This Week, I Met a Jesus Double.

Alrighty.

BUT before I start- I'm going to be getting transferred so I wouldn't recommend sending me anything at my Norman address after today. :)

Monday- P-DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. To be honest P-day stresses me out. A lot. You'd think, "P-day. Missionary free day. They get to relax, right?" WRONG. It is SO CRAZY. We have so much to get done! We have to wake up even earlier to make sure we get everything that we need to do done by 6pm! It's crazy. Anyway. It was a great P-day and we had dinner with the Gorshe's! I love them. After that we went and checked on some folks. It was a great day. :)

Tuesday- Oh heck! It was a great day. We had lunch with Desirae at the Zukas's and we really helped her to understand and love modern day prophets. It was awesome. I love Desirae so much! Man alive. After that we had a couple other appointments with Melissa (this awesome woman who fosters adorable puppies) and Allan. It was awesome! That night we had dinner with the Blackburns and then we went and met with a couple of our potentials.

Wednesday-We went and did an online accident report for the scratches on our car (the last ice storm damaged our car :( ) and then we went and did some tracting. We went to the Zimmerman's and Sister Zimmerman taught Sister Freeman to quilt while I talked with Julie. That night we had dinner with the Walsers! After that we went on splits (Sister Barlow was down here from the office again) so I went with Sister Zimmerman to an appointment with the Jingozians. It was kind of a rough night.

Thursday- Weekly planning took forever. But after that we had lunch and then had an awesome appointment with Desirae! We read scriptures with her and talked with her about her concerns for baptism. We're working with her and she'll be getting baptized soon, no doubt about it. :) We had dinner that night with the Nelsons! It was awesome and they're way funny. They're the kind of people that you can tell used to live in Utah.

Friday- District meeeeting. It was a great one. :) After that we went to District lunch and met a guy who had been reading the Book of Mormon before the tornado but his trailer got taken during it and with it his Book of Mormon. Apparently he was all the way in about Alma he said. So that was awesome. We had a couple appointments and then had dinner with the McAdam's. My good heavens, their kids are smarter than I am and they're half (and some a third) my age. It's incredible. The little girls were so excited we were coming for dinner that they convinced their mom to let them use the fine china and they made us little "place tags"  that said "MiSionairey." it was adorable. That night we went and met with the Jingozians again and did some tracting, then went home.

Saturday- We had a zone lunch at the Martin's house! They're so cool. After that we had a meeting with the elders we share the ward with and the zone leaders. It was a good meeting. :) After that we went out to the Thacker's. They live about a half hour out of town. It was fun going out there! Reminded me of living in Blodgett. I played with their dog a lot (poor thing was desperate for someone to just throw it a ball) and we read the talk "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" (LeGrand Richards) with Brother Thacker. It was great. After that we had dinner with the Ellis's. Brother Ellis served his mission in Eugene! It was crazy! We talked about all kinds of stuff because he served in Corvallis. he said he really misses Local Boyz. A lot. But then again.. who doesn't? Haha. We had a lesson that night with Allan (the Reynolds came! Love them.) and it went really well. The Reynolds were able to answer questions that my companion and I weren't quite sure how to approach. It was a great lesson.

Sunday- CHURCH. I've been in the process of crocheting a tie, so that's been what I do during my free moments (mainly, lunch) and my fingers hurt! Haha. After church (which was AWESOME) we had dinner at the Hannah's. SISTER HANNAH MADE ME PULLA. I'm so happy. She sent me home with a bag of it and I've been munching on it like crazy. So yummy. We had an awesome Fireside put on by a couple who started "Mothers without Borders" and the husband is a Jesus model for Liz Lemon Swindle.. who is legitimately one of the most talented painters I have ever seen. It was so cool to hear their stories from Zambia. Ah. What a great day.

Oh! Random sidenote: Our heater broke last night. And ya know, that wouldn't be a huge deal except the wind was blowing so hard and our windows are leaky and it was 19 degrees out last night and it blew our patio door wide open. So this morning my companion and I stalked around our apartment with a sword and some pepper spray to make sure no one had broken in. But yeah. I have been awake since about 4 this morning. What a crazy way to start P-day! (did I mean for that to rhyme? Nope. But it did anyway! :D )

Alrighty well. I love all of you so much! Remember that the Lord loves you for your weaknesses and your strengths! :)

Take care! :)

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated January 27, 2014

Once again, a reminder that Sister Larson has been permanently reassigned to the Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission. It is not recommended to send her any letters or packages until further notice. Once we have a current mailing address it will be posted and I will make note of it. You can still send Dear Elders and emails, just not packages. Thanks!

