both of you for 1 year!

Chase and Ashley, It is good to hear that you two are having fun and that everything is going well. Pass on a congrats to Gordy and Allen and their wives. That is nuts!!! I can't believe that they are pregers ha. Thanks for the details on the game too! I have been dying since Friday to know what happened. I have to confess that yesterday in church my mind started to wander because the teacher was speaking in only Ukrainian and I couldn't understand a thing.

It was so good to hear from all of you this morning!! I am so happy that you all had an amazing Thanksgiving, even though some things weren't the same as we are used to. We have been talking a lot about Thanksgiving this last week in both our English lessons and with our investigators. I am always reminded that I need to be more thankful every day. I have been blessed with so much and I really need to remember that. We also talked a lot about Football because nothing goes better with Thanksgiving than family, pie and Football!! For Thanksgiving Day we got together with our district and had a very large lunch! We had a lot of pie to top it all off, but it wasn't as good as at home with mom's homemade rolls.

Other than that our week has been filled with work. We found a few new investigators who are going to be really fun to work with and who seem to really interested in knowing truth. We have been struggling with one of our main investigators this week. She is scared to come to church because she thinks she will have to change everything about her life, even not being able to exercise. We might have to drop her next week and focus on those who are keeping their commitments. That will be really hard. I don't want to just leave her but she is not really making much of an effort anymore. We will see what happens.

........

So more about life here. Our apartment is actually really nice inside, it was just remodeled and it has kind of an Asian feel to the inside. I sent pictures of it. Most of the apartments here are really, really small. One, maybe two rooms and a kitchen. I realized about 2 weeks after being here that every couch or chair that we sit on usually turns into their beds. I am amazed how they fit more than one family into one apartment. We are really blessed with our apartments here.

Also my companion and I get along really well. We have a lot of fun together and we teach well together. Mostly she teaches and I teach a little part or testify with everything that I have. She helps me a lot with the language and we try and speak only Russian when we are on the streets, at night when we are going home I get really lazy. The Language is coming. I am able to say a lot more then I could when I got here and I know a lot of it is because the Lord is really helping me. I am still struggling with a lot of the vocab because there is so much to learn in so little time. I am understanding more everyday and I find myself being able to know when someone is speaking to me in Russian or Ukrainian which helps a lot, because it happens a lot. I am also learning a few words in Ukrainian here and there. Here people tend to mix the two languages so it is good to know both. I am not trying to learn Ukrainian yet!!!! I am understanding a lot more of what I read which is really nice because then I can know what they are talking about in a lesson if I get lost. I am still carrying around both of my scriptures so when I am really lost I resort to my English set. I know that eventually I will be able to function as a normal person here but it will take time.

Well I should get going! I love you all and thanks for the emails and updates! I hope all is well! Have an amazing week!

Sister Larsen

SQUID!!!!!!

2009-11-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hello family!

Thank you for all of your emails and support! It was a very, very long week but we are pushing forward hoping for a second wind.

Dad, Thanks for taking care of everything for me with this money stuff. . . . I am glad that you are finding a little down time to spend with mom and Kota. Sorry you had to jump into hypothermia water to save the boat and my dog. I remember Chase doing that once—ha ha.

Mom--always busy. I am sorry to hear that you were released yesterday! You were the best Presidency ever! You were always so much fun and you made Young Womens that much better. You really gave it your all and I know that the girls really do appreciate all of your time and love that you put into your calling. I know that whatever comes next you will do the same, and go the extra mile, because that is how you are. I am excited for your trip with Dad, you both deserve a break after all of the events and work that you have had lately.

Brynn . . . . I am glad to hear that all is well in your world. How did your crazy week go last week? Did everyone love the boxing matches and names? How is your new roommate?

Chase and Ashley, I loved hearing about your cousin campout! It looked like a lot of fun and it reminded me of when Al and Derrick used to have all of us over. It sounds like you had a lot of fun but are pretty worn out. I can just imagine all of them. Chase good luck this week with your interview I hope everything goes well.

So updates for this week. Quarantine is finally over!!! I guess that this happens almost every year because everyone gets some kind of flu so the schools just pile on the homework for the kids to do through the 3 weeks that the schools are closed.

We have had an eventful week but it seemed like it was a never ending week. The mission has had a big push to get new investigators and baptismal dates so that we can hit our goal of 100 baptisms over 6 months by New Years. The mission is exploding with work. One companionship received 5 dates last week. They as a companionship have more standing dates than some zones. It is crazy how the faith of the Lord's servants can lead them to where they need to be. We had a harder week in our area but we are hoping that our work will pay off this week. We have so many people that we are teaching that you can just see how close they are. Their minds are really thinking about the things that they are learning and reading about but they just need that last push, or that first step of faith in the dark to reach the light.

Lena is an investigator who I think I have told you a little about. She is so close and she knows that Joseph was a prophet; she knows that the Book of Mormon is true but she doesn't know if she wants to make the commitment of baptism. She had an idea this last week of making borsht together at the church. We invited 2 or 3 members to come and join us. As we started making borsht members just kept coming to the church. We ended up with about 15 people including kids. The members shared conversion stories and how they decided to be baptized. It was really awesome. We called it our super Member present lesson. Lena, I think, felt a little awkward at first but then she really warmed up to the members. It was really cool! One of the members, Sister Lyba, started teaching her about the importance of the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. I tried to give her my name tag afterwards because she is a better missionary then I am.

Now to explain the title of this email... later in the week, we visited a mother and daughter whom we have been teaching English. We have wanted to try and teach them more about the gospel. We were talking with the daughter and she offered us what looked like shredded cheese... Definitely wasn't... Yep, it was squid! Dried Squid!! And I ate it!! TWICE!!! She kept offering it to me and I couldn't say no, I didn't know what to do so I ate it again. I had to buy food after so that I could try and get the chewy gross taste out of my mouth. We met up with the assistants after, because they were helping us with a lesson, and they said that they all love it! It was gross! Brynn I know that you would take my side on this! It was especially bad because I was expecting cheese not fish. haha Sister Movchanyuk and the Elders were laughing so hard at me because I wanted to get the taste out of my mouth so bad.

