I'm So Sorry!

I don't have much time left, I'm so sorry folks.

It's been a good week. We've spent a lot of time driving around and we got lost a lot in the city. Good thing we had extra miles saved! We saw the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and that was incredibly haunting and sad and moving.

Alright. I'm so sorry. I have to go! We have a bunch of snow on the ground. It's been a crazy week. Spent a lot of time on base.

Alright. Well I love you all. Take good care and I'll write a better email next week!

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

PS- Here's a picture of me with the Reynolds, the night before I got transferred! Love you all! Stay safe and warm!

Email dated March 3, 2014

"Hi, I'm Desirae. I'm amazing, and I'm a Mormon"

Once again, I'm short on time. But- I want to tell you about the highlight of my week- Desirae's baptism. It was on Saturday.

Allow me to tell you just how amazing Saturday was.. because it was incredible.

Saturday I woke up in OKC. I was on exchanges with Sister Stewart (one of our STL's) and it was awesome. We went to a lesson that morning with a woman named Chelsie, and while we were there, some Jehovah's Witnesses walked up and I happened to see them before they got to the screen door, so Sister Stewart distracted Chelsie and I walked out and introduced myself. I was very friendly.. but they weren't. But it was okay! I smiled and said "Hi! I'm Sister Larson!" And they said, "Are you the lady of the house?" And so I said, "Nope. :) I'm actually a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We're just about to have a lesson with the woman that lives here. You can join us if you'd like! Would you like to join us?" And they said, "uhhhhhhhhhhh no. Have a good day ma'am." And before they walked away, I handed them a pass along card and went back inside. :)

It was incredible. After our awesome lesson with Chelsie, we headed back to Midwest City and exchanged back. I missed my Panion. We ate a quick lunch and drove up to The Village to get Sister Leavitt. Sister Ellis went with Sister Chevalier back to Midwest City, and SisLeav and I went down to Norman! It was such a party. Oh my heck. 

We got to the Norman building and Sister Freeman (my other old companion) was there with her trainee, and we swapped stories and talked and then Sister Leavitt and I went and practiced our musical number. Desirae showed up not too long after and I have never been more excited to see someone. Words cannot express how much I love Desirae. I gave her the biggest hug ever and we talked about how things have been since I was transferred and she was crying, which was kind of sad. She kept saying, "I miss how you teach and I miss laughing in lessons!" and then she said that her lessons now are more serious and doctrinal and less loving and personal. So that was sad. But she's doing great and I'm so excited for her. The baptism begun, and it was amazing. 

My favorite Norman folks were there- the Zukas family, the Zimmermans, Sister Reynolds, Desirae, Sister Freeman, Elder Tripp, and the Humphreys. I was ecstatic. After Desirae was baptized, Sister Leavitt and I did our musical number- she played piano and I sang- a medley of "Nearer My God to Thee" and "I Feel My Savior's Love". It went pretty good! Sister Leavitt is a bossssss at piano. After the baptism we went to dinner at the Zukas's house- happiest thing ever. Felt like I was at a family dinner! AND there was a bulldog there that was the funniest dog I've EVER seen in my life. His name was Max. And we're best friends now.

Anyway- we got back home right before curfew.. and it was an amazing day. Words cannot express how happy I am that I got to experience Desirae's baptism.

And with that- I must get going. But I love you all and I'm so appreciative of the support I receive from you! Never forget how much you mean to me, the Lord, and those who surround you!

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated February 24, 2014

SPEEDMAIL.

I appologize, I have been slacking on my posts lately. But as you will see, Sofie hasn't been feeling very well lately.

UBER FAST MASS EMAIL.

I'm so sorry. These computers are really cramping my style.

Basically I want to let you all know that I am safe, sound, happy to be alive and I love the gospel!

I'm also very excited because this weekend, I get to go on splits with my trainer (Momma Leavitt!) and go back to Norman for Desirae's baptism. I'm so excited.

She asked me to sing at it though.. not quite as excited about that.

I've had bronchitis or some sort of reallllly nasty cold for a couple weeks now so that's been a bummer.

We have some incredible investigators here. One of them, Kel, is 18 and she just had a baby and is a boss. She's so strong! I'm very impressed by her and she's going to be an amazing Mormon. :)

The wind is psychotic here. It's always trying to mess up your clothes and hair.

My companion is the sweetest person ever. Also she's hilarious. She's also very shy and quiet. But once she opens up.. oh heck. She's so funny.

We spoke in the Single's branch this last Sunday. It went really well! Sister Chevalier went first and totally blew everyone's spiritual socks off, and then I went in and was like, "NOW GIVE US YOUR FRIENDS SO WE CAN TEACH THEM."

