Christmas 12/26/16

Hey Guys!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! This week was super good!! The members are so nice to us and we got a ton of stuff. Mostly candy and treats...so we're going to get fat on that. The week of Christmas is the best because everybody is so excited to talk about Jesus! We were able to find a new investigator. He was a referral from someone we tracted into and one of his friends is a member and he went to church a couple of times with her. But he was super open so that was awesome!!! We went caroling with some members this week....they have a crazy child. He's four and has the most energy of anyone I have ever met. It's insane. We also went caroling with some sisters from our district and that was fun! We had another zone conference this week! It was my last one so that was pretty sad. But it was awesome!! 

So an update on Kristine: we finally had a lesson with her and it was a super super long lesson but it was so cool! Every question they asked just highlighted a principle of the gospel and they need the gospel so badly!!! And they are so ready!!!!! They came to church on Sunday!!! And the ward pulled through and swarmed them and it was great!!! Another one of our families that we are teaching came to church as well! It was awesome! Well I love you all!! Have a great week and Happy New Year...next Sunday!!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Centerton!! 12/19/16

Hey Guys!!!

Guess what?!?!?!?!?! So remember how like 3 months ago or so I told ya'll about Kristine Collins whose husband was murdered and she told her coworker that we were messengers from God and her coworker was a bishop and he told us that she would be the miracle of our mission??? So the sisters went and knocked on her door last Tuesday and she said to come back on Friday or Saturday. We were going to go on Saturday but it had rained and the temperatures dropped and we weren't supposed to be out on the roads because everything was stinking frozen and then there was snow stuff to top it off so we couldn't go visit her but then on Sunday we stopped by and she came out in the freezing (really really really really cold) to talk to us and she started crying and was saying that she has been super stressed financially and emotionally because of Christmas and it was so heartbreaking. She told us that she doesn't have enough money so her kids can have Christmas this year so my comp and I are going to get them Christmas and we are going there on Friday to do service with her and then teach her afterwards! Also my companion was super inspired to ask her if she would like to attend our Christmas service on Sunday and she said she really wants to because her church isn't having church on Christmas and so she's going to come to church!!!!!!!!!!!! Agh I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!! Please pray for her!!!!

It's been really fun to see everyone again and to meet all of the new investigators!! This area is looking pretty promising right now. We have a couple families we are teaching and it's the best!!! Saturday the temperatures were dropping quite a bit.....lots and lots and we were advised to not drive a lot on Sunday either so my companion still has that greenie fire and wanted to walk to church....so we bundled up quite a bit and walked the hour to church haha. We got a ride home though because the roads weren't bad at all. But it took us a couple hours to thaw out haha. Church was cancelled but they had a sacrament meeting at 1 that we went to so I wasn't able to see all of my people. But we have had a great 1/2 week so far!!! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!! Love you!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

BACK TO MY HEARTLAND !!! 12/14/16

GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best week ever!!!!!!!!!!!! We just got transfer calls last night and I'm going back to Centerton!!!!!!!!! That's the area I just was in before I came to Joplin and it was my favorite area!!! And now I'm going back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the best news I've ever gotten!! 

And to top it off, Elder Gay from the Seventy came on Monday and we had a mission conference excluding the three zones in Oklahoma. We actually found out that they are revising the mission boundaries and the three Oklahoma zones/stakes are no longer going to be a part of our mission. They'll be a part of the OKC mission but we'll get to keep all of our missionaries and they'll cover the areas that are double areas. That will be in effect as of January 1st. It was kind of sad because I love Oklahoma so much. I'm glad they did it my last transfer! 

Elder Gay taught us so many things! One thing that stood out was the part about returning home because it's my last transfer. He said, "The point is not to get to the summit but to return home." A lot of times we focus on the summits of life like going on a mission, getting married in the temple, etc. But it's not about that part. It's about getting home in one piece. It's about returning to Heavenly Father and enduring to the end. It's about taking what you learned and applying it to life. He said that there shouldn't be an adjustment when you go home. He said that you spent 18 months to 2 years learning how the Lord wants you to live so you shouldn't 'adjust' to the world. It was awesome!!!! He also said, "Don't be like the Brother of Jared when he was stuck on the shore doing great things but not the Lord's will." Man we learned so many things. 

Joanna Farley gave me my INDIAN NAME!!!!!!!!!! The long version is: Chunkash yukpa atapa hine hanta kostini'Ohoyo. It means a woman who brings peace and joy and is cheerful. The short version is Yukpa'Ohoyo: one who is cheerful. We were supposed to have a feast tonight but I had to come to Bentonville early. We had a very tearful goodbye this morning but we found out that they are moving into a different ward so I'm glad I'm going to Centerton! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Sister Larmouth

Baptism 12/15/16

Hey guys!!

So this week was pretty AMAZING!!!!! Joanna got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was probably the best experience of my mission!!!! When she was about to get in the water she started getting sooo excited and she started crying and when she bore her testimony she said that she's been baptized 6 times and this one she knew was real. She said that she is clean now and she felt the Spirit so strong! I'm so excited for her! We taught her on Wednesday and we told her that the same feeling she had, her parents can have in the temple when she does baptisms for them and she cried and cried and of course we cried too. I love her so much!!! Also she is close to finding me an Indian name so that's pretty cool :) 

So the guy who came up with Precious Moments happens to have lived in our area and made a Precious Moments chapel so we went and saw it and it was super super cool!!! Weird but really cool!