The lesson we had with them afterwards was actually really good but really draining. The elders helped so much and I am so happy they stayed for the lesson. They really know how to teach by the spirit and testify of the spirit. I think that what they said had a huge impact on our investigator and I think that she might be ready to really accept a date after being asked 4 times to be baptized. She said that she has a plan and I think that she wants to be baptized before Christmas, which would be awesome.

Alright, well, I am just rambling now. And we have to go because we are giving up our pday today so that we can have a Thanksgiving lunch with our district and then go to a museum on Thursday :D. But, I love you all and I hope that everything is good and well. By the way, we still don't have snow:D and I am not freezing yet! This is a good sign for me and for the Temple. As long as the weather stays good they can keep working on the outside and they are really close to having the windows in and the rock on the outside! It is so exciting. Oh and they have started to plant trees! So cool. I will send you pictures next week! And I will try and send a Christmas letter/pictures today or Thursday--Don't open it until Christmas because it is all I can send!

Have an amazing Thanksgiving! Tell everyone that I say hi, and cut down a pretty Christmas tree:D. And I want to hear all about it! Love you all!

Have a good week and know that I love you!

Sister Larsen

Cold Water Doesn't Dampen Baptismal Spirits!

2009-11-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I finally got my pictures last tuesday! thank you thank you!!! I think it just takes a really really long time. :D And Dad all of the rest of the Atm transactions were mine. I used all of that money to buy a coat, boots, gloves, hat, and things that I needed for winter.

Dad, it is good to hear that you are home and congrats on winning your trial!! .........

Mom, I don't know how you do it all! I would be tired after just one of your projects. They should send you over here and help out with the work! I am sure that we would reach all of our goals if you were over here! I am glad to hear that Neil's funeral was nice, that is still just so sad!

Brynn, good luck this week with the United Way Campaign at the firm! Weren't you in charge of it last year too? They just can't get enough of your work! I love the boxing idea and the names, you and Chase know how to give the best nicknames! And hey now you get to show off your amazing boxing skills to all of the lawyers. Maybe they will be afraid of you after you knock someone out!

Chase and Ashley, Hey I think that you have some interviews coming up either this week or next week so I wanted to wish you good luck!! I hope that everything goes as you want it and that you travel safe. I hope that school and work are going well and that you are getting a chance to go to some of the games every now and then.

So the good news of the week is that Svetlana was baptised on Saturday!! And it ended up as an amazing day with a very bumpy start. We woke up and got ready really fast and headed over to the church to start filling the font and getting everything ready. When we left I had a feeling that I was forgetting something and that something wasn't going to go the way I wanted. We got there 30 mins after we had wanted to so we ran and started filling the font so it would be full by the time that the baptism started. We went to the kitchen and started getting the programs ready and cleaning the kitchen. We went back to check the water temp. and then ran to the store to buy cookies. We got back after the water had been running for an hour and a half and went to set up chairs in the baptismal room. We opened the font and there was still only 3 inches of water in the bottom. We had forgotten to close the drain!!! It was Sister Movchanyuk's first baptism here too and we didn't know how to work the font. We started filling buckets and dumping them into the font. The water was freezing because we had let all of the hot water drain out. We went back to the kitchen and started boiling the biggest pot of water I have ever seen. Two companionships of elders showed up an hour before the baptism to practice a musical number that we wanted to do but instead they started helping us fill buckets from the custodial closet and cleaning the water with a giant ladel because some sticks had gotten in the water from out buckets and shoes. Thirty minutes until the start and the elders were still carryin water and we greeted Svetlana with a smile. She laughed and didn't mind that the water was freezing she was just happy to be there. The Baptism started with the font almost full. After the talk and as everyone was walking into the room the Elder dumped the pot of boiling water into the font. Everyone laughed and Svetlana walked into the font with slight nerves. She was smiling the whole time and we turned and waved to her husband. She was baptised and as she walked up the stairs she turned and looked at everyone smiling at her. She found me and sister Movchanyuk and gave us a huge smile. She brought her whole family and two friends to the baptism. The members didn't let the friends leave until they had a Book of Mormon and every pamplet that they church has printed in Russian. It was an amazing day!

The rest of the week was good too. We had Zone Conference and President talked about pushing through and playing hard through the fourth quarter. Three transfers ago the mission set a goal of 100 baptisms before the end of the year. The numbers for baptisms in a 6 month period have been going down for the last 10ish years and we didn't just want to break the trend we wanted to double it. We are now in the fourth quarter of this goal with only half of our baptisms that we need. They showed a highlight clip from the Holiday bowl where BYU came back from a 45-25 game against SMU. It really got us all so pumped to reach our goal. And man that was an amazing comeback!

Afterwards Sister Steinagel made us a Thanksgiving dinner with stuffing and lots of pie! It was nice and reminded me of Thanksgiving at home! I can't believe it is already that time of year. We haven't had any snow yet but it is just a little colder than cold. I think I am starting to get used to it a little more. Ukraine is still under quarentine for another week but I think it has calmed down a little. People are still wearing masks and won't really talk to us on the buses but it is getting better slowly.

Well I love you all and I hope you have an amazing, relaxing week! Good luck with everything this week and I hope that everything goes well! Tell everyone that I say hi, and Chase if you see Liz Lambert will you tell her happy birthday for me. I haven't had a chance to get her a letter out yet but I want her to know that I didn't forget.

Love you!
Sister Larsen

I made it through transfer 1 untouched!

