Providing a way for more happiness

Surgery is tomorrow! Through a series of miracles insurance has cleared so that I can stay in WV! I have been living in the mission president's home for the last week. I am too sick to work. President and Sister Pitt are the most awesome people ever. It was been quite eye-opening to see how much they do! And how much they love EVERY missionary. It is a miracle that they are home for these couple weeks- they usually are traveling. And it is also a miracle that we suddenly had a sister who needed a companion who could come take my spot in South Charleston so the work can keep on keeping on. Everything has worked out perfectly and everything is going to be okay.

But can I express how difficult it is to not be a missionary right now. Oh my heck. I want to make a comparison between a Book of Mormon story, a pre-mission experience, and my current situation. So:

Very beginning of the Book of Mormon. Lehi was told to leave everything. His home, the land of his inheritance, his gold, ALL his precious things, etc. And for what? THE WILDERNESS. Gee, what fun. And what is more puzzling is that the reason why Lehi had to leave was because he was in danger, and the reason why he was in danger resulted from his obedience to the Lord. The Lord says; "because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life." What? Shouldn't Lehi receive blessings for his obedience? And he did... they just weren't immediate. The Lord does all things because he loves his children. And Lehi's blessings became more obvious as he (out of necessity) has to rely deeper and deeper on the Lord. Sometimes the Lord takes away what we love most in order to prepare the way for us to receive blessings that will fill us with more love and MORE HAPPINESS.

So. I can relate to this. Not to be awkward or anything but there was a time when the Lord took away what I loved most. In this case, who I loved most. Breaking up is hard. But through that, out of necessity, I relied on the Lord and came to know Him in a way I never had before. And I treasure that. Absolutely treasure it. And it provided the way for me to come on a mission and feel more HAPPINESS! (Wait, I could be more happy? Yes. Yes, I could!). The Lord doesn't have a happiness limit, actually. He wants us to feel a fullness of joy that never stops growing.

Here's the thing, though. I never imagined that when the thing I loved the most was being a missionary, it would be in jeopardy of being taken away. It's kind of a righteous thing. But Lehi was doing a righteous thing when he was asked to sacrifice. The point is. Even though this whole ordeal has kind of caught me really off guard, I trust in my Father. Everything He does is out of love, and part of His perfect plan for our happiness. I know that of a surety. I cannot deny it. That kind of confidence that comes from trust in Heavenly Father is worth any sacrifice.

Out of time, but I love you, everybody! Next time you hear from me I will be without a gallbladder :)

Sister Larrabee

I KNOW that He loveth His children

I am ill. This week I got a HIDI-scan. What is that? Well basically you get injected with Radioactive dye and you get to lie in one of those intimidating machines that takes pictures of your gallbladder. It takes a really long time. Near the end of it, they inject what the nurse called a "liquid big mac" and see what my gallbladder does. It was not the most pleasant experience in the world... I have been eating fat free to avoid the more intense waves of nausea... so a big mac... anyways. The point of this procedure is to determine the functionality of my gallbladder. If it is working at under 35% they have to take it out. My gallbladder is working at.... drum roll please... 0%. Not kidding. No wonder I feel like garbage. HA! So it's going to have to come out. We don't know how the insurance is going to go down or anything, but I sure hope we can make this happen here in WV. I could get back to work a lot faster!

I'm doing all I can and the Lord is truly making a difference. I should be satisfied with that, but it is kind of really disheartening to not be able to do what I have been doing. We went on another exchange this week and my energy was so much lower than normal. I love being a missionary with everything I have, and now that I have less to give it  is really frustrating.

But here is the great news. I can say with Nephi "I know that [our Heavenly Father] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things" (1 Nephi 11:17). I don't understand why all things happen but I truly have a firm trust that he does nothing save it be for our benefit. He loves us with a perfect love. He has testified it to me through His Holy Ghost. I know it is true. And goodness, isn't that nice to know?

Have a good week because God is your FATHER and He loves you :)

Love,

Sister Larrabee

P.S. These are pictures of our wreath and the wreath belonging to the sisters we exchanged with this week. Ours is disgusting. We tried to make it Eastery... but their's has a LIVE BIRD FAMILY. HA HA HA! I hope you find this as hilarious as I do.

Front Row Seat

"I got an ultrasound this week. It's a girl! Just kidding. :) I did get an ultrasound this week to check out my gallbladder. I'm NOT pregnant"

I said this to my ward mission leader this week. Unfortunately the two elders who serve as assistants to the president of the mission walked in at the wrong time and didn't realize that much of this statement was a joke. Elder Hansen's face... I will never forget it. This was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life! HAHA!

But anyways, how did my ultrasound go? Fine. I don't have gallstones, so they are going to do some more tests soon because I am DEFINITELY ill. How am I positive this is not just stress (everyone's first assumption). Well because #1 I was having the best time of my life and #2 I went on exchanges a couple areas over and threw up all night. Not the spiritually uplifting exchange I was going for... but... you know...

Wish I had time to update you on all the miracles going on. What a privilege it is to be serving in the middle of the mission. There are 4 sets of missionaries in this ward and they are all strictly obedient and fearlessly diligent which provides miracles in the lives of so many and I HAVE A FRONT ROW SEAT. I love being a missionary. Hopefully I can be well enough to do it more effectively soon.

Love ya'll. Thanks for the prayers :)

Sister Larrabee

With Charity, You Have Everything

So. A stellar week. It was Sister Searle's last week in the WVCM and she really wanted to hit the standard of excellence. So we set off to hit it. The standard is hard to hit. It is REALLY hard to hit when you have MLC, Zone Meeting Planning, Zone Meeting, District Meeting, a Doctor's visit, 4 sessions of General Conference, and one final interview. (That was about 24 hours of meetings). Dear Friends. If your goal is embraced by the Lord, He will help you accomplish it. Actually, He will just do it for you. You have to work as hard as you possibly can, but He will accomplish it. This week, despite the DAY-worth of meetings this week, the Lord provided a way for us to have 2 people on date, 3 people come to church, 4 lessons with active members present, 7 lessons without members present, and 4 new investigators. What. A. Week. It is hard to say which one of these numbers represents the best miracle to report on. The Lord is not only in the work with us. He does the work for us -- when we give all we have.

I will tell the story of Traci. She was on date for Easter. At our lesson at the end of the week, we took her off date. She didn't want to get married for a year, and either marriage or moving out will be necessary for her to be baptized. Us missionaries were a little heart broken. She has been making such incredible progress. But Sister Searle was not going to give up. In our next lesson later in the week, Sister Herring was prompted to change our lesson plan to the Restoration of the Gospel -- something she definitely has learned before. Afterwards, Sister Searle proclaimed boldly that Traci needed to keep the law of chastity. It was the boldest and most loving commitment I have ever seen extended. We asked her to take her concerns to conference the next day and promised that through the living prophet and apostles, the Lord would answer her concern. She loved conference more than anyone else alive. She's back on date for Easter. Never give up, if there is even a spark of interest left. Be bold. True Christ-like love is more than being nice. It is caring enough to say the hard things. The Lord accomplishes all things through love, and this is what we need to do, too.

I love YOU!

Sister Larrabee