On Tuesday we were contacting a potential and there was a whole bunch of stuff outside and a lady walked up and she was moving down the street so we offered to help her and we taught her the gospel as we walked down the street and she was excited to meet with us :) She also has cotton candy hair and it's great. Overall it's been a great week!! 

Love

Sister Larmouth

It's Starting to Feel a Lot Like Christmas 11/28/16

Hey guys!!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!! Mine was pretty great!!! We got to spend it with a family out in Diamond and we got enough left overs to feed a small army so we're doing pretty good haha. So Joanna is getting baptized tomorrow!!! We're super excited!!! We went and saw Joanna and her husband last night (who is a recent convert himself) and we found out that his testimony is wavering a lot! It was so sad! We know it's because he hasn't been reading his scriptures, praying and attending church. Guys, these things are real real important!!! Testimonies only live on those things. 

This week was pretty much a blur! We did a whole lot of service and got a little sore from doing renovations to a house. It was fun though!! We put up our Christmas tree!!! I'm so excited for Christmas!! We've been blaring Christmas music when we can. 

We went and delivered a pie to a less active and we've shared the Christmas initiative to everyone and their dog. Do ya'll know about the initiative??? You'll have to do it!! Go to Mormon.org/download and you can download the advent calendar!!! Do it do it! Well I can't remember anything else that happened.. but I love you all!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Interviews 11/21/16

Hey guys!!!

This week has been pretty great! We have seen a whole lot of miracles!! We had interviews with the mission president and his wife on Wednesday and it was super super good! Sister Loveland talked about how the words we use to extend an invitation to baptism are sacred and that we are inviting them to sacrifice everything to be baptized. It was a pretty neat concept. I had exchanges in Miami which always makes me love my area so much more. I hate to leave my area but it helps you learn. 

We've been meeting with a whole bunch of less actives of late and some of them have a goal to get to the temple :D I love those kind of goals! We had quite a few of Less actives at church! Speaking of church: so we had a nonmember sacrament meeting so people invited their friends to come to church and it was great! So during Relief Society, a member came in and got us and told us that a man had just walked in and he was in the chapel praying. So we grabbed our RS president and we went and talked with him and had a lesson. He's from Mexico so his English wasn't very good. He was going through a hard time and he was driving around and saw our church and said he felt like he needed to come in and pray! Isn't that so cool! He was talking about how all he wants is a family and how it's not working out and it was soo sad and we have a return appointment and we're going to teach him! I love miracles!! They're so great! 

Also, a Joanna update: last time we saw her, she wanted an elder who just got transferred to come back and baptize her and we told her that he probably couldn't come back and she told us that she didn't know if she wanted to get baptized then. But she drove us to our next appointment and wanted to teach with us and after the lesson she told us that she still wanted to get baptized she was just upset because he was like family to her. Her heart literally softened in 20 minutes. It was so cool! We set the baptism date for next Tuesday the 29th. And we're super super stoked! She's so amazing and she has a strong testimony of the gospel! Well I love you all and hope you have a super great week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Lovelands in Sacrament! 11/14/16

Hey guys!

So the last 5 days were pretty good. Yesterday, President and Sister Loveland came and spoke in our sacrament meeting on missionary work and inviting. It was a great! Sister Loveland shared a story of a lady in their ward who was terrified to talk to people about the gospel but she wanted to follow the counsel of their stake president and she believed the promise that if she opened her mouth it would be filled. So she prayed that someone would be placed in her path to talk to in some form or another about the gospel. So she was doing laps at the pool and when she got out she noticed her son's old football coach sitting at the edge of the pool and she knew that he was the one she was supposed to talk to. So she was super nervous but she asked if he was the football coach and she was able to tell him her son is on a mission and talked about the church with him and it was a really natural thing. So she started making a goal to talk to 2 people the next week and eventually it turned into 1 person a day to 5 people a day to 100 people before Thanksgiving to 200 people before Christmas. Not one of the people she has spoken to has taken lessons from the missionaries or come to church but she has been able to see the blessing in her life from inviting and sometimes she is able to know the seeds she is planting. It was an amazing story about inviting. "We succeed when we invite!"

 Joanna is on day 12 of not drinking coffee and is getting ready for her baptism in a little over 2 weeks! On Saturday we had some super cool experiences. We knocked on a door and this girl answered. She wasn't interested but she gave us vague directions to her friend's house who loves religion but is scared to go back to church because of some things that happened to her. So we set off walking to contact the referral we saw a cute house and we knocked on the door and the lady invited us inside! And we talked with her for an hour and she has a whole bunch of questions but invited us back this week for another appointment and she wants to feed us as well! She is 26 and married and she was adopted at age nine. She's originally from Bulgaria and she was an orphan and she has seen a lot of scary stuff. Not too many other things have happened since Wednesday....But we get to have interviews with President and Sister Loveland this week so that'll be pretty cool! Well I love you all!

Love

Sister Larmouth