2009-11-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I made it through my first transfer and we will be staying here together.

It was good to hear from all of you! I am so sorry to hear about Mary's husband! Please send my love when you see their family! I can't even imagine how hard that would be for them.

Dad, thanks for everything and for watching out for me! I kinda saw it coming actually. I had a feeling 2 weeks ago that is why I asked if you could send me updates on how much was in my account each week. I was nervous to check on these computers here because I didn't know how secure they were so I had no idea what was going on. But I am glad that your trial is going well and that you are enjoying it! Hopefully you will be able to go home soon and see mom and skin. :D (Editor's note: Ukraine is notorious for stealing credit card numbers and selling them on the black market. Brooke's was obtained somehow by these crooks and soon people around the globe were depleting her checking account!)

Mom, I am proud of you for hitting your PR eventhough I don't really know what that means ha. good job! I tell people all the time about your crazy running group and how amazing you are to run so many marathons! I hope that things are going better in the technology department and that you are figuring things out.

Brynn, Thanks for the email! I always love reading your rambles it makes me remember all of the times that we chatted on facebook while I was supposed to be doing school stuff. I miss our little chats a lot! ...........

Chase and Ashley, So I was listening to Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference with a member and his parents that we just started teaching and it made me think for the times that we used to read scriptures together as a family and you would put your finger really close to my face and say "I'm not touching you." It made me laugh as we were listening and I had to explain to the parents that is how we were. How is everything going with you two? How are your church callings and the end of school coming? Keep me updated. ............

So it has been another amazing week! Svetlana was not baptised on Saturday but she is having her interview with President this Wednesday and things are looking good. She finally met with us after not wanting to meet for a week and things weren't really looking the best. She and her husband weren't talking she was struggling with her health and things just seemed to keep coming up. We were nervous that her husband wouldn't give his permission for her to be baptised. Well last week we were in a lesson and a member called with some great news. When we called her back she said that Svetlana had a really bad day and was just feeling so lonely. She was crying and knelt down and prayed that Heavenly Father would soften her husband's heart and that he would talk to her. She called him and told him how much she missed him and loved him and then she just waited, after a few minutes of silence he said that he missed her too! They made up and she told him that she wanted to be baptised. He said that he was really happy for her but he wasn't ready yet. They watched the Restoration together this last week and he is helping her to prepare for Saturday! She said that she has seen the Lord blessing her life already! Her health has improved and she is really happy. I can't wait for Saturday!

We are working with some amazing people. I don't know if I told you about Nelya and Anatoli.. They are an older couple that we found in the area book. They are awesome. She really wants to be baptised so we are working with the husband mostly. The first time we were there he didn't really want to talk to us but each time he opens up a little more. This last week when we arrived he had a huge smile on his face and he ran to get his Book of Mormon and place it next to his chair. He was ready with questions to ask us and I think he really enjoyed reading, they even asked for another homework assignment. He really wants to meet you, Dad. They said that they want to meet all of you and they invited us all back to their house when we come back! They are awesome! I can't wait for you to meet them.

I am trying to think of other things that happened this week. It is really cold! Everyone has started wearing their fur coats and fur hats! I really didn't think that people wore them but they do! And they always match perfectly! They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here and Christmas is in January along with a really really long New years! They get 2-3 weeks off of work!!! And we have to go in early because it gets a little crazy at night during the New year holiday. The swine flu is still here and everyone is still sick. We are feeling fine. We have been going to bed a few mins early to try and fight off anything that might come our way. The schools are still closed and church has only been an hour. It is hard to get some people to meet with us and do things with us because everyone is terrified. One of the members said something smart the other day though. She said that we can't just lock ourselves us and sit in a room. We need to take steps to protect ourselves and be comforted in the knowledge that if we do our part the Lord will help us to do our work on the earth and when we are done it is our time to go. I think it helped the members to not be afraid of moving forward with whatever they need to do and to not be afraid to meet with us.

Well I love you all and hope all is well! Have a good week and good luck with everything you have going on!! I was going to send pictures in the Christmas package I was going to get ready and send next week but I will just send the letters sorry again. (Editor's note: In an earlier email exchange addressing the stolen banking card, she realized she would have no access to money to purchase any of the items she wanted to send home for Christmas). I guess you will just have to wait till next Christmas for my amazing idea!

Love you! Sister Larsen

Ps. Kilee I can't email you back but I will try and write you a letter soon!

The swine flu epidemic has hit Ukraine!

2009-11-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Dad, I was going to be so mad at you if you left me hanging in the top of the 9th tied for an entire week! But thankfully Chase updated me and then you finished off the score. I actually really love the sports updates! We don't get any news here about anything and our DL is a huge U fan... so that is all I hear about. Good luck this week with trial! I know it isn't your favorite thing but just remember that I am arguing with the grandma's here at the same time :D.

Mom, I am not surprised to hear of a car load of projects! You amaze me every week. Always looking for some way to improve yourself. I was actually thinking how good it would be to buy a new set of scriptures myself. I have loved having my Russian scriptures because they are marked with all of the lesson scriptures, all of the basic docturines. My English scriptures have a lot of things that I have marked for a lot of different reasons and now when I read them I always read the scripture the same way with the same meaning. It is nice to start over every once and awhile and take a new look at the scriptures.

Chase and Ashley, I am glad to hear that everything is going well. I am actually really curious who was the cat and who was the mouse? I want to see pictures of all of these costumes. I am glad that school is going well and that work is good, that drive is killer when you have to do it everyday! I couldn't open the picture that you sent. I think you have to send it as an attachment.

Brynn, I kinda already wrote you a little note but I love you and have thought about you a lot!