Okay not really. But kind of.

Anyway. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for the support you show me!

We have been learning this week about our desires and how they affect our actions. I'm constantly working on having more righteous desires and let me tell ya what, it's hard. But Heavenly Father gave us the ability to overcome our weaknesses and become like Jesus Christ.

:)

Anyway. I gotta go. I love you all so much! Take good care and know that the Lord (and I) love you A TON!

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated February 18, 2014

The Lamest Email I've Ever Sent. :/

Hello from Midwest City!

I'm just about to run out of time so I am going to have to make this a quick email. (Missionaries only get a small amount of time set aside on their P-day to send emails.)

Monday- P-day. I spent most of the day drugged (after email) so I don't remember much. But that's okay! It was a good day I'm sure.

Tuesday- Went around and said goodbyes, had a couple appointments, packed.. it was crazy. I said goodbye to Desirae (broke my heart) and she wasn't ready to say goodbye, so she showed up again at our apartment and said goodbye again. We cried. I love Desirae. 

Wednesday- Transfer day! I have a new companion named Sister Chevalier (pronounced Sha-val-yay) and she's super quiet and nice. I was actually her host in the MTC so I already knew her. :) We came back, I unpacked, we went to a baptism and then went to correlation. We serve not only over a huuuuuuuge ward (over 700 on the roster.. but not enough worthy priesthood to split it) but also over a single's branch. It's awesome. :)

Thursday- Had a couple appointments. I feel bad because I've been medicated so I can't remember too much from this week and I'm really sorry.

OH WAIT. That was the day I got a call that DESIRAE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE. I wept with joy for a while. I'm so happy for her. And it'll be so great to go to that baptism.

Friday- District meeting! It was a good meeting. Our District leader is from my old zone so I know him, which is nice. After that, we had lunch at a place called Chileno's and we told them it was one of our elders' birthday, so they put a HUGE sombrero on him and then sang to him. IT was hilarious.

Saturday- We met with Sarrah and Leo! They're a couple recent converts and they're way nice! I love them. They're super funny and very down to earth.

Sunday- 7 hours of church! IT was nuttttts. But it was awesome too. I loved it. After that we went out to Choctaw and spoke at a fireside. It went really well! The youth seemed to really like what we said and seemed super energized about member missionary work. :)

Alright well, I'm sorry. This might be the lamest email I've ever sent out. But I'm on a huge time crunch and I'm super sorry. I love you all so much! Take care!

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated February 10, 2014

Just a heads up, if you took the address from Sofie's last email, IT WAS MISSPELLED. This is her actual address:

215 W McArthur Dr. Apt #81

Midwest City, OK 73110

Transfers and the ER!

Well guys, this week we find out the real reason that Sister Larson got transferred. Just a warning, it's pretty sad.

So normally for my emails I type out each day.. but to be honest, I can't remember anything after Tuesday. Here's why:

Tuesday we were in a lesson and I bent over to grab something from my bag. At that point I had an incredibly sharp pain and it felt like someone stabbed me with a screwdriver. We happened to be very close to our doctor's office, so I wrote my companion a note in my planner that said "We need to go to Dr. Zukas right now." so we quickly finished our lesson and wet to Dr. Zukas. He sent us to the ER, and 7 hours and many many tests later, I was discharged with some light pain meds that weren't doing a thing for me. We went to the doctor a couple more times this week and had to get more tests done, and after some major trial and error with some of my medication (they made me really sick) We finally found some medications that were working at least somewhat.

Apparently I've said some really funny things on my drugs. For instance, I said this to my companion:

"Sister Freeman, you're like a sunflower. You're always facing the sun and so ready to give seeds." 

I also stole the elders' plastic sword and was running around saying "I'M MULAN." Yeah. 

There is also an elder from a tiny town called Burrville in Utah (his graduating class was like 16 people.. yeah I though Philomath was small.) And apparently I said "He's gonna get married in the Burrville temple! AKA a barn!" And they all thought it was really funny but I was sad that they were laughing at me. Yeah.

Last night we got transfer calls! I'm being transferred to Midwest City! Here's my new address! 

215 W McArther Dr. Apt #81

Midwest City, OK 73110

Alright, well, I must be going now. This is a real short email and I know it! I wish I remembered more of the week. 

Here's a picture of me me with a really cute puppy from a couple weeks ago:

Here's a less than attractive photo my companion took in the emergency room:

Alright! take care y'all, I'll write again next week! :) Love you so much!

Sister Sofia Larson

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Email dated February 3, 2014

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