So this week we had Elder Richard Hinckley come and tour our mission. Yes, it's Gordon B. Hinckley's son. Yes, it's the brother of Tani's mission president. And yes, he just got back from touring Tani's mission:) I was thinking about that as I was shaking his hand. "Hmm...this hand shook Tani's hand not too long ago...so it's like I'm shaking her hand:)" Haha! Pretty funny. We ate lunch after the conference that we had and as I was looking for a table where I and my companion could sit Sister Albright (our mission mom) said, "Hermana Larsen! There's still room for two more next to Elder Hinckley and his wife. You should go sit with them." I thought, "Yeah, right. We want him to sit with missionaries that will give him a good impression." I looked over at his table and only saw one seat left so I tried to get out of it. She kept insisting, though, "There's one on his side and another on the other side of his wife. Go sit by them! He said he wanted to sit with some missionaries!" I was feeling super intimidated, but how am I going to tell our mission mom that I don't want to sit next to an apostle? So, I ate lunch with Elder and Sister Hinckley. They're really nice. It was kind of awkward because we didn't really have any conversational questions for them. There were also four other elders on the table with us. We all know how awful I am with conversational skills, but don't worry, by the time we got to the end we got talking about the mission and what they do too. How they adjusted at first and everything. It was pretty fun. I'm pretty sure there will be a picture on the blog that Sister Albright does. She's a little camera crazy:)
After lunch we met with Sisters Hinckley and Albright and all the sisters in the zones that were at that particular conference. We've been having a lot of problems with all the sisters in the mission having depression. We were bouncing around ideas about what we do to get over the bouts of depression that we get. Sister Hinckley shared about President Hinckley in the last two years of his life. He was having chemotherapy treatments every other week and he didn't have the option of saying, "I don't feel good. I don't think I'll go work today." She said that it was SO difficult for him and he didn't always want to get out of bed and go into the office, but by sheer GRIT he forced himself to get up because he knew he had a duty to fulfill. It was so touching to hear such an intimate story about our former prophet and the hardships that he faced. I'm sure we have no idea about the burden that the prophet has to carry. And still he does so much. It made me realize how much harder I can work, even when things get tough. I'm grateful she shared that with us.

I love you all and hope everything is well. Hope to hear from you soon!

Love Herman Larsen