Puppies and the Marvels of the Lord.

We got some big news this week so heeeeere's Sofie!!!

Hello all! This is going to be a brief..ish email, I'm on a pretty tight time crunch. BUT! Here goes.

First off- I have some news. I am permanently reassigned to Oklahoma! Yeahhhhh! :D I love this place and I'm so excited to spend the next year serving the people here! What a wonderful place! :)

Alright now- onto the week.

Monday- P-day. I love P-day. Specifically, I love p-day sports. We played scatterball again and it was so fun. Everyone always seems to begrudgingly play until we get into it, then EVERYONE loves it. For dinner we had dinner with the Zimmermans. It was so good. I love them so much. They're so nerdy and Sister Zimmerman is one of my 2 "best friends" in the ward. I love it. She's so down to earth and she's a total tomboy and likes all the same things I like (cars, video games, playing musical instruments) and she grew up in a po-dunk town just like Philomath! We're two peas in a pod.

Tuesday- Sis. Zim took us out to the middle of nowhere in our area (our area.. it's massive) and we checked on some folks. After that she took us to lunch at this great place called Inter Urban. I loved it. We went and checked on some folks and then we had dinner with the Tuckers. I love them!

Wednesday- This was the day that I found out I am officially permanently reassigned. It was a crazy day. We had a great lesson with Alan. He's hilarious. He's a trustee at his Presbyterian church but he totally believes in our church, so now we're just trying to help him make the transition. He's awesome. We had dinner with the Walsers.. and they had the cutest puppies I'd ever seen. A brown poodle AND a Pomeranian. I got all kinds of lovin's from them. We also met a corgi named Tater. So that's going to be the name of my future corgi.

Thursday- WE HAD LUNCH WITH DESIRAE. We hadn't seen her in SO long because of crazy things and she took us out to lunch and I MISSED HER. I love her so incredibly much. We found out that she's going to be baptized, she's planning on and excited for it. I'm SO incredibly proud of her.

After lunch we went and checked on a bunch of people and then had dinner AGAIN with the Tuckers. They're awesome. After that, Sister Tucker came out with us (for her first time ever) and she was a pro. We met this guy who is the brother of a potential investigator and he was way cool. He just got out of jail and he's way level headed. It was awesome.

Friday- District meeting, district lunch at Raising Cane's, and then we had to weekly plan because the way the day was before that, we had to move it. Sister Barlow came down for the weekend again. We had dinner with the Zimmermans again (we have some amazing people in our ward) and then we went and checked on a bunch of people and knocked a ton of doors. I loooooooooove tracting. :)

Saturday- Correlation, studies, lunch, and then we went and met with Alan again. They have a rooster living in their house and it is the craziest thing I've ever seen. I think it's house trained.. Weird. We had dinner with the Reynolds and I loved it. Sister Reynolds is one of my other "best friends" in this ward. I love her. And Brother Reynolds is way cool. They're super nerdy and hilarious and chill. It's awesome. 

Sunday- Church was amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this ward. I'm gonna be sad when I get transferred. A lady in our ward walked up to me and gave me this biiiiiiiiiiiig bright pink and black cardigan. She said "We're afraid you're not equipped for an Okie winter". Hahaha, the people in this ward. After church we went to dinner at the Davis's. Their dogs were alllllllllllll over me and it was happy. They have a corgi that looks like a midget German Shepherd. It's adorable. After dinner we had a lesson with Alicia. She's a sister in our ward who's a recent convert. She has autism and is one of the sweetest people ever. It was a great lesson.

Alright, well, I wanted to end this by saying that the Lord truly works in mysterious ways. This whole process of being reassigned has really shown me how mindful the Lord is of us. I have made some major steps in self improvement and learning my spiritual potential this week, and I owe it all to this experience of being reassigned. :) I love God! He's the MAN. Seriously.

Alright well, that's all for this week. Love you all a ton. :)

Sister Sofia Larson
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated January 20, 2014

Little Bit 'o Info

Norman, Oklahoma is the third largest city in OK but is much less known than it's neighbor, Oklahoma City. It is home to the University of Oklahoma's Sooners, the largest university in Oklahoma. So basically, Norman is, in many ways, the Corvallis of Oklahoma.

Dr. Suess and a Donkey Farm

Welp, everyone, it's been a long, weird week.

