Spuluncker 3000s And Vibes

Hello everyone! This week was chaotic but also a copy and paste of last week. Also I hit my one month mark! BRUH that's wild. I love all your emails and i do my best to respond to them! It's been a good week but the language is getting more and more challenging and it can be hard to keep a positive mindset. I've decided I'll just interpretive dance all the lessons. It seems like the best option.

Once again this email is in sections so you can just read what floats your boat.

GOD BE WITH YOU 'TILL WE MEET AGAIN.
- This week we said goodbye to the majority of our batch. All the missionaries who were assigned in their native language left so pretty much its just amaricans learning hiligaynon and a small group of missionaries learning cambodian and thai that are still here from our batch. Our sacrament meeting this week was real small. Many of the sisters who left lived on our floor. The night before they left we gathered in the hallway and sang God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again and hugged each other. They have seriously become a second family so it was tough saying goodbye. Sister Bentley and I were talking about how we probably won't ever see them again. Then I realized it's not actually goodbye. If we all keep our covenants and try everyday to be christ-like we can all be together again. The day we see each other again will be joyous. It may not be in this life but we will see the people we've said goodbye to again.

HILIGAYNON AND MOSES
- Ok being so fr fr the Hiligaynon is not going amazeballs for me. Its going real slow but I am making progress. I can understand Hiligaynon much better than I can speak it. If I can bring a whiteboard and marker to the field with me I might be able to figure out the conjugation. I think I'm just going to speak the language by vibe. Ya know. Like if the vibes are there the grammar is probs right. Anyway, feeling like I'm not great at speaking Hiligaynon just added to the inadequacy I was already feeling about speaking. I've made this analogy before but I very much relate to Moses when he told God he was not mighty in speech. Now for an anecdote. So each Sunday we don't know who is speaking until right after the sacrament. This last week was testimony meeting but they still chose two speakers. So I thought I was in the clear and I was prepping a testimony in Hiligaynon and not really worrying about a talk so OF FREAKING COURSE I get called on the speak. I was literally shaking and frankly the Holy Ghost did NOT bring all things to my remembrance. So I did not speak for long enough and I felt super dumb after. I got over it though. I wasn't prepped and that's on me. Anyway, Hiligaynon and just speaking in general, not my forte, but I know that God can make weak things strong and that my efforts are enough. So pretty much I'm gonna be a gassed up speaker by the time I get home because God is great.

NEW BATCH
- This past week we got a huge batch of new missionaries. They are from literally everywhere. We got one new sister from the US and tons from New Zealand and Pakistan. Also for some reason all the American Elders are 17 feet tall. That's all thanks.

THINGS IVE LEARNED ABOUT ILOILO
- This week we learned how to buy from street vendors and how to order food. There are small stores in most houses called Tiyangge (pronounced like chunky which what I say every time because I can't remember the actual word) and to buy something you just walk up and yell "Tagbakal!" And them someone comes out to sell you stuff. I'm gonna look super cool yelling that at houses because idk how to tell if that one has a store or not so I'll just guess. Seems like a good way to blend in.
- Also its been typhooning here in Manila and I've never experienced rain like this before. It comes in solid sheets and you can see it getting closer and closer until it hits. Iloilo has much heavier typhoons and I've been told ill be buying knee high rainboots to walk around in because the water is nasty. So picture this: I'm the only American sister in the area, I'm walking around yelling at people to sell me stuff, I'm wearing my spuluncker 3000s and I'm telling them I want to talk about Jesus. I'm literally a native.

CHRIST'S LOVE
- I've been really thinking about Christ's love this week. I've been told a few times throughout me life that people didn't think I was friendly before they met me or that they were straight up scared of me before the talked to me. #RBF. Anyway I've been realising that I don't want that. I want people to be able to look at me and see that I love Christ. I want people to look at me and think that I look kind. So I've been working on having more of Christ's light in my countenance.
- This week our district was kinda randomly uninvited to a devotional and we don't really know why. But, we ended up using the time as a personal study and then as an informal testimony meeting. I could feel Christ's love so strongly. We each just shared our love for God and for Jesus and what's been on our minds lately. There is true power in gathering with fellow believers. As we were talking I realized we were sitting underneath a photo of Christ laughing with His apostles. It sounds cheesy but I literally said " look its like Christ is part of our conversation" . Not only was he the topic of our conversation and the subject of the art we were surrounded by but in that moment I was vividly aware that Christ literally was with us. I know that he lives and we can feel the spirit when we live worthily.
-The last thought that's been really sticking with me this week is: there are no accidents. I was meant to be in the MTC at this time. I was meant to be with Sister Bentley and in the Heleman district. I was meant to be with my family with my parents and my siblings. I was called to serve in Iloilo speaking Hiligaynon and that was simply not an accident.
Also good luck to everyone starting college this week!

Love, Sister Larson

PHOTOS
- we have really strict rules on when we can take photos so most of them are from p day.

1. Saying goodbye to sisters
2. Boba
3. The market
4. Our roommates
5. Heleman District
6. Cafeteria moment feat. Angry Ginger
7. Our zone leader enjoying personal study






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