Today we got permission to go to Washington D.C. and do a little sight seeing. We took the metro into the city and went on foot from there. It was really fun, but I'm pretty pooped. We saw the Washington Monument, of course (You can't really miss that one). Then we walked over to the World War II Memorial. I got a picture next to the Utah pillar and guess what...we met some people from Salt Lake. We took a picture of their family for them. They seemed pretty excited that they met some sister missionaries while taking a tour of D.C. Then we made a loop over past the White House and then back to the Museum of American History. They have the actual C3P0 costume from the "Return of the Jedi" movie. Don't worry Jaren, I took a picture. We also saw a very big, very old train. Got a picture of that for Dad too, but we didn't have time to read what it was all about. We were with a member and she had to get back to work. So after that, we headed back to the Metro station for the ride home. We got in Jhoane's (the member) car and she was going to drive us to the church. We were stopped at a red light and a man in another car had us roll down the window and he told us that our tire was flat. Uh-oh. We pulled off the side of the road and Jhoane called her boss while I got to work:) That's right...we finished the day by getting our hands and skirts dirty. It didn't take long to get the tire changed and Jhoane was really grateful that Dad had taught me how to do it. Haha! I guess living in Fillmore really did prepare me for a mission. Thanks Dad!
I'm glad to hear that Connie is doing so well! She's so amazing. Does she plan on getting back to work pretty soon? The weather here is GREAT. I just wish that spring could last forever. It makes it so much easier to want to get out and get to work when you don't have to prepare yourself mentally to go swimming in the snow while you're wrapped up in fifty pounds of clothes. There are lots of blossoms out all over the place too. You can smell the flowers when you walk by. Yummmmm!
As for the companion...don't worry. I am deciding to just enjoy every minute that I can because I know that my mission isn't going to last very long. Whenever I start to get annoyed by things that she does or says, I just make myself remember that it will only be for about 6 more weeks (more or less) and that I am helping her have a good experience. After all, her proselyting mission is way shorter than mine. I started trying to serve her more. One day I polished her shoes while she was in the shower. She came out and started doing them again and said, "Wow, they already look shiny...weird." Haha. Oh well. I guess I did a good job at the service if she didn't even notice that I did it. Just keep praying for me. It's still pretty hard to keep my patience in check sometimes. I guess that's what I need to learn this transfer.
So you asked about the investigator whose coffee we took. Yeah...he's not our investigator anymore... We went to visit with them one day and after visiting with his girlfriend for a few minutes, we asked if he was a little late getting home for his lunch break. She told us that he wasn't going to come and then added, "You already know why." I never realized how hard it is to lose an investigator until these last few weeks. I wanted to cry. Well, I hope everyone is having a good spring. The work is moving forward here and I'm enjoying all the work, good parts AND not so good parts.

We had a kind of heartbreaking experience this week. We went to visit with an investigator named Martha who has been praying about the church for quite some time. We taught her about humility and that we need to be willing to accept the answers that the Lord gives us, even when they aren't exactly what we want. The lesson went well and she seemed to understand, but when we asked her about how her prayers were going she told us that she had received her answer. That's usually a good sign...unless you're Hermana Larsen. She said that she was reading the bible with the question of why there have to be so many churches (which we've explained a trillion times) and she read a scripture that said something about how God is the God of everyone and that He is everywhere. So she said that her answer was that since God is everywhere we don't have to go to church to be able to worship Him and that He will still bless her if she stays home and reads her scriptures on Sundays. That she doesn't have to chose one church. Wow... Then she said something that really bothered me. "I have the answer that I want." We had just spoken about receiving the answers that the LORD wants for us and not what WE want so I asked her, "So is this just the answer that YOU want or is it what the Lord wants for you?" She is convinced that it is the Lord's answer and that she doesn't need to get baptized again. (She's been baptized in three different churches and feels like she is disrespecting God if she does it again.) I cried when we got into the car after that lesson. It's so sad how successful Satan is in deceiving the hearts of people. They have the gospel right in front of their noses and they don't see it. It's really frustrating sometimes. Anyway, I pray that Martha will have an opportunity again in the future to receive the gospel and that her heart will be softened enough that she will recognize the truth that it contains. In the meantime, I'm just going to have to be humble enough to accept that the Lord's answer to my prayers for her baptism is "no". After all, how am I going to teach that to someone if I'm not willing to apply it to me, right? Here is the new weird food of the week. Mondongo. A.k.a. Menudo. If you don't know what it is, I'll give you a hint. It's very chewy, rubbery, slimy, and any other disgusting texture words that you can come up with. Any ideas yet?...That's right, COW STOMACH. Yum???... It was in a soup that a member gave us. I knew that I had heard the word before and that it was something I didn't want to eat, but I didn't know exactly what. I made sure to eat it all first before asking what it was. I tried chewing the little chunks, but didn't get very far, so I started swallowing the pieces whole just to get through it. Afterwards, I found out that Hermana Basurto had a hard time with it too. Haha! And I thought that she would have liked it. She said she was amazed at how quickly I ate all of mine and she was wondering how I did it. I told her that I swallowed everything whole and that, luckily, I only had like four or five pieces in my bowl. She said, "Lucky! I had a ton in mine!" We had a good laugh about it after and prayed that we wouldn't get sick:) Don't worry, we didn't. I just hope that I don't have to eat it again! