Well, I'm sure everyone is dying to hear the details about my new area. So here they are...I live in Annandale, VA. We live with members in a very...VERY...VERY large house. They go to an american ward so we just see them in passing when we leave in the morning and get home at night. We get a room and bathroom in the basement and share the whole downstairs with them (except they hardly ever use it) which includes: foosball, ping-pong, a pool table, dvd player with projector and surround sound, and lots of space to move around. We also pretty much have free reign over the kitchen and she provides all the dishes and spices. Nice! Don't worry, we only use the dvd player for church movies and exercise videos in the morning:) It's fun watching stuff in sign language and trying to pick it up. The recent convert that we visit only does American Sign Language in answer to Mom's question, but her family only speaks spanish and is working on learning sign language. That's why we visit them.

My companion is Hermana Nichols. She was going to the Air Force Academy before coming on a mission. She claims Colorado as her home and she's a really hard worker, which makes me very, very happy. I would be completely fine with finishing my mission in this area. There are a lot of challenges that we face, but a lot of blessings that are received. Hermana Nichols has been here for about 6 months so she's pretty sure that I'm going to be taking over the area after this transfer. That means that I drive all the time so I can learn my way around. Speaking of driving, we drive a Chevy Malibu. Man those cars are fat! It's so hard to turn around in them. I feel like I'm driving the old Impala again except if I have to back up my companion has to get out of the car and help me. Not fun. Remind me when I go shopping for a car (not that that's going to happen any time soon) to get a car with a good turning radius. These things are ridiculous!

Well, I don't have a whole lot of stories for you because I'm still trying to remember everyone's names here. I'll try and think of something better for next week. Love you!

Hermana Larsen

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I really enjoyed them. Especially since I got to be back in the spanish program. I love these people so much!

It was an interesting day at church on Sunday. I had to translate all of sacrament meeting and all of Relief Society. It was especially difficult because it was fast and testimony meeting. Towards the end we had already gone over time and one of the members of the bishopric stood up to say that only those that were on the stand would be able to bear their testimonies and he asked them to keep it under one minute. Instead of saying less in their testimonies, they spoke faster. It's so hard to be listening and speaking at the same time. I felt like my head was going to explode. I was really worried about it, but the sisters that I was translating for really seemed to enjoy the meeting, even though parts of it were made up...oops. I still have a long way to go before I know spanish.

After church that day we went to visit with some recent converts. They're awesome (probably due to the fact that they're from Bolivia). Anyway, we went and read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. We read 3 Nephi 17. One of my favorites. It was especially fun to think about how Christ prayed for all of the people there. Can you imagine? I started thinking about what Christ would pray for if he were praying for me. Kind of interesting to think about and I'm not sure I ever came up with anything for an answer, but it would be really special to hear a prayer like that. When we got to the part where the children are surrounded by fire and angels come and minister to them I was about ready to cry because I felt the spirit so strongly thinking about how that happens so many times in our lives and we don't even recognize it. Undoubtedly the Lord sends angels to minister to us every day. I decided that I was going to watch for them from now on. Not that I'll be able to see them, but I bet if we were all looking for little miracles every day that we would feel them. All we have to do is become like a little child. Sounds easy, right? Haha. But it's a good goal to have for the New Year.

Les quiero mucho.

Feliz año nuevo!

Hermana Larsen

Happy New Year everyone! It was great to hear from you all. One thing Blair said to me has been stuck in my head ever since Christmas. "Sprint to the finish Hermana Larsen." That's exactly what I'm going to do. I have a feeling that I'm going to see more miracles in these last two transfers than I've seen in the previous ones. Rumor has it that at transfers I'll be going back to the Sudley branch...my first area. Hopefully that's true. If that happens I'll be serving with a missionary from Venezuela. She was born in the U.S., though. The best part is... she's a really hard worker:) We're gonna tear it up! So here's a great miracle for you. Do you remember Grover? Yes, the one that's preparing to serve a mission. (By the way, he loved the scriptures and was impressed that his name was spelled correctly. Good work Mom.) Well, when I was there we were never able to meet at his house because his parents didn't want to have anything to do with the church. They also wouldn't give his little sister permission to take the lessons. Well, I went on exchanges back to Bella Vista a couple of days after Christmas and found out that the elders have really started winning the hearts of the family. Hermana Trepanier and I went to buy some dinner from them (I really wanted Bolivian food and they happen to sell it) and had a short lesson with Grover and his sister. I found out the next day that the elders went by and set his sister with a baptismal date AND his mom agreed to take the lessons! They are going to try and get his sister baptized before Grover goes to Bolivia in three weeks so that he can be the one to baptize her. If that happens then they're going to invite me so that I can see it. I'm so excited for them! He's been such a good example for his family. Pray for them! Especially that his mom will hear the lessons with an open heart and mind. I loved the whole exchange in Bella Vista. I got to eat more tongue! If I really had a strong stomach I would cook it for you when I get home, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet. I do just fine eating it and it tastes pretty good, but there is no way you're going to get me to touch a raw cow tongue. Not even with tongs... Don't worry, Mom, I took really good notes on how to make tamales. We're going to have to stop at a latin grocery store on the way home from the airport so we can spend some time in the kitchen. You'll be happy to know that I haven't changed much since the beginning of my mission. Apparently I still don't talk much. We were visiting with some members last night and one of them was the one that gave the lesson in the gospel principles class. He was asking how we liked the lesson and we told him that it was really good. He started telling Hermana Aulava that it was my fault that he didn't finish the lesson on time. She started playing along and they started teasing me about how I "never stop talking". Clearly this was a sarcastic conversation. We mentioned that we would be having transfers next week and he said that Hermana Aulava would be glad to get rid of me so that she could get a word in every once in a while in the lessons:) Yup...we had some good laughs at that one. It's not true all the time. I do talk to people. It has gotten better since I started, but sometimes I still have problems coming up with conversation starters. I also like observing people first before I start interacting with them. I think I still have a long way to go. I got some good notes from everyone in the ward yesterday. Tell them thanks. They all told me about how Dad is doing such a wonderful job as bishop. Except Brother Rasmussen. He just wanted to know how the Redskins are doing:) I think he's asking the wrong person. Haha! I have no idea. Anyway, I'll be sending a letter for the ward soon to thank them...hopefully. I'm excited for New Year's Eve. I can't believe that it's already going to be 2011. Anyway, we're going to watch Toy Story 3. It better be good! Enjoy the Chinese food! Save some eggrolls for me! Love you,Hermana Larsen