This One Is About Music.

This week was solid. We had some solid lessons, some good finding and exchanges. Overall it was just a good week. We had exchanges with Tigbauan sisters so I worked with sister Cauilan for a day which is always fun and I learn so much. Mission life is still challenging and we still have lots of rejections but it's always rewarding and the days are really starting to blur. Anyway I'm still pluggin along over here. And transfers are coming up which means I'll no longer be a trainee and there is a chance I could go to a new area or get a new companion!! #prayforme #irl

boom. sections.

MUSIC

Ok so music has been playing so many roles in my life lately. 

First of all we have the music on the Sacred Music app that we can listen to anytime as missionaries. Its all like efy music which before my mission I would have hated and I still kinda do but let me tell you. I do be jammin ( as in jamming out). My man Nik Day down at temple square really put his heart and soul into those. But someone please hit up church headquarters and ask them to drop some christmas music. There's really like 4 good songs on there.

The second thing is like all the missionaries here play the Ukelele so I've been learning and that's cool. I can play Mistletoe by Justin Bieber, Consider the Lilies and Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Only the classics.

One of my favorite things is hearing the music stores and people are playing. Last week we were being rejected by this lady and it had already been a long day and I was tired of translating so I started to tune out a bit. And then what do I hear? The beautiful electric guitar and familiar bass intro to Sweet Child Of Mine. It took everything in me not to start singing when I heard "SHE'S GOT EYES OF THE…". yah. And then on our way out of that neighborhood someone was playing "What's Up" by Four Non-Blondes. And I was like "wow" God is aware of me right now. And then during transfers this week I was eating a quesadilla in Tigbauan (which I was very excited about because it's the first time I've had anything close to Mexican food here) and the restaurant started playing "Country Roads" by John Denver and pretty much instantly I was fighting back tears. Stupid John.

WORKERS

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The youth in our ward are so so good at missionary work. They are constantly wanting to work with us and giving referrals. The top photo is us with Sheena and Charmane. The second is with Sheena and Jacob when we were visiting Ronica. The last is Sheena and Charmane again with Nanay Bilbao, a medium interested person who runs a tiangge. 

Their excitement for missionary work makes me so wish I had been better about missionary work before my mission. Frankly I pretty much ran away from the missionaries on BYU campus. Whoops.

PADAYON

Padayon means "carry on" or "keep going". It's quickly becoming one of my favorite words. Padayon reading your scriptures. Padayon nga magpangamuyo (pray). Padayon nga may ara pagtuo (have faith).

This is a common motto here in the Philippines and its the advice missionaries always give. So its been my motto a bit this week. Here is a photo of me and sister Francisquete still alive. It was so so so bright.

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JOLLIBEE

Jollibee is officially my favorite fast food. Its like if KFC was good and had rice and coke floats. Oton just got a Jollibee and it's technically not our area but we can go there on p day. And let me tell ya. It's a good thing it's not our area because I would weigh 5000 pounds. Anyway we went there for breakfast today and it was namit. 

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CONFIDENCE

So sometimes I feel good about my missionaryness and then I am very quickly humbled. This week we were finding people just in the streets and it was my turn to like really take the lead talking to people. At first I was like "ha no problem" and then I just kept saying good morning to people and continued walking. Turns out talking to people before my mission was scary and guess what? It's still scary. You know what makes it better though? Doing it in another language. Anyway I'm working on building my speaking confidence and my faith that my efforts will be magnified.

Even though my finding was clumsy at best we met this sweet nanay who had a crusty photo of Jesus and we were able to give her a new one.

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SONGS SUNG AND UNSUNG.

There's a really good talk by Elder Cook about this topic that's kinda sad but super good. The idea is from the song "sunshine in my soul today". The line goes " And Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing." Elder Cook talks about how sometimes in life we have righteous desires and we are keeping the commandments but our prayers still go seemingly unanswered. These are the songs unsung. But Jesus hears them.  Jesus knows us perfectly. He hears the thoughts in our minds and he wipes away our silent tears. He knows the deepest desires of our hearts and he holds our hand as we give our megar efforts to try again. He knows you. He knows what you hope for. Even when we feel that our prayers are going unanswered and our righteous desires are not being met. He hears you. In the talk "An High Priest of Good Things To Come" by Elder Holland he said "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." We each have a song of hopes and dreams that we may or may not be able to sing. But I know that through Christ each note is heard and not a line is wasted. He hears you.

I love my savior. I love the Book of Mormon. I love my family and I love being a missionary.

Sister Larson