Have fun and keep the commandments, you can do both

By lynnolarsen@gmail.com - March 27, 2017

Hola familia!

Haha sounds like you guys have had a good week! I'm glad to see that you're figuring out the temporary bachelor life, Dad. And I hope Kate's behaving for you, Mom! Haha what a farm we have in our neighborhood! I'm glad you had fun, Ez! And I want to read whatever that book is, JJ! I feel you on burns, Mo. I got a lot more sun than I wanted this week and my neck is paying a severe price. Haha stay strong, Jarrad! And I expect something interesting next week, Cam. ;)

It's been a good week down in good ole Mexico! We've found lots of new investigators that are really good. One is the cousin of our ward mission leader who came to live with their family for a while. He's 26 years old and his name is Jo_. The Za_ family has been bringing him and his mom to every activity and church event this week (and there have been a lot more than normal!) and they really like what they've seen of the church. Jo_ is really interested in the Book of Mormon and has been asking a lot of really good questions. And today we are going to start visiting his mom, so we're excited about them!

New and improved laundry method!

We've also had a lot of really good contacts this week, but the people who are so ready for the Gospel never seem to be from our area haha. We had this one taxi driver who almost completely unprompted said "I've always wondered which church was true and how I can know. But you guys probably can't answer that question for me". I was so excited! I shared with him my testimony that he's not alone in his question and that God has given us a way to overcome confusion and know for ourselves. We shared with him James 1:5 and he expressed that he'd never thought to apply that scripture to himself before and immediately asked where we hold our services! We sent his information to the missionaries in his area. It's such an awesome experience to find people that are so ready for the gospel, and I'm so excited for this hermano even though we won't get to keep teaching him.

This week we had a ward mission activity in which we did a sort of minute to win it theme with different stations and activities that we applied to the gospel afterwards. Hermana Lopez and I hosted a game in which the people had a minute to eat a donut off of a string. I never before knew how difficult it is to put a little donut on a string until this day and I definitely would not recommend it!!

We were also able to attend the General Woman`s Conference and it was really interesting to do it in Spanish. You can still faintly hear the English under the Spanish voice over and that was super distracting for me haha. And it was really awkward in the intermediate hymn when they had everyone stand up to sing, but the lyrics in the transmission were still in English so no one knew the words to sing along. Hahaha too funny!

I couldn't keep up with the Spanish perfectly in every talk, but one thing that I really liked that I learned was from something that President Eyring said. He said something along the lines of "the Lord isn't only worried about our comfort, but also our progression". We are here to be happy, that is our ultimate purpose in this life, but that doesn't mean that we are always meant to be comfortable. The difficult things in life bring progression. Without that opposition we could never experience a fullness of joy. I want remind you guys of that and invite you to apply it to your lives, to remember when you're passing through a trial that you are growing from it and therefore can experience more joy.

Les amo mucho! Diviertanse y guarden los mandamientos, pueden hacer los dos [Have fun and keep the commandments, you can do both].

Hermana Larsen