Monday- We played Scatterball. I cannot express to you how much I love Scatterball. It's basically free-for-all dodgeball and it is one of the most incredibly fun games you will ever play. We had dinner that night with the Anderson's. They're so funny. Brother Anderson speaks spanish and I could understand a lot of what he said, so that was really cool. :)

Tuesday- We had STM (specialized training meeting) for our zone, and that was awesome. It was all about the atonement and it was really really good. We all needed it. After STM we had interviews with President Walkenhorst. I love President. He's so jovial and kind and he really reminds me of a 7 foot tall male version of my mom sometimes. They even have the same birthday. After that we had lunch, then went and tracted/looked for less actives. That night we had dinner with the Zukas' family and I love them. They gave us a second referral for a woman named Maria. She's so solid and amazing. After dinner we stopped by and saw the Jingozians, then went home. Goooooooood day.

Wednesday- Morning schedule, then went and met with Sister Zimmerman to talk about her step-daughter. We learned a lot about how we can help Julie to feel love and understand what we're teaching her. After that we went to check on a woman in our ward who is going through her 4th battle with cancer, and she also has something called C-diff, where if you touch her, you contract it too. It was so sad because you could tell she was sad, but I couldn't hug her. :( After visiting her we went and saw Toby Keith's house (yep.. we did that) and then we had dinner with the Kunz family. Brother Kunz taught me how to make popusas! I think that's what they're called. They're really yummy and it was really fun. The Bets were there (I LOVE them. They were in our ward before the ward swap) and it was awesome. After dinner we went and tried more people (our RS president gave us a list of people to check on) and I made up a song on a doorstep: "We're standing on your doorstep, please come to the door, it's really cold out here aaaaaand we can't take it no more." And then SisFree was my "backup singer." No one was home. Bummer.

Thursday- Doctor's appointment, followed by studies, lunch, then the world's loooooooongest weekly planning session, ever. Man. After that we worked on the huge list the RS president gave us. We had dinner with the Danielson's. They are hilarious. Their oldest son (who is incredibly white) is nicknamed "Cherry Blossom" because some "black thugs" (his words) nicknamed him that. So I don't actually know his real name, we all just call him Cherry Blossom. After dinner we went and did some tracting, and we were feeling a little discouraged because no one was answering the door, and suddenly I was prompted to walk to the other way.. so we did. We knocked on one door, and the girl said, 'Are you mormons? Come right in!' So we walked in.. right into a gigantic game of Dungeons and Dragons. Apparently some of the young single folk that were playing were members of the OU ward and she knew that. So we talked with them for a bit, left them with some spirituality, and left. It was a really cool experience. I don't exactly know why I felt prompted for us to go there, but that's what the mission is all about, right? It's great. :)

Friday- Oh man. Friday. I woke up with a nasty cold. We went to district meeting, then Sister Barlow came for the weekend. (She's a sister from the office.) And we went to check on people in the middle of flippin' nowhere. Apparently, most of those people don't even live there anymore, but there is someone named Dell Berry Darley who lives on Bain's Lane, and he's in our ward. Andddddddd he still lives there. He sounds like a Dr. Suess character. I love it. The second to last house we checked lived across the dirt road from a donkey farm, so that was pretty neat. After that, we went to check on one last person who lived over an hour from our apartment (our area is ginormous) and we ended up turning onto a "road" that was no longer a road. A tornado had gone through and ruined it and it was nooootttt in condition to be driven on. So we got out of our car and hoofed it. After about an hour of hiking (legitimately hiking. Who knew you could do that in Oklahoma?) We met some people who lived out there who were piling firewood. Turned out we were going to need to hike another three miles to get to the house we were looking for, but there was a back entrance, so the kind lady drove us back to the part of the road that was closest to our car, and then we noticed there was a man snooping around our car. My companion got out her taser (yep, she has a taser) and the lady watched us as we hiked down to our car. We got to the car and apparently the guy thought that we were going to rob him so he was afraid of us. We gave him a card, got in our car, and drove around to the other entrance. As soon as we got to the other entrance, a couple of dogs came from nowhere and kept running in front of our car. You know how country dogs are supposed to move and they just run next to the car? Not these ones. I don't think they understood the concept. Sister Barlow was really afraid of hitting them so I got out of the car and ran with the dogs next to the car for probably 20 minutes. I don't know how far I ran but I was really tired (I have a cold, remember) by the end of it. After a while we realized we didn't know where the address was so we asked a family if they knew anything about the dogs or the house we were looking for, and they told us, "those dogs belong to the indians." Yep. That's Oklahoma for you. Long story not-so-short.. we never found the house.

Saturday- Correlation, looking for less actives, tracting. Dinner that night was with the Mortensen's. They're awesome. We had quail pot pie. I kid you not. I felt like I was back at home or something. There isn't a terribly large amount to report on for Saturday.

