One Year Celebration! :D

Well, I'm TRYING to get some pictures sent. . .but I had a good week this week! 

 

I can't believe I've been a missionary for a year. . .that's just nutso haha I DO feel the growth that I've experienced and the changes that have made me a better person and if I keep working at it will continue to help me become the person my Heavenly Father needs me to be <3 Haha ugh I've been trying to get one dumb pic sent for 20 minutes and it's just not working. . .but here it's tradition to burn a shirt once you've hit your year mark (it was a white one I've had since I was like 14 so I think it's time had come. . .) but it was way funny :) I also had a cool experience this week where we were out contacting and came across a lady from Tahiti and she only spoke English and I tried my best to remember how to talk in English!! Haha I NEVER thought I'd forget, and obviously I haven't cuz I can write it just fine, but making English come out of my mouth was proven to be more difficult than I thought!!! I felt way silly, but it was a cool experience nevertheless :) and my comp was like "Now I know what it feels like to be you. . ." haha so yeah :) 

I also gave a talk in church yesterday about Charity and everyone told me thank you and that it was good. They also told me they were impressed with how well i speak (they all think I'm brand new to the mission cuz that's what happens when your a "yankee" - you're new everywhere you go haha but I'm used to it ;) but it was good I learned a lot. I'm seriously so grateful for all your support and all the love I feel from you all :) Oh and yesterday in the combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting Bishop used a Lord of the Rings analogy and I was one of the only ones who understood what he was talking about and it was SO good!! He was talking about being careful with the little snares Satan has put out in the world that seem harmless or even good but can really mess you up in the long run (too much time on the internet, remodeling homes and new cars every year. . .) which he compared to the Ring, which I think we've talked about that before. . .but yeah it was cool and made me think of you all <3 

Well, I'm outta time. I'll see if I can get a picture sent!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! Have a great week ok and smile a ton and make the most of every precious beautiful minute our Heavenly Father has given us <3 I LOVE YOU 

xoxoxo 

Your Larissa

Christmas in March!

I've got less than a minute haha but I needed to thank you all for the packages!!! I recieved one big one from the Ward for Christmas which was a treat :) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Also I got Beth's birthday card :) Thank you!! I'm gonna write you next week Beth ok?? And I got the white shirts mom :) LOVE THEM! But your letter was the best part :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Aaron, I'm not sure how big your package was, but I still haven't gotten anything, I'll let you know when i do :) 

Have a great week! 

I LOVE YOU!!! 

xoxoxo 

Larissa

Spanish Sleep Talking

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡HOLA!!!! ¡¿Como estan todos?!

I'm doing good :) We had a bit of a rough week but also a really awesome one haha We had a Conference and an area 70 from Argentina came and spoke and it was so great! He talked a lot about things we could do to help our investigators really change and the bigest thing was that we need to apply the Atonement to our own lives and always teach repentance. The Savior ALWAYS taught repentance to everyone he ever taught and we have to remember that it needs to be the center of our lives. That's definitely something that has come to mean so much more to me during this past year, because I understand that by not changing and by not using this amazing gift my brother Jesus Christ gave me, I'm not showing Him my love, and worse it's like I'm ignoring that He even suffered for me (that's not quite the words I want but I can't think of them in English haha) but it's So important that we give all we can to living the way He has asked. I feel very repetitive sometimes when I write you all about the things I'm learning, but it truely is because if we have a true love of God, we will be exactly obedient to all He's asked us to do, and I have a true and real testimony of that truth <3

I've gotta go, but my title is because anyone who really knows me knows I talk a TON in my sleep. . .and well I talk in Spanish while I?m sleeping now haha I started dreming in Spanish about 5ish months ago, but yeah haha my poor comp doesn't sleep well, but apparently I'm very entertaing during the night haha

WELL! Gotta go!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Have an awesome week ok? Smile, Laugh, Share Love and be a little better than you were last week :)

CHAO!!!

