Instruments in His Hands

Fall has arrived.  Gorgeous, right?

Dear friends and family,

I've been out for two months as of yesterday, can you believe it?! Time is flying by!!! Something that has been on my mind this past week is how often the Lord uses us, ordinary people, to be the answers to others' prayers. As a missionary you pray A LOT. Looking back on my pre-mission life, it seems as if I hardly prayed