Sunday- We went on a church exchange with one of our investigators! We went to a Presbyterian church and it was.. weird. Very chant-y. It was fun though! I liked it. :) The people were really nice and the Reverend gave us a shout-out, so that was pretty cool. After that our investigator came to our ward and he loved it. It was an awesome Sunday. President and Sister Walkenhorst spoke and that was way neat. :) I love them.

 

After church we had dinner at the bishop's. They have a hilarious little girl who kept running around biting the elders and she licked my companion's knee. It was weird but funny and confusing. I love them. :) After dinner we went and checked on a couple potential investigators (no luck) and we went to check on one of our investigators and it was a pretty rough situation we walked into.. so we bore testimony and left. It was a good night though. Very powerful.

Alright, welp, that's how this week went. Friday in particular was a crazy day. I'm learning more and more about my divine nature as a child of God and I would invite all of you to do the same. It will amaze you what Heavenly Father does for us.

Love you all! 

 

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

 

Email dated January 13, 2014 

Philippians

Hey guys! I don't have an email from Sofie to post quite yet but I found this scripture that I think is perfect.

Philippians 4:6-7

6. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication by thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

In Memory of Doris.

What a week, what a week, what a mighty fine week. :)

Hey y'all! I'm hoping this email finds you in high spirits, warm places, and with happy hearts. :)

It's been a good (albeit challenging) week and I'm grateful for it.

Monday- Typical P-day activities, we had dinner with the Singers. I LOVE THEM. They're so nice to us and they're so funny and happy. We got a call from Desirae that her baby was in the hospital (newborn, 3 weeks) and she was not doing so well with it all so we went over to her house with the elders and they gave her a blessing, and then she asked us to take care of her dog, so we agreed. This is kind of where the craziness of the week begins.

Tuesday- Okay this was actually one of the weirdest days of my mission so far. We went to take care of Desirae's dog and then we did studies. We went to the baptism of a little girl in our ward and they asked us to do a presentation, so we showed the restoration video.. except it got abruptly ended so Sister Freeman and I booked it up to the front and bore our testimonies. It was funny. We went to lunch then went to check on people.. including Doris, our rum-cake eatin', fuzzy-slipper-wearin', Judge-Judy-watchin' 93 year old investigator. When we showed up, her son in law walked up to the car and let us know that Doris had passed away. Also- someone had seen her obituary in the newspaper and broken into her house and stolen her silver. Sigh. So sad. But yeah. So I got permission from the AP's to call Sister Leavitt and Sister Clark (which was really weird) and I let them know that Doris had passed away. That was really sad. After that whole thing, we went to dinner at the Emery's. It was an awesome dinner. We played games with them and they had a less active member there and it was really fun. I just love Norman. :)

Wednesday- Okay, so maybe this was the weirdest day of my mission so far. We went and took care of Desirae's dog, then we talked with President Walkenhorst and were given permission to go up to the city for Doris's funeral. We got a hold of Sister Leavitt and Sister Clark and arranged meeting up with them, and after studies, we headed to the city. We met up with Sister Leavitt and Sister Clark (it was so weird being with my first field companions again) and their companions went on splits while Sister Freeman, Clark, Leavitt and I went to Doris's funeral. Oh my heavens. The preacher at her funeral kept calling her the wrong name. He kept calling her Dorothy instead of Doris and it was so sad. :( But after the funeral her son in law told us that she had a special place where she would put books she actually read, and the Book of Mormon was in the pile. So that was happy. :) We were just preparing her for the spirit world, that's all. We headed back to Norman and had dinner with a nice family named the Humphrey's. It was freezing cold, but we roasted marshmallows and that was fun. After dinner we took care of the dog and then went and did some tracting. A dog named Porkchop got really excited to see my companion and went to the bathroom all over her feet.. Poor Sister Freeman.

Thursday- Doctor's appointment followed by taking care of the dog. We came back and did studies, then two RM's from the mission came to visit Sister Freeman, and took us out to lunch at Chipotle. So that was really fun. :) After that we took them on some visits and then they dropped us off at our apartment. We went to the neighborhood of our dinner appointment and knocked about 60 doors in the area before dinner. it was really fun. I think tracting is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. :) After that we had dinner with the Zimmerman's. I love them so much. Man alive. After dinner we taught a "practice lesson" to their non-member daughter and it went really well. I related repentance to being a turtle trudging through peanut butter. During the process it can feel like you're a turtle trudging through peanut butter, but after you finish, you're like a turtle buttered with Crisco, going down an inclined pan. :) Sister Freeman loves my analogies, hahaha.