So to start off, last week when mom told me how to protect myself from the swine flu I just kinda laughed and didn't really pay attention to it. I thought to myself, how could the swine flu get me all the way in Ukraine? Well, the good news is I am not sick yet with the swine flu but Ukraine is practically shut down. All of the schools and universities have been shut down for the next 3 weeks and we are not allowed to meet in large groups. Everyone has bought those masks that mom bought to take to Spain and everyone wears them everywhere. When we try to contact people on the bus or on the street they just cover their mouths and walk away. Also everyone has cancelled their appointments with us because they are afraid of the Gripe, haha. I think it is really really funny actually. But as a missionary, there is no rest for the weary so we are pressing on with the work :D.

This last week has been a lot of fun. We went to the Ballet last Tuesday with Ulya and Annetta, a mother and a daughter that we have been working with. It was a lot of fun but our seats were aweful. We are allowed to go to one cultural thing a transfer so we went to Romeo and Juliet, the ballet for about $3.00 US. It was awesome.

We have had a lot of good and bad this week.

Cvetlana agreed to meet with us again and things are going so well. She quit smoking on Saturday and she has had a big increase of faith these last few days. It makes such an amazing difference when a member is helping her. We have again hit a little bump in the road because of the flu and she is nervous to leave her house so we are going to try and work with her a little over the phone and see if we can still make her date for this Saturday. She said that she would be okay if we moved it to next week but we will see what happens. I am really excited for her, she has made some really great changes and you can see the difference.

They don't celebrate Halloween here at all and no one really knows about it. So we had a harvest fest for all of the members and our investigators. The bishop cancelled it because of the flu but he said that if we still wanted to do it we could without the support of the ward. That made things hard but we had already told a bunch of people about it so we still had it. It was fun and a few members came along with some of our investigators. I think they all had fun and our investigators were able to meet some of the members. It was nice of them to come and support us even when they were afraid of getting sick. It turned out okay in the end.

This week we are starting a consecration week. We are putting all of our efforts into making sure that we are working hard and keeping every rule to the letter. We are going to have a hard week with everyone cancelling on us so we will just try to do our part. I liked a quote that mom wrote in the book she sent me. "Pray as if everything depending on the Lord, and Work as if everything depended on us." That is my motto! Well, I love you all and hope all is well. Have an amazing week!

Sister Larsen

ps. it is better to just send letters to the office because we don't even check our mail. You can send letters directly to the office or in the pouch and I still get dearelders through the pouch. I have heard from Holly and Grandma and Grandpa Crookston so far. It has been fun to hear from them. Tell them hi for me. Love you!

A long but fast week

2009-10-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

So this week has flown by and we are running a little late so this letter might be a little shorter then the rest. We have had very long week but the time seems to be going faster. We haven't been able to meet with Svetlana this week. It has been really frustrating to try and meet with her. After we gave her the baptismal date for the 7th she has had a lot of problems. Her husband doesn't really approve and a lot of things have gone wrong. We are really hoping that she will meet with us this week so we can try and help her a little more.

So to answer some of your questions, every P-day is different. Last week we went shopping so that I could buy a coat, boots, and gloves. I bought an amazing coat! Everyone here wears the most beautiful coats... I wouldn't say mine is beautiful because they are also really expensive. Mine is a big down black comforter with fur on the hood!!! We aren't allowed to wear the fur hats but I will forsure buy one before I go home! Everyone wears them though! Everyone wears big leather or fur coats it is awesome. It is just what you would expect from Ukraine!

Last week was freezing, I thought that my fingers were going to fall off one of the nights but this week it has warmed up a lot. It is really hard to judge how the weather is going to be because in the morning the whole area is usually covered in fog and in the afternoons and in the busses it gets really toasty. But again at night it gets really cold! Some of the members are saying that it is supposed to be one of the coldest winters here.. Just my luck right. Oh and they just turned on our heat this week! It was really cold in our apartment this last week!

All weekend we have been in the city center. We had stake conference and they rented out a big theater to hold all of the members. It was a lot of fun. One of our investigators took us around a little of the city after to show us some of the history it was fun. We went back today with Sister Clark and Sister Larsen and saw a few of the big churches. It was a lot of fun! Our area is mostly outside of the main downtown area. We are in Borshahevski. It is actually a little ghetto area, but I love it! The members are really amazing! A lot of them invite us over to give them lessons and a lot of them are amazing at missionary work. They will let us come over and teach complete strangers at their apartments! They will usually feed us supper and tea or a treat when we teach with them. They love having us over and are really supportive. Each week they will come and talk with our investigators at church and testify to them of how being baptised has changed their lives and the lives of their family. All of them are converts so they are so amazing to work with!

Our area is also really big. We are assigned to one ward but we work in the whole area because the elders will give us the single women that they are teaching.Our district is also pretty amazing. We work with the Office elders, the Assistants and our district leader and his trainee. They are all really fun and we love doing stuff all together. Each of them adds so much to the area and they are all really hard workers. Our district leader is amazing and so funny! He remembers everything, every little detail about everything and everyone! I wish I had that talent! We also teach a lot with the Assistants because they have given us a lot of the people that they have started teaching or that they find. It is a lot of fun and I learn a lot from them.Also my area is very mixed when it comes to the languages. Almost everyone speaks both Ukrainian and Russian but they have one that they like to speak better then the other. We are teaching a couple where they husband speaks Russian and the Wife answers in Ukrainian but they understand each other. When they realize that I only speak Russian they will speak in Russian so I can understand a little. I think in the city you have to know both, but all of the schools and government function in Ukrainian.

I don't really know what our address is at our apartment. We never write it so I will have to get that to you next week. The Mission Office moved right before I got here so the address that is on the letters that I have sent is the new address. And I have thought a little about Christmas stuff, I was wondering if ...... Thanks!

Well I have to run but I love you and hope that all is well. Sorry if this letter is a little scattered. I hope I got a lot of your questions answered! I love you and hope you have a good week. Good luck with all of the electronics I hope that you can get it all figured out soon.

