Shout Out To My Aiti!

Hey y'all! What a week, what a week, what a mighty fine week.

Lemme just tell you about some highlights from this blessed week!

This week- we had a HUGE miracle- we were able to get a hold of a less active who's been hiding out away from everyone forever. And we committed him to come to church. Blesssingssssss.

Also- we had an incredible lesson with Kel and Cory. Poor Cory has been so shunned by members of the church and has become bitter because of it- but Kel is an incredibly kind, patient and loving woman and is exactly what Cory needs. We got him to pray at the end of our lesson which was a miracle in it's own right and it was a very powerful prayer.

We had an incredible training this week from our Zone Leaders about desires and the power of the Doctrine of Christ- MAN. It was so good.

Yesterday was an amazing day. We only had 4 hours of church. Why? Because no one told us it was daylight savings, and we totally dropped the ball and forgot ourselves (missionary bubble, I tell ya) and so we missed the meetings at the beginning of church, and then most of the singles ward ended up being cancelled because everyone was gone. 

Anyway- for our dinner thought last night we were talking about miracles. I read part of the definition of miracles in the bible dictionary and then I talked about a personal one that I had seen happen for my family, where Heavenly Father blessed us with the ability to send my mom to Finland for her father's funeral. At that point, the spirit testified to me of the strength my mother has. This testimony was born to me by the power of the Spirit:

Conversion is real, and it is powerful. Through being converted, my mom completely changed the course of not only her life but everyone she came in contact with. When my sweet mother joined the church- she put her faith in the Lord to help her through life. She had the humility to accept that she couldn't do it on her own. After her baptism, she made the choice to marry my dad- a man who is a worthy priesthood holder and a strong member of the church. This choice, once again, blessed my mother, her family, her future children, and everyone around her because when she chose to marry my father, she also chose to leave Finland behind, move to the United States, and start a life here, knowing very well that her connection to her family in Finland would be limited severely in comparison to how it had been. From that point, she began to build a family and a life with my dad- it wasn't always an easy situation but it was one full of blessings and my parents made things work! My aiti then made another giant step in her conversion- she and my dad were sealed for time and all eternity. That action has blessed our life eternally. Since that covenant was made, my momma has done her best to endure to the end. The gratitude I have for my aiti's faith is immense. She is an incredibly strong, powerful woman, and not only that, but a pioneer in her own right. She blazed the way for her future children to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives, and in her grand-children's lives. She is a true pioneer. And what is even more amazing? She never complains about having left Finland. In all my 22 years of life, not once have I ever heard my mom complain about leaving Finland behind or wanting to be in Finland.

My mother is an incredible woman, and through faith, a willingness to hear the message of two scrawny missionaries who had broken Finnish, and the power of conversion through the Spirit, my aiti has impacted the lives of all those who have met her, for the better. How grateful I am for my mother, and the love that I have for her is beyond words.

I hope that all of you take the time to ponder and pray about someone that you could share the gospel with in your life, whether they be a nonmember or a less-active member, so that they can help blaze the way for their families the way that my mother has for me and mine.

With that, I bid you farewell! I love you all and I'm grateful for you! Take care and know the Lord loves you!

Be safe, be strong, be good, be glad! The world is a beautiful place! :)

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated March 10, 2014