Friday- District meeting, district lunch, exchanges. I went to Noble (again) with Sister Allen! It was fun. :) We met with some folks and then went to dinner with a sister from their ward. She took us to a place called Kendall's for dinner. It was pretty good.. but afterwards I felt pretty crummy. My companion did too, so we went back to the apartment and we were both pretty sick for the rest of the night. I wish there was more to say about Friday.. but it was mainly spent being sick.

Saturday- I was still a little sick (so was Sister Allen) so we took it easy in the morning. We did studies, ate lunch (what we could, anyway) and then did our exchange report. After that we went and visited Sister Pam (one of my favorite sisters in Noble) before we went and exchanged back. I love exchanges, but it's always relieving to be back with your own companion in your own area. :) We went home and Sister Zimmerman picked us up to take us to a lesson with the Jingozians. They've been sick all week so we haven't been able to meet with them. We gave them quick spiritual upliftment and then after the lesson we went and Sister Freeman got a blessing. We were dropped off at our apartment again and Sister Freeman was feeling pretty sick, so I made her rest and I did language study until dinner. We had dinner with Sister Oropeza and poor Sister Freeman was a zombie (she got a nasty cold) so I had to do most of the talking. It was a good dinner though. After dinner I got approved to drive us home (I'm not supposed to drive because I'm a visa-waiter) and Sister Freeman went right to bed.

Sunday- I loved it. It was a cold night (I gave my extra blanket to SisFree) so I didn't sleep too much, but I woke up feeling fine. :) Church was good. We taught the lesson in Gospel Principles on the final judgement. After church we had dinner with the DeLange family. They're really nice and they really like Sister Freeman a lot because they have a lot of ties from her family to theirs, so that was neat. We had a quick lesson with Annie and Jared and then we went back home so Sister Freeman could sleep. It was an overall good day. :)

Well folks, I gotta get going. But I want to leave you with a final thought: Something I've been working on understanding more is faith. People always say "have the faith to move mountains" and I've always been like, "You can't move a mountain. It's a mountain." But the more I think about it, the more I realize that having faith to move mountains isn't about making an entire mountain move at once. It's about having the faith to persevere and move the mountain in smaller steps. 

So, that being said- Have the faith to move mountains, even if it's one stone at a time.

I love y'all a ton! Take care:)

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

But one day-

Brazil, Rio De Janeiro

Email dated January 6, 2014

Christmas Drills are Drilling?

Hello one and all! I'm so excited that it is alllllllllllllllready the Christmas season and CHRISTMAS IS THIS WEEK. What an exciting time to celebrate the birth of Christ and come closer with our friends and family!

Who knew that they would amplify the amount of construction going on in the area the closer it got to Christmas? There is construction EVERYWHERE.

Anyway.

I'll get right to the week. :)

Monday- Ah. I love P-day. What a glorious day. Knowing that both Sister Ott and Sister Leavitt were getting transferred we knew that the next two days were going to be full of packing and stress and sadness from losing one another. We did our typical P-day activities and then had dinner with the Sonne family. They had a sick child so the husband took the rest of the kids, us and the elders to McDonald's for dinner. While we were there, one of their sons thwacked his head pretty hard on the corner of a table and immediately hit the floor. There was a lot of blood and sobbing and it broke my heart that I wasn't allowed to give him a hug and comfort him! I did what I could to help and then we ate so they could leave.

Tuesday- Beautiful day. Oh man. We went to a doctor's appointment, then had lunch with the Zukas's and Desirae- our amazingly golden investigator. She is one of the most genuine and prepared people that the world has ever seen. I love her so much! She is incredibly strong, too. After meeting with her we had a lesson with the Jingozians. We had a very deep, heartfelt conversation with them and talked about the talk "Like a Broken Vessel" by Jeffrey R. Holland. That talk, right there, is one of the most amazing talks I have ever heard. I love it so much. What an inspired message. We had dinner that night with the Rex family. I really, really love them a lot. They're so funny and happy! Ah. I LOVE NORMAN.