Larissa :) <3

Gringa Fea :)

It's been another amazing week on the mission!  :)

The work here is TOUGH haha we knock doors almost all day and talk with a lot of grumpy people, but it's been fun to have Hermana Martinez who helps me to always keep a smile on my face! We've been working hard trying to find some new people who are ready to accept to gospel, we have on investigator named Rosa who has been to church a couple times and loves it. She was Evengelist (there's a lot here) but she didn't like all the yelling haha she thinks The Church of Jesus Christ is much more peaceful which helps her feel comfortable. We are planning her baptism for the end of this month! Two other investigators we have who are just wonderful, Carina and Rodrigo, have been to church lots but Carina is pregnant and got sick Saturday night so she couldn't go to church, but when we called so told us she was reading the Liahona and her scriptures in bed! She wants to get baptized but she still needs to get married, so we're working on that one :)

Random things this week. . .I may have my first out of country experience. . .my head started itching on like Friday and all my comps told me I probably have lice and I was like no way!! But they looked and never found an adult but apparently I have the babies haha I dunno. . .it doesn't itch right now, it's like off and on. . .so I might have lice, but you're all still required to LOVE ME ok?! haha but don't worry I'll get it taken care of when I feel like a reliable source has diagnosed me haha Oh and the title of this email is the nickname on of the Hermanas (Valenzuela) gave me. . .sometimes its a good thing and sometimes it's a bad thing I guess haha I do love my house mates and it's been way fun this past week :) I had to stay at home with Hna Valenzuela one day because she has a lot of pain and can't work some days so we switch staying at home so that her companion can get out and work a little bit, but it was awesome getting to know her better!! She's crazy, but I love her :)

I had a really spiritual week this week :) It was full of ups and downs, as the mission is haha but I had several very obvious answers to prayers that confirmed to me that I really do have a Father in Heaven who loves me. These experiences, as small as they were, helped me realize something. I've never really loved Him like He's asked me too. I often made excuses for not living the way I knew He wanted me to. I did things I wanted instead of putting in first priority those things He has promised me will make me happy. That's what the world wants us to believe, that we know better. BUT IT?S LIES!! Haha we can never find happiness doing what we WANT. We will only feel real joy and happiness when we live our lives putting our love for God very very first. I feel like I've said things like this before, but I guess my testimony of this concept gets deeper and deeper every week and I am so grateful, because I know that here in the mission it's easy to recognize that, I'm using every minute of my time now to serve Him, but when I get home, I'll have my testimony put to the test., I'll have to prioritze my life the way He has taught me too. I know I never succeeded at that before, but I'm grateful for the real love I feel for my Heavenly Father, and I have a lot of hope and faith that that love will carry me through when it's time for me to get back to life :) So, my invitation to you all is to look at your life and find those things that you could do to show your love for God :) I know with all my heart it will bring SO much happiness and joy <3 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Have a great week ok?! 
LOVE YOU!!!!

Locura! :)

Or in other words Craziness :) but you all better enjoy this english stuff while you can cuz I'm probably gonna forget here soon! haha just kidding i don't think i'll ever forget. . .and my comps want to learn English. There's only been a couple times when i had something to say, like a phrase or something, in English and i couldn't cuz they didn't understand, but I'm always able to explain it, so that's good! It's been fun, and especailly since I have a pretty good handle on Spanish now so I can express myself and all that good stuff. It's funny being companions with a latina because all the houses we go to people just expect I don't know how to talk or what they are saying, but I just smile and start talking and then they look all surprised and it's a good feeling haha ( yeah I've gotta be careful of pride now) haha just kidding, but it's been cool, 

I LOVE our ward. It's an actual Ward, so there are a lot of members and they are all so great! We spent a lot of time giving service scraping paint off the walls of one of the members houses so they can paint. I think we did that when we first moved to our house in Hillrose cuz I had random flash backs remembering how much fun i thought it was to scrape paint haha We have a few investigators, but we knock doors a whole lot, which has been interesting haha I've meet a TON of people, a lot of who don't believe in God or have opinions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter'day Saints that are way skewed. . .but I've enjoyed that we've been able to have conversations with these people and help some of them to at least think about a different point of view. It's a testimony that things and people really can change and we should always seek out learning and growing :) 

Our investigators are Rosa, Daiana and Karina with her son Rodrigo, I know them the best and they are so great! They've been to church 2 times and Karina already knows a lot about the gospel because of her sister or something like that. . .she wants to be baptized but her and her boyfriends aren't married, but we're working on that one! They are SUCH a cute family but the Dad works a lot so we don't get to see him much. I've only met the other two one time, but they are great too! I'll be sure to tell more next time :) 

Apparently my comp looks at me during the day more than Hna Boyce because she's found 2 grey hairs since we've been together :( I'm getting old aparently!!! haha  I've been enjoying the latin food too, we order empanadas and the other hermana make mexican, chilean and honduranian (haha yeah idk..:) Food and it's sooo good :) I'm loving it!! Well, I gotta get going! i love you all sooo much!! Smile lots and share your light :) That's what this journey through life is all about :)  

LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!