Love,
Sister Larsen

Publisher's note: Some readers have asked about emailing Brooke. I am not aware of any prohibition against it, so if you want to email her please do. Her address is shown at the top of the blog. Thanks for thinking about Brooke and including her in your prayers. Mike

Tweed, leather and fur and it's only October

2009-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

It sounds like everyone is having an amazing week. Boys I am sure that you are having a blast just please don't shoot each other or at least don't shoot my dog. Also I am sure that Terry is sitting in the back spitting on Ty and Grant's backs.

Thanks for the letters! Mom, of course you are getting a million things done. Thanks for the email. I remember you telling me that story before but I loved hearing it again. I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me here. I will always start teaching and then in the middle of the part that I am teaching I will just look at Sister Movchanyuk and smile.

Dad, ....!

Penny, ......

Chase, ....

Ashley, ....!

So I have made it through my second full week here and my 3rd full month on a mission. It has been a hard but amazing week. The beginning of the week was really hard. Everyone was cancelling their appointments and I felt like we weren't really teaching a lot. Also the people that we were able to teach aren't really progressing and I think they just want to learn english. We had a lesson with Natasha, we taught her about the importance of coming to church and about the sacrament. She said that she would really try and we even offered to pick her up on our way. We also taught Vika again. Thankfully we were able to teach her at the same members house because the other member that we set the appointment up with cancelled on us 15 minutes before! We had a really great lesson. She said that she really wants to believe that it is true but she just doesn't believe that we can have these great amazing blessings. One night we had a lesson with Sasha. She is a woman that we met on the street that wanted to learn English. As we started teaching her she pulled out an Icon and tried to have us translate it and read the prayer that was on the back. We started to teach her about what we believe and she wouldn't let us talk. Finally when the lesson was over we got up to leave and I turned back to turn off the lights and she had placed the Icon of Mary in the corner of one of the pictures of Christ, it made me laugh. We then went to talk to the assistants to get some clothes that the elders had left in the office and Sasha walked in and tried to give an Icon to one of the elders, He told her that it would be really offensive and she stormed out of the church. The whole way home we were extremely jumpy because we thought that she would pop out of the corner. Sister Movchanyuk turned to me and said "something good has to be coming." And the next day something amazing happened.We met with Cvetlana, she is a referral from a member. She has been coming to church for several weeks but she hasn't wanted to meet with the missionaries. She finally agreed to meet with us but her husband wouldn't come. We met with her and sister Luba. We watched a talked from general conference and then we read a few scriptures and talked about repentance. Sister Movchanyuk showed her a scripture on baptism and she started crying and said that she wanted that (that was the only part that I really understood). After a few minutes of talking Sister Movchanyuk pulled out a calendar and we set a date for Cvetlana:D. My heart jumped, and I started crying, she was crying and Sister Luba was crying. I haven't been that happy in a really long time. She has really started taking steps to change her life and we are so excited for her and her family. She knows that it will be hard and that her life will not just all of a sudden be easy but she sees the big picture. This has made all of the preparation and all of the no's worth it. To see one person begin to change her life so that she and her family can be happy. It was a great week.

So about Sister Movchanyuk. She is from Harkov, Ukraine. She has lived in Italy with her mom for the last 5 years and she speaks Russian, Ukrainian, Italian and English! Russian is her native language but she speaks atleast 3 of them almost perfect. She is really short but she is the fastest walker I have ever met in my life! I feel like I am constantly out of breath and running to keep up with her. She is really nice and we get a long. We sing as we walk around the city from one place to another. Last night she was really mean to me! We went to visit Lena and we were on our way home for the night. We were sitting on the Marchuteka and I was closest to the window. She stood up and let a really really really smelly man sit next to me trapping me in the seat. Then the man infront of me closed the window and I was dying. I really don't think that I have ever smelled anything so bad in my life. I was trying really hard not to gag. After 2 stops it was so bad that sister Movchanyuk decided it was enough and we got off the Marchuteka 4 or 5 stops early and waited for another bus. We both put handsanitizer on our hands and sat and smelled them until our lungs felt like they had cleared out a little. We laughed all night about it. Well we should get going but I love you all and hope that all is well at home.

Give my Skin (Dakota) a berry berry big hug and a kiss! I hope you all have an amazing week! Thank for the letter and pictures I will look for them!Love, Cecmpa Larsen

First Full Week--Lots to Learn

2009-10-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hey family that I love!

I hope you all have had an amazing week! Thank you for the emails everyone, it is so good to hear from you, and to hear how everyone is doing!

To answer some of your questions: for transportation we either walk or we take these little buses called marshutekas. They are either small public buses or they are white creeper vans that they have put bus seats in. Everyone piles into these. I am just getting the hang of being able to stay standing in these things. The first few days I could barely keep my balance. We eat lunch at home or we take it with us to the church, it is usually rice, noodles, buckwheat, or eggs and vegis and Bread, there is always bread. It is actually not too bad.

My companion is actually a really good cook and she was wondering if you could send a few recipes? Maybe swedish pancakes, and some easy soups?

Mom congrats on the marathon! Everytime I tell someone that you run marathons they are amazed! It really is an amazing accomplishment to do just one let alone many! Wow! .......

Dad, ....... Hunting should be a lot of fun and I sure that both Kota and beverage boy are looking forward to it. .......Tell everyone that I say Hey!

Brynn, ..........

Chase and Ashley, .............

So this has been my first full week. I have learned a lot. One of the most important lessons that I learned is that if there is standing water on the ground it is probably not rain water or water from a broken sprinkler. Don't Step In It.. bad idea. haha. Thank goodness I didn't learn this through my own mistakes. I have been avoiding all of the puddles for obvious reasons-- I don't want my shoes to be soaked all day-- but last night I saw a man just peeing on the side of the road. ha lesson learned.