Wednesday- Transfer day. I had to stay behind in Norman with Hermana Crockett who was sick all day, so I read to her, we chatted, I studied, and I accidentally fell asleep. But hey. It was a wonderful day! After that our companions showed up! Sister Freeman is amazing! She's a spiritual powerhouse and she's so nice! I love her. I'm excited for this transfer, she wants to work hard and so do I- we're gonna get a lot accomplished. :)

Thursday- Weekly planning. It went well! After that we had a bunch of appointments that allllllllllllllll cancelled on us. It was such a bummer. So we went and checked on different people until dinner. We had dinner with the Kunz's! I love them. :) After dinner our other appointment cancelled on us.. again, so we went home and dedicated our apartment/read a talk we were asked to read by the AP's. It was a good day. :)

Friday- Christmas Mission Conference! It was really really good. Really spiritually uplifting and happy. Also- reallllllllllly long. 9 am to 7:30 pm. It was really good and then there was a musical program! There were some really awesome performances that were done- we have some amazingly talented musicians in our mission! It was wonderful. :) After that we had correlation because the weather was gonna be bad the next day. It was successful! :)

Saturday- Okay. Man. Freezing rain is a buzz kill. Let me tell ya what. It's beautiful though. It makes everything look like it's being preserved in glass and it's really, really beautiful. We had a wonderful day. We went and visited Sister Power, who is a sister that lives in the elders area, but she's a bit of a feminist, so we get to visit her. After that we had a lesson with Desirae! It was inspired and we committed her to baptism! :D So excited! After that we had dinner with the Robertson family. They remind me sooooooooo much of the Thomsons and I absolutely love them! They're hilarious! They took us and the elders to Golden Corral- the elders were in heaven. Hahaha. After dinner we had a really good lesson with the Jingozians and got them to make some very important commitments to further their progression towards baptism! So excited. I LOVE the Jingozians so much. They really are the sweetest. Heavenly Father knew I needed to be here for them. :)

Sunday- WHAT A GREAT DAY. AHHHHHHHH. Okay so first off, DESIRAE CAME TO CHURCH. It was the best thing ever and she loved it! AH. Okay. Second off- it was just a successful day. I LOVE THIS WARD. I want to cry, I love it so much. After church we had a really good lesson with Annie and Jared. They're so great. Man. After that, we had dinner with the Davis family! I love them! They have INCREDIBLE knowledge of gospel history and deep doctrinal things and they remind me a lot of the Carlsons and I love them so much! It's so happy! After dinner we had an appointment that got cancelled, and we visited with Sister Zimmerman- who is a saint. I had been yawning a lot and trying to hide it and she asked me why I was so tired, so I told her that I wasn't sleeping well because our bedroom windows leak and my blanket wasn't that great. She gave me a quilt. Bless her heart. It's so happy. I tried to refuse it but she insisted. And I got the best night's sleep I've ever gotten last night.

Alright, well folks, I love this gospel. I know that God lives. I know that Christ lives! I know they have bodies of flesh and bone, and I know that they are our literal family. I love everything about the restoration! I love that a boy, even a boy as simple and humble as Joseph Smith, was seen as something worth so much more in the eyes of God and through his faithful diligence, he restored the original church of Jesus Christ to the earth, so that during this last dispensation we can all receive the blessings that come from the Priesthood and the atonement and all of the other important principles of the gospel. I know that we can all live with our Father again someday and I'm so excited for the glorious day! Not to say I'm excited to die. I just know that the comfort and peace that will come in that day will be unlike anything else. I am so grateful for the life of Christ! His ministry, His sacrifice, His example to us all is something I strive daily to include in my life.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you remember that Christ loves you, God loves you, and I do too. A LOT!

P.S. - That's my hand in the picture. Hahaha. Sorry if that confused any of you!

Email dated December 23, 2013

Christmas Miracles EVERYWHERE!

It has been SUCH A BLESSED WEEK, everyone! I'm SO GRATEFUL.

Before I begin- Transfer calls were last night, so here is my address! You can now send me mail here for the next 7 weeks!

Sister Sofia Larson

1100 Oaktree Ave. Apt. M1

Norman, OK 73072

Alright, now, lets get into the week! :D

Monday- WHAT A GREAT P-DAY. After P-day activities, (including getting hit in the face with a basketball. Why is it that the one time I wore my glasses to play sports, that's the time I get hit in the face?) we had dinner with the Zimmermans! I love them. They're so funny and happy. Sister Zimmerman is incredibly spunky and down to earth and I just love her. We had chili and cornbread, which is by far the most common meal that we have down here, but I loved it. :) After dinner SisZim came with us to a lesson with the Jingozians. AND WE COMMITTED CHRIS TO BAPTISM. I AM SO SO SO EXCITED. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Tuesday- We had a doctor's appointment in the city (OKC) and they took my blood! They had to poke me a bunch of times to get it. After our doctor's appointment we had an appointment with LD. HE IS SO SOLID. He wants everything the gospel gives and he even asked to come to church. He's awesome. Afterwards we went to check on a few more people but got lost in a trailer park and couldn't find our way out to save our lives. It was ridiculous. We went to the Thacker's and helped them decorate their Christmas Tree and it was awesome. :)

Wednesday- Our morning appointment fell through, so we knocked doors. We found some great potentials and it was really awesome. :) We did mormon.org and then we went to a realllllly heavy lesson with the Jingozians. It was rough, but we gave them hope and I hope that they were able to feel the love of Christ because we were trying so hard to help them feel that. 