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Love,Hermana Larsen

I guess I'll begin this letter by telling you about an interview that I had with President Albright on Friday. I went in and he was asking me about how it was going getting to know my area. I told him it was going well and that I'd been driving in order to know my way around better. He said, "Well, that's really good. And in case there were some changes in companionships next week I would spend the next 3 days getting to know everything you can about the area, investigators, and members." I thought he was joking and just saying it to let me know that I really need to get to know the area so I just replied by saying, "OK." (If you know me, that's my favorite sentence to say. Probably the longest too:) Then he continued to explain to me that there is an Hermana that has a lot of health problems and depression is among those. The past couple of weeks she has been training an Hermana from temple square who is here for two transfers to get experience in the field. She gets so sick that they don't even go out and work two days every week. He then said, "We want to transfer Hermana Alvarado (my companion) to go help this sister. She is about to finish her mission and she needs someone who is going to be very patient with her. So that means that you are going to have to be senior companion and help this sister from temple square learn about missionary work in the field." When I realized that he was being serious, my eyes got REALLY big. He kind of chuckled and said, "What do you think?" Probably not a very good question to ask someone who just got hit by a semi going 75 mph down the freeway, but what am I going to say? He said that it wasn't set in stone and that he would let us know for sure within the next few days. He asked me if I had any concerns about it and I explained that I still can't understand some of our investigators for their accents. His reply was that it would be okay because this sister from temple square is from Mexico. She studied english in college and received her degree, so she speaks both languages perfectly. She also knows Preach My Gospel really well and can answer questions because she has had that experience talking to so many people and introducing them to the church. It didn't really make me feel a whole lot better... So we ended up making the switch. We call it getting "E.T.-ed" (Emergency Transferred). It was really hard to see Hna. Alvarado leave, but I guess the good thing is that I'm definitely going to get to know the area. We changed companionships yesterday after a meeting with all of the spanish missionaries and the work began. Can I just tell you how well they train the missionaries on temple square? I don't think I'm going to be able to teach Hermana Basurto anything. I'm just going to soak in all of her knowledge. This is definitely one of the most humbling experiences that I've gone through in my life. Anywa...MIRACLE #1... we had a lesson last night with the investigators whom I can't understand. We set a baptismal date! ...MIRACLE #2...we went tracting and got in the first door, taught a short lesson, and set a return appointment...MIRACLE #3...visited with a less active member and commited her to come to church this Sunday. All that happened in about 4-5 hours. WOW! Turns out that it is possible to run an area with your senior companion. I think the Lord is helping us more, though, because both of us don't really know exactly what we're doing. At least I don't. Hermana Basurto is an amazing teacher and she talks to me in spanish all of the time. Which is what I need to really learn the language well. We are going to set aside some times to speak in english so she can keep practicing so that it won't be so hard when she gets back to Salt Lake and has to go back to pure english. Really we are both teaching each other everything that we know and it makes up the difference for the things that we don't know. I'm really excited to gain all of this experience, but I need as many prayers as I can get. If there was ever a time when you wanted to help a missionary, I would hope that it is now. Pray for me! I just remembered that I need to pass on some information that President Albright gave us. I don't want to sound prideful or anything, but we just found out that our mission is #1 baptizing out of the Northeast. That's 30 missions. So if anyone wants to say that their mission is the best, I've got numbers to contend with you:) Haha, really I just think that the Lord is blessing us because he felt bad for the 4 BLIZZARDS that He hit us with. Needless to say, the work is moving forward faster than ever and it is because we have so much help from the members. You really are important to missionary work! I hope everything is well with all of you and that you remember the Lord everyday and the blessings He has given you. I know that if we will walk humbly, as the Jaredites in the book of Ether, we will "be taught from on high." The church is true! Take advantage of every opportunity to learn. Have a good week! Hermana Larsen