I have had a lot of ups and downs this week. Conference was an amazing up that I am still hanging on to. We have listened to Elder Holland's talk twice already. I love how powerfully he speaks. I want to testify like he does. I can say that I know that Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is true but the way that he testifies just pierced my soul. There were a lot of amazing talks, but I haven't heard all of them yet. On Saturday we listened to the first hour on a cd that we have of conference in English but then we went to the church and the whole first session was in Russian, I could understand a few words here and there but really I didn't get anything. We then taught a mother and her daughter and they stayed for part of the second session. One of the Elders in our ward had printed off the talks already so he let me read them as they were given. Sunday I was a little smarter and I brought Sister Movchanyoks Dvd player and listened to them in English as everyone else watched it in Ukranian.

We also taught Vika this week. She is someone we found through English classes and we taught her the second lesson on the plan of salvation. We taught her at an amazing member's house. They all sat and participated in both the English lesson and the gospel lesson. I taught my part and by the end I was really frustrated that I couldn't understand anything at all. I thought that the lesson had gone terribly wrong and that we probably wouldn't teach her again. When we left Sister Movchanyok said that it was an amazing lesson! I started crying out of frustration but now I just have to laugh because I had gotten myself all worked up for nothing. That is how a lot of my day goes. I will introduce myself on a bus and they will start talking so I will motion for Sister Movchanyok to come over. She will talk to them for a minute and get their number and I will be so excited and then when we get off the bus she will say that they weren't interested at all. It is really funny, sometimes I feel like a silly dog that gets all excited to go in the car when in reality she is going to the vet. ha.

We spend a lot of our day tracking or teaching. For tracking during the day we will hand out private English fliers and try to talk to people in the park. We get shut down a lot more then we teach when we are tracking. In the evenings, before or after appointments we will knock on the doors in the apartment buildings. This is the most terrifying thing because the hallways in the apartment buildings are not very well lit and they are old with spray paint and then you are waiting for someone to answer the door. They are usually these little nice baboshkas (grandmothers). Most of the new investigators that we have found have been through English classes and through the Area book.

This area has just been opened for the sisters so we have taken a lot of the contacts from the elders' area book and we have been working on finding them. Last night we went to an address and it was a lot of fun. It was the older couple and they are amazing! They welcomed us in and gave us slippers. They had a lot of questions since they were last taught by the missionaries and we talked a lot about families and the temple. I am excited to teach them again this week.

We have a lot of investigators right now but none of them are progressing really fast. Valentina is a woman that has a baptismal date for next weekend but she in so busy that she hasn't been able to meet with us. She is also really hard to teach. She is very much stuck in her ways from the Provaslavian church (Everyone here belongs to the Provaslavian Church, it is really frustrating). We are really hoping to help her progress this week. She came to all of conference yesterday and loved it.

So there is a tradition here that I have had to just tell myself to suck it up. You all know how much I love feet! Well the tradition is that when you enter a home you remove your shoes promptly and normally they will give you a pair of slippers to wear while you are in their home. It really is a sweet gesture but oh man the first few days I struggled to keep my mind on the conversations and not on my feet, which is really hard since I don't understand anything that is being said anyway. ha

Well I love you all and hope that you are having an amazing week! Good luck with everything this week!

Cecmpa Larsen

First letter from Kiev!

2009-10-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hello my family!

It was so good to talk to you all this last week. It sounds like you are all doing amazing! I hope that everyone enjoyed their conference weekend and I hope that the race went well!

Mom that is funny that you talked about a first for me this last weekend because yesterday I went through and listed all of my firsts that I had just yesterday. We left the MTC on Tuesday and we arrived in Kiev on Wednesday! The entire flight to Vienna I spent talking to a woman named Elizabeth. She is from Vienna and she had been living in the states. I started out talking to her about the church and why I was going to Kiev. I asked her about her own religion and after awhile she told me that she was Buddist. I went silent and that was the longest minute ever as I sat thinking "oh, man they did not tell me what to do in this situation." We talked for a little about religion and then we just talked about life in general. I just decided to get her with kindness. As we started to get off the plane I offered her a Book of Mormon and just asked her to read it and see how she felt. This was the first time I got rejected. But she was really nice about it. We exchanged emails and she hugged me goodbye. I had to say goodbye to Sister Burke in Vienna which was really hard but also exciting knowing that there were a lot of new things to come. Our flight was delayed in Vienna and we were all so tired that we could barely hold our eyes open. But we did get to talk to some people and somehow everyone we talked to didn't believe in God and that made it really hard. Let's just say we got rejected a lot :D.

When we got off the plane in Kiev it was really cold. The wind here is amazingly cold. We got our luggage and mine had been broken, the handle at the top was broken off. But an elder from Armaina found his bag sliced open and torn apart. They had put all of his sand covered clothing in a plastic bag. I felt really bad for him.

President Steinagel and the APs picked us up and took us around the city. They took us to place in Kiev where Ukraine was decicated and opened to the church, and he read the dedication prayer. The APs then walked with us around the city center and we took the metro back to where the van would pick us up. We went to President Steinagel's home (which looks a lot like the homes in Salt Lake) and they made us dinner. We talked for a little and all of us were going cross-eyed trying to keep our eyes open.

Thursday we walked to the new temple being built, and it is so amazing to see it in person. We met our companions at the chapel right next to the temple. Sister мовчанюк is my companion. I don't know how to spell it in English letters. She is originally from Ukraine but has been living in Italy for the last several years. We work in the temple area so we get to walk to the temple every day. She is amazing; she is a hard worker and she is an amazing cook! That first night we taught English class and our first lesson. I didn't understand one word once English class was over. But I did get to testify about the Book of Mormon, I hope she understood anything that I said. Friday and Saturday we spent teaching English classes and a few lessons. The APs took us to two lessons that they are giving to us because they are mostly girls. We are teaching four girls English and we are going to teach them the first lesson this week. They have also been working with юля and her family. She is really hesitant because she had been meeting with the JWs and she didn't like some of the things that they were teaching and she thinks that there are a lot of similarities between the two churches. We are teaching her this week as well and I hope that we can pray with her so that she can feel the difference.

