Mourn with those that Mourn

So my Birthday was pretty great! The night before our sweet new convert made an excellent dinner complete with cake and candles! Michael is progressing pretty well and came to church for the first time! There was so much joy on my birthday. I was mainly just happy to be a missionary even through other unpleasant things that were also happening.

What things? Well, I spent the ENTIRE night before my birthday throwing up the glorious birthday meal every hour and then at church, I felt so sick I had to leave for the last hour. I am pretty sure my gall-bladder is not doing well. I have been sick A LOT and it is getting a little old. I am not sure what is going to happen. Will I be sick forever? Will I have to get my gall-bladder out? Is that going to keep me from Brazil? Is that going to send me home altogether? Just a lot of unknowns. I am not even positive if the problem IS my gall-bladder. But if it is, this is going to affect me now until the rest of mortality. No pizza. No burgers. I'll have something WRONG for the rest of my life. And that is kind of sad. To feel broken and unwell... forever... So I had a small pity party for myself as I was falling asleep and I was pondering the baptismal covenant (side note: You know you are a missionary when you start a sentence "I was pondering the baptismal covenant as I was falling asleep"). But, in the Book of Mormon we read that when you are baptized you promise to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort (Mosiah 18). Christ was baptized. And I am certain He keeps His baptismal covenant. When we mourn, He mourns with us. That night, when I was mourning the loss of pizza (haha... but really... pizza... forever) Jesus was mourning with me, because Jesus was baptized, and He keeps His covenants. He mourns with you. No matter how big or small your loss is. He loves you. AND I love being a missionary.

Til next week!

Sister Larrabee

Happy

This week was phenomenal. Like. Really. It was truly amazing. I didn't know how fully the Spirit could teach in lessons. It has been amazing. Sister Herring and I have really been striving to meet the new goals of the mission. In order to be "Master Teachers of Doctrine" for the week, there are 6 things you have to do EVERY DAY. We totally did them. And because of the exact obedience we saw miracles like you wouldn't believe! Can you feel more happiness, righteousness and excitement? I submit you CANNOT! YAY! Guess what else we did? WE REACHED THE NEW STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE (2 on date weekly, 2 at sacrament with one of those being on date weekly, 3 member presents weekly, 3 new investigators weekly, 5 unplanned invitations to learn- ITLs - EVERY Single Day). The new goals are focused on creating a Zion mission so we are celebrating successes to these goals as a mission and not as individuals. So each week we get a percentage of Master Teachers of Doctrine and a percentage of those who hit the Standard of Excellence. Last week was pretty discouraging- well - motivating actually because only 24% where completely obedient to the new requirements of being a "Master Teacher" and 0% reached the Standard. We were a little chastened and really really really encouraged to strive to hit these standards as we are the leaders and need to provide hope for the mission. Sister Herring and I have agreed that neither of us have ever worked so hard in our lives, but we are SO HAPPY! YAY!

I only have time to write one of the many miracles this week: We have been focusing on finding 5 people to invite to learn every day. We invited this one guy to learn and he looked at Sister Herring with the saddest, most urgent eyes and said "Can you save me right now?" Sister Herring explained that WE can't save him because it doesn't work like that, but we can show him the way to secure his eternal salvation. He gave us his address and we set off to find him after church. The address wasn't quite right. We knocked on the door and said "Does Michael live here?" Then he said, "Michael who?" and we didn't know. haha. He gave us directions to the "Michaels" in the area. We went to one of the houses, down this crazy hollah (that means 'hollow' --- generations line little dirt roads in the middle of nowhere). He wasn't home so we traveled all the way down to the end of the hollah where it ended up his parents live. Guess who was visiting his parents? Michael. He was so surprised but we knew that we were supposed to find him that day and that we would. We taught a lesson and put him on date to be baptized on the 27th! WOW!!

Missions are full of ups and downs. But the ups are extreme and they are what you remember. There is no work as happy as this.

Love,

Sister Larrabee

Holy Busy

It was such a busy week! First we had the snowstorm Pday, the next day was MLC (Mission Leader Council). It is the big meeting with all of the zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders (STLs) in the whole mission. It was super intimidating. But guess what?? I COMMENTED! I was so happy that I was brave. It is intense being the Charleston STLs. It was really fun to be part of the council, discussing issues, fixing problems, chilling with the mission president. It's good stuff. The next day we prepared for the zone meeting. Thursday was the Zone Meeting. At zone meetings, the zone leaders teach and so do the STLs. It was so intimidating to be on the planning and teaching end of the meeting because I know how much everyone counts on those meetings to uplift them and motivate them and receive the answers they have been praying for! It went well, I think, though. I am just glad that it is over... until the 20th. Then we are teaching 2 zones combined at a specialized training. Whoa. It is safe to say that I am growing out of my comfort zone. Shoot. I might even go so far as to say I left my comfort zone in the dust of Salem and I am living in discomfort. Haha! It is so good though. What is crazy is: I am so happy! When you lose yourself in the Lord you truly are blessed with joy.

So immediately after the Zone meeting I went on an exchange with a sister in her area and immediately after that I went on another exchange with the sisters in another area in our zone. Exchanges are when one of the Sister Training Leaders (or Zone Leaders if it's with Elders) switches places with one of the missionaries in their zone to observe how they are obedient and teach and stuff while at the same time setting a perfect example while at the same time digging for concerns, while at the same time doing everything you can to correct and encourage. They are so stressful. 2 in a row was crazy! But good. At the same time it really is so wonderful to be using every effort you have to serve others. We have really good sisters who are easy to love! Amongst all that we somehow fit in some teaching. We have a new investigator named Ruby who is in her 70's. She is the funniest old lady. She came to church yesterday and was an absolute joy. We expect her to get baptized this transfer. No joke.

So in summary. We are busy! But, right now, I would rather be here than anywhere else. What a blessing to serve the Lord with ALL of your heart, might, mind, and strength!

Love ya'll!

Sister Larrabee

Little Tender Mercies

So I was sick on Tuesday. And Thursday. And part of Friday. We had to push our exchange to next week, so that's going to be a crazy week. But good things happened too! We were able to teach some great lessons this weekend and the Zone Leaders' Investigator got BAPTIZED. I got to lead the music at the baptism. I looked like death still, but oh well. :)

But the miracle that I want to write about this week is a small tender mercy that the Lord gave us on Tuesday, because it meant a lot to Sister Herring and I. I felt like garbage on Tuesday and the Zone leaders were at the mission office, so Sister Herring and I drove there so I could get a blessing. That is a beautiful blessing in itself... Dear everyone: the Priesthood, or power of God, is on the earth today and there are many wonderful men who live worthy so they can bless others with it. But on the way back, we stopped at a gas station to pick up gingerale and crackers, and we were able to invite someone to learn about the gospel, who really needed us at that moment. She was having a particularly rough day during her rough life, which she told us about after we talked to her about Christ. It really is mind-blowing how Heavenly Father puts us in the right place at the right time for the benefit of His beloved children. Even on a day where we couldn't accomplish hardly anything at all, the Lord put someone in our path that we could help. That little thing meant the world to us. I love the Lord.

I'm feeling better now, so I am ready to attack next week! So excited!

Love,

Sister Larrabee

P.S. Here is a picture our District. They rock :)