Thursday- Weekly planning is RIDICULOUS. Especially as sister missionaries- it takes so long. It's crazy. There isn't much to report on for the day. My companions both weren't feeling well so we weren't able to do much until dinner. We had dinner with the Zukas family! SO HAPPY. They had a non-member named Desirae over, and our dinner thought turned into a full on lesson! IT WAS AWESOME. I bore my testimony to her and it was a really spiritual experience. I love her. She's so strong. 

Friday- District meeting, lunch at Cici's. OH! BUT FIRST. We got a text from SisZim that someone had dropped off an anonymous gift for the Jingozians that she needed us to pick up. So we did. Someone donated them money and it was one of the sweetest things I have experienced. Their faces lit up. After lunch we went and helped SisZim with a painting project. It was fun and we got to spend time with one of my favorite sisters, so I was happy. :) We had dinner that night with the Jensen's (they are WONDERFUL) and then we went to the ward Christmas party! It was so fun! I love the ward I'm serving in- the people are so happy and kind. :) As Sister Reynolds was driving us home, she got pulled over- so in exchange for her ticket, we gave the cop a pass along card and it was really awesome. :)

Saturday- After morning studies we had a zone-wide lunch at the Martin's and it was really nice. We had correlation after that, then did some more training until we had dinner at the Oropeza's. I LOVE the Oropezas. They told us this story about how someone broke into their house and Brother Oropeza was a BOSS. It was a great story. 

Sunday- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT A GREAT DAY. The Jingozians came to church, and it was like God had specifically made the day just for them. Man alive- God loves His children! We had a lesson with Annie and Jared (my favorite youth! What solid kids!) and took awkward family photos, then we had dinner with the Youngs. Sister Leavitt really likes the way I tell the Patty&Linn story, so she had me tell it to them and it really helped to break some ice with them. We told pet horror stories and had a good time. :) After that we had a really good lesson with the Jingozians and it's amazing that they already know so many restored truths that they haven't even learned about yet. God is really preparing them for the gospel. We got transfer calls! I'm losing both of my companions! Sister Leavitt will be going to serve in OKC, and Sister Ott is going to Enid. It's weird. I'm staying here in Norman, and I'm getting a new companion- Sister Freeman. I'm really excited! It's going to be a great transfer!

Alright- well. I love you all so much. During this time of year, remember that Christ loves you and He came to earth for you specifically! I am so grateful for the gift of the atonement and the love of Christ I can feel in my life. Have a holly jolly week! :)

P.S.- The picture is because I fixed my shower this week and I'm really proud of it. :) Hahaha.

Have a good week y'all! :)

Email dated December 16, 2013

Doughnut Tacos and Gluten Free Thanksgiving!

Hello errybuddy! What a week it has been, I LOVE that we're in the holidays now! So happy!

First off- they are in the middle of changing the rules for mail, so you can send me mail, but I will not be getting it until transfers. After transfers come (two weeks from Wednesday) I will give y'all my new address and then you can send me mail normally again! :) Sorry for the inconvenience. It bums me out too :(

Alright I'll get right to it. :)

Monday- After emailing, we ran errands and then played sports. I made a MIRACLE shot playing basketball and it was the only shot I made. Hahah. Hence it being a miracle. But it was fun. I love sports on P-day! After that, we had dinner with the Emery family! They're so nice. Their daughter just got back from a mission in Riverside, California, so it was AWESOME to talk to her about her mission experiences.

Tuesday- I don't have much written down in my journal on Tuesday for some reason.. BUT! We had dinner with the Rex family and Brother Rex was so excited to tell me about a hunting endeavor he'd gone on. We visited a couple other people (no one was home) and went home to do training and language.