Yesterday we meet a lot of the members and they are amazing. They are almost all converts except for a lot of the little kids. There are not a ton of full families and most of the families are part member or only member families. We had fast Sunday because we watch general conference next weekend. I am really excited to watch it and to see валентина's reaction to it. We are really trying to work with the members and their families to bring the rest of their family and their friends to church.

Well I should probably get going. I love you all and I hope that all is well with you! Oh, by the way, President Steinagel said that the best way to send mail is to get a US postal service box and to send it through regular mail. When you write the description on it be honest but really vague and general in your descriptions, like "personal items" or "used clothes" something like that and that takes about a week to 2 weeks. Well I love you and miss you a lot! I hope you all have an amazing week!

сестра ларсен
Sister Brooke Larsen
я люблю теба

p.s. I ate Borche for the first time yesterday and man it was amazing! I don't think I will do too badly here after all :D. Also, Chase, you might be a little jealous but there are Mercedes and Bentlys everywhere... I don't know where they get the money but maybe they are all mobsters. I will try and get a picture with one soon and send it with to you:D

Brooke's Arrival in Kiev!!!!

2009-10-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Kyiv Ukraine! As you know, Sister Larsen arrived here safe and sound. We have attached a picture of her standing with us, as well as with her group in front of the Kyiv Temple which is under construction.

We have had orientation and soon the missionaries will be off to their areas of assignment. Sister Larsen's new companion is Sister Movchanyuk, an experienced and cheerful missionary who has a strong testimony. The will be serving in Borschahivsky which is in the outskirts of Kyiv.

There is a letter from your missionary on its way to you; however, it may not reach you for about two weeks.

We are certainly happy to have Sister Larsen in our mission!

Sincerely,

President Lane O. and Sister Jennefer Steinagel

The Count Down to Lift Off Begins....

2009-09-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

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

Jump'n for Joy--Less than Two Weeks til we FLY!!!

2009-09-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

"I swear I was born here [MTC] and will die here!

2009-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hey family!
I am glad that the OC Tanner job went amazing!

Brynn, your flowers are so beautiful! I have been showing everyone around me the pictures that dad sent. You are amazing! ........... [Editor's note: I am omitting some of the personal family stuff...just know that she thinks we are all amazing. Mostly she wants us to keep the letters coming so she says lots of nice things to us.]

Mom, thanks for doing everything for me!! You are amazing! When is the marathon? It should be coming up soon! ........

Dad, you are a machine!! ..........

Chase and Ashley, how is school and work going? I heard BYU won on Saturday. .............

So this week has been really really long. It has been one of my longest weeks. We just started doing 100% Russian yesterday and it is so hard and so frustrating. Every day I get so frustrated because I can't say what I want to say all the time. Sister Burke has been counting down the days which actually makes them seem longer. I want to leave but it is really scaring knowing that I will be in UKRAINE and I don't know the language.

We have also been having a hard time teaching this week in Russian. My confidence has been taken down to the floor which is actually kinda a good thing because now I will have to work hard these last 2 weeks to try and get it back before I get taken down again in Ukraine. haha but it is good here as always I am learning so much everyday, I just think we are ready to get out of here. I can't wait to get on that bus.

We have a few interesting things happen this week. The first I wanted to tell you about is Cectpa Loboda, I will send you a picture of her. Last week when we went to the temple she was so sweet. She got all ready in her white clothes and was looking in the mirror she then ran back into her change room and got a white ribbon out of her bag that she has had for a long time. She tied it around her head with a bow and she sat and smiled at herself in the mirror. She was so happy the whole day. You couldn't take the smile off of her face. It made me so excited to go and start this work.

I talked to a man named Derek this week on the phone. He had met the missionaries and was calling the number on the pass along card for a free movie. I got to testify to him of the love that our Heavenly Father has for him and that he was doing the right thing. I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and it was an amazing moment. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and to find out for himself. I am so excited for him to meet with the missionaries and to discover for himself the great blessings that come with the gospel.

Well we are starting to count down. We get our flight plans this week and we will start packing next week. Sorry I keep asking for things but there are a few things I need before I take off. ...................

I love you all so much and I hope all is well. Last thing, I was wondering if you could either talk to some of my friends and send me a few dearelders or something. The mail during the week really helps the days go by. Thanks again for all of your support. You are amazing and I love you! [Editor's note: I think Brooke would love to hear from folks via letters during the week. She loves the emails on Tuesdays but would love something the rest of the week if anyone gets a chance to write her.]

love,
Cecmpa Larsen

2009-09-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello dear family!

Sounds like it has been a happening place in the Larsen home the last few days! My family is so crafty I love it! And I am so proud of the big worker men for getting all of those crafts done! I got a great letter from grandma and will you tell her thanks. I am going to try and write her today and also tell carol gee thank your for the picture.

Brynn!! I can't believe that this job is next week! I am so excited for you and I am just imagining all of the amazing things that your are doing with glittering trees and walls of flowers! I want to see pictures! You better now forget to take pictures of these or else I will never let you forget it!

Mom, sounds like you have had fun cleaning out all of the old closets! I have no idea what this story is that everyone is talking about! I want to read it, maybe you could send me a copy! I am glad that no one has lost any fingers through all of the craziness! Oh and Sister Jones was our coordinating sister when we first got her! She is amazing I love her! I miss her a lot too! She is awesome!

