Lizards, Airplanes, Rice And Typhoons

Hey Guys! Thanks for wanting to recieve my emails LOL. Please excuse my title. I'm explain in a minute. Life is WILD here and I'm not even in the field yet. This email will be in a few cute little sections so please feel free to read the ones that are interesting to you. (the real ones will read the whole thing fr fr).

AIRPLANES
- The flight to get here was the actual worst experience. I woke up on Monday the 6th (woke up is a strong word because I never actully slept) at 4:00. I said goodbye to my family in the SLC airport at like 5 in the morning, so while it was really hard, I was too tired to really cry or be upset. Starting in SLC I was traveling with at least 20 other missionaries and one other sister. We flew SLC to Seattle (where we picked up my now companion Sister Bentley), Seattle to Souel and then Souel to Manilla. The flight to Souel just about did me in. By the time we made it to Manila we had been traveling for about 26 hours and I probably got 2-3 hours of sleep total on the flights. We made it safely to Manila and I slept a little on the flight but when I woke up there was medical personel all around and people were trying to call an ambulance. Turns out one of the Elders got food poisoning from a burrito in the Seattle airport. For a minute they thought he had Ebola and they were saying they needed to quarentine the whole plane. definentley not a Top 10 moment but it was a little silly. That night we stayed in a hotel in Manilla and probably got 3ish hours of sleep. The hotel was nice but low key janky. Also I may or may not have drunk some of the water from the sink there which is a BIG NO NO. Anyway, I'm fine so its probably chill. The next  day we had a huge group of missionaries and we drove to the MTC!

MTC LIFE
- The MTC is BEAUTIFUL here. I'll definetly add some photos. The first day we were assiged companions, or Koupod in Hiligaynon, and I'm with Sister Bentley!! She is adorbs. She's from Arizona and we get along great. Our room is really nice but the batrooms and showers are REISTY. Also we've had a wee bit of a cockroach problem in our room. I had literally never seen a cockroach before so it kinda freaked me out but now we just name them and then I smash them with a fire extinguisher. Moving on, the food here is STRAIGHT FIRE. Aside from the liver, all the food is amazing. A lot of the time I'm just eating an unknown meat covered in sauce with TONS of rice but its delish. The second I ate the liver my mind flashed to the Skyline High School biology lab and suddenly I was staring into the face of every animal I'v ever disected. A truely wretched sight. So yah, that was the closest I've been to vomiting. 
I love my district! there are 8 of us total and we are all Americans either going to Iloilo or Bacolud. Sister Bentley and I are the only sisters. The MTC here is way small. We have anout 300 missionaries total and only 50 are sisters. People here are learning Tagolog, Sabuano, Hiligaynon, English, Kantanese, Thai and Vietnamese. We had an Elder leave a few days ago for literal PAKISTAN. Anyway its absolutely gorgeous and I'm loving my time here. I get homesick but its pretty managable and I can move past it. Also there are feral cats, rats and lizards kinda everywhere.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT ILOILO
- First of all its crazy humid here but apparently its much worse in Iloilo so I have that to look forward to. Also, TYPHOONS are apparetly a huge problem. they get 10-15 a year that knock down houses and flood the villages. So my teachers have said we'll learn to build houses which is mega cool. The medical advisors told us all the lovely diseases we could catch and then pretty much told us there was no way to cure them. They kept saying "don't go to the hospital" and just drink water. Sooooooooo. IDK but that was super comforting. Iloilo also has some large mountains, which I didn't know about. They also eat Lizards there so I'm prepping myself now.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF AND THE GOSPEL.
-Sorry this email is so long. The rest of them will be much shorter I promise. This week has been super eye opening. Not just with new cultures and languages but also into myself and my testimony. Some of the main things I've learned:
- I am capable of adapting to any circumstance.
- God hears our prayers. After the worst cockroach day + a discouraging class I prayed and said " Heavenly Father, thank you for these cockroaches so I can learn what to expect, but Heavenly Father, I don't think I can handle one in my bed or in my hair. So if you could, please bless us with less cockroaches." BOOM I wake up the next morning ZERO cockroaches. Prayer is REAL
- I believe that Christ was raised from the dead and lives. I believe that he healed the sick and the blind. I believe that with God he created the earth. I believe that Christ guided Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon. I believe without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. So, why was I having a hard time believing that God would keep me safe? Go has done much more difficult things, surely he can manage one Sister Missionary in Iloilo.

Thanks for reading this if you made it this far! I'm doing great and I love you all!
Palangga ka kamo! ( I love you guys!)

- Sister Larson

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