Wednesday- we had to do weekly planning because Thursday was Thanksgiving! After planning, we had lunch, checked on a couple people, then had a really early dinner appointment with the McAdam's at Pizza Hut. They are the most hilarious little old couple. I love them so much. After dinner Brother McAdam's left our waitress a Book of Mormon (what a champ) and we left. We met with one of our investigators, Lindsey. Usually she's really shy, but this time she opened up a lot and told us about a miracle that she'd experienced the day before. Her brother had gotten into an accident with a semi truck, and he came out of it just fine. He should have died. BUT, at the same time as he was getting in the accident, Lindsey just happened to be praying with her son. It was an awesome experience to see that growth of testimony that she has. :) After Lindsey, we had a lesson with Annie and Jared. OH MAN I LOVE THEM! They're the STRONGEST youth I've ever met and they're so solid! Sister Ott rapped the 10 Commandments for them while I beat boxed (poorly) and then we read Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "You Can Do it Now" and we acted out the story in the beginning of that talk. It was fun. We had a good time. I love teaching them. They're both so solid in the gospel and it's the greatest.

Thursday- HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Okay. So we woke up, studied, then decided to take cheesy family photos. They're included in this email. Don't mind the way awkward one of me holding a mini-pumpkin. We were instructed to spend the whole day with member families, so we did! We first went to dinner with the Corless family. They're awesome. It was more like, pre-dinner. Lotttttts of chips and dip. We played games and their grandma is hilarious! She kept saying "CHEAT TO WIN, NEVER GIVE IN." And it was the funniest thing ever. Man. After that we went to our ACTUAL dinner, with the Blackburns. Have you ever had a gluten-free thanksgiving before? Yeah I used to be able to say no to that until this Thanksgiving! It was actually not bad. :) Lots and lots of weird, non-traditional Thanksgiving foods, but it was still really good. There was a lot of sushi. That part was different. But they also had deviled eggs so I was happy. :) Their Stuffing was actually just grits but prepared in a really weird way. So that part was new. It was a nice dinner :) After that we went home and slept for a bit then went and played games with Sister Smart and the Elders. It was sooooooooooooo fun. We played Shoot the Bowl, which is just like catch phrase but without the actual catch phrase game. :)

Friday- We had district meeting, but because Elder Duffin got sick, Elder Tripp didn't come either, and he's our district leader, so we had to go to a different district's meeting. We learned all about Teaching People, Not Lessons and it was really good. :) After District Meeting my companions and I went to Taco Bueno and I got a DONUT TACO. Yeah. Who knew they existed? It was basically a Chalupa but I loved it nonetheless. :) We went and used mormon.org (perks of being in the 12 week training program) and then Sister Barlow showed up for her stay with us. Sister Barlow is a sister that is assigned to work in the office, and then comes out with different companionships on weekends. This weekend she was with us! We had dinner with the Singers (they made us "Cafe Rio"! So happy! :D) And then Sister Ott and I went back to the apartment to do language study. :)

Saturday- Weird day. We had correlation, then we did studies and training and then Sister Ott and I went and tracted. We stopped by Patty and Lin, and we set up an appointment with them for tomorrow, and then we visited Brother Feazel. He- ..man alive. He's an incredible person!  He's coming back from 13 years of inactivity and his passion for the gospel is inspiring. He wants to help his wife embrace it so bad and it's awesome that he has such passion for it. After that we had dinner with the Youngs. Brother Young was an Olympic gymnast in Athens! So cool! They told us some cool stories. After that we went and Sister Ott and I did more tracting. We went to visit a less-active family with a single mother and totally walked in on the mom on a Skype date. That was a weird experience. We talked to the guy and to her and it was a great time! It was weiiiiiiiird though. Really weird. We also found another Do Not Contact! So that was slightly scary. But it was fun. I love being out here. :)

Sunday- I NEEDED SUNDAY. I was kinda grumpy that day and church was exactly what I needed! Whew. After church we went and knocked doors until dinner. EVERY person we talked to agreed to pray with us. That was AWESOME. I loved it! The first door we knocked, the guy opened his door and immediately told us to come in! We were a little hesitant, but we went in and he played piano and we sang Christmas songs. About halfway through we found out his name was Mark. He's a real nice guy! He's a meteorologist and likes to compose music in his downtime. Cool guy. We talked to him about the church and set up an appointment with him. :)

I LOVE Oklahoma, y'all. It's the best. There are two things I've been really trying to apply this week. First- "There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone." We need to CONSTANTLY push ourselves to be more like Christ and be stronger, better people! We have the potential, it's up to us to reach it!
Second- "Every weakness is a pending strength." I especially have been focusing on this. Heavenly Father wants us to learn to overcome our weaknesses, not bury ourselves in them. So remember that next time you feel like you can't do it. Heavenly Father knows you can, and I DEFINITELY know you can.

I love you all so much! Take care of yourselves and know that I pray for you!

Email dated December 9, 2013