Dad, sounds like you will be in and out of slc for a little. I am impressed with all of the amazing work that you do and that you still manage to help all of us out with all of our stuff!

Chase and Ashley, I think I need a letter for you two explaining all of the craziness that you have had with knifes and brownies?? Sounds like you have had the most eventful week! How have your first few days been with school? And I want to hear all about your interviews!!

So this week has been eventful for me as well! We got all of our new missionaries last week! And things are just starting to get interesting. I think everyone has started to get comfortable and things are starting to come out that haven't surfaced yet so I think this next week will be long. It has been really fun to get to know them! They all have such great stories and are such amazing sisters! They have changed the welcoming process a lot so we have spent a lot of our class time in training meetings for the orientation that is now on Thursday nights with the branch presidency. It went a lot better than my orientation because they weren't like deer in the headlights. They listened to a lot of what we were saying and they will all be great missionaries.

Elder Scott came and talked to us on Tuesday and he gave us two amazing blessings. He gave us the gift of tongues and also an apostalic gift of protection. All of my worries have completely left since that night. I will write you more about it!

We also had a surprise last friday night. Two of the native Russian speaking sisters came in to the MTC really early. They were suppose to go stay with friends but they got swept up with a group of missionaries and got checked in. They have been good sports because the MTC won't let them leave to go be with their friends. I feel bad, they were so excited to see Utah a little before they came in. One of the sisters speaks really good english and the other sister doesn't really speak any english. The one that speaks english has a rough relationship with her family and I think she is here against their judgment. She has great faith and she has a really strong testimony! She knows it is true more then anything! They were able to go and do baptisms today. They haven't been through the temple but they will go next week :D. I can't wait to go with them! We took them up to the temple on Sunday and they were taking pictures of everything. They took pictures of the don't walk on the grass signs, homes, random groups of missionaries, everything! They are just so excited to be here and to be so close to the church! Their enthusiasm is contagious! I am excited to meet the rest of the Cecmpbl tomorrow! They will be so great!

.......

I think that is pretty much it! I love you all and I am so happy that I got to hear from you all! A few things... I checked on my flight status and it is tentitively (?) sept 29 at 8:35ish am... So if I have time I think I am going to try and call home. It will probably be around 7ish. :D When we checked our flight information we got really excited know that we are actually going to leave. I love it here but it would be nice to be outside a little.

........ One last thing... it might be a little much but I am dying for some homemade rolls?? They just aren't as good here. Thanks!

I love you all and hope you have a good week! I will send a letter and some pictures today hopefully!! Thanks for the support!

cecmpa Lapcoh

Halfway thru the MTC!!!

2009-08-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hey amazing family!

How is everyone doing?? So on Sunday we hit our half way mark! We are so excited because we have our first set of new missionaries coming in tomorrow! We are getting 8 new sisters and a total of 24 new missionaries in our branch. There is also another Russian branch that is getting about the same amount! It is crazy how many Russians there are here right now. Then next Tuesday we will be getting the Native Russians, Which I can hardly wait for.

Things are really great here! I am trying to work hard and I am always tired and I am hoping I can stay that way my whole mission! I love being a missionary so much!

Dad wanted me to explain a little about our day so here it is.
They have just started a new program here so a lot of things are changing.
We wake up around 6:30, sometimes at 6 because they have the gym open for sisters in the morning. We will usually run a mile or two and stretch. I have started just going down and dancing on the basketball court in the mornings and it is amazing! [Editor’s note: Brooke takes Hip Hop to the MTC and causes chaos among Elders] Most days we get ready and have breakfast at 7:00 and start class at 7:30-11:30. Most of this class time is done by the teacher and we will usually teach a lesson of some sort. We have lunch at 11:30. Sometimes we have gym right after lunch for 50 minutes, but it is random every day. We have class from 12:15-4:30, dinner and then class again from 5:15-9:00. One of the blocks of class is our own study time where we do not have a teacher. We do personal study, companion study and then Language. They have a computer program that we use here called TALL. We don't use it as much as we should but most of our language time is directed towards our lessons and tasks that we have to do each week. Every Wednesday we teach in the TRC to Volunteers which I look forward to every week!

I hope that helps a little. Every day is a little different. For gym we usually run and then do abs or lunges. Last Saturday morning we played softball which was so much fun! I am still a little sore though! It has been forever since I have thrown a ball! It reminded me of playing catch with everyone out on the front lawn. I really loved it and I will say I am not as bad as I thought I was going to be. :D

So yesterday Sister Burke and I went and taught the first lesson to a teacher to get some feed back on our teaching in Russian. We struggled through it and it wasn't too bad. When we got done I realized that as I was teaching about Prophets and the different dispensations, I forgot to teach how prophets have the authority to teach the words of God. I forgot to teach about the priesthood power that is giving to prophets. I knew right when I finished my section that I had left out a really important part. That knowledge of the Priesthood authority that was giving to Joseph Smith is what makes everything work so perfectly. It gives us that authority to baptize and perform other ordinances. I realized how important that authority is to us. I know that through that authority we have the right to ask for the blessings that are promised to us. Because I had forgotten to teach that principle the lesson didn't really flow until it had been taught. It amazes me how much better the lesson started going once we had taught about the priesthood authority. Even though it was just a practice I learned so much from that lesson about how powerful our message is.

Lately I have been reading about the armies of Moroni and Helaman. I love how much faith they have in the Lord that everything will work out for the best. In a letter to Moroni, Pahonra said that he would do whatever the Lord asked of His people. I want to have that kind of faith. That is one of the big things I am working on is my trust in the Lord. Sometimes I rely too much on myself and not enough on the Lord.

Well I hope all is well with all of you! Sorry I didn't get to write individual messages this week. But I love you all so much!

…..
Thank you so much for everything!! I love you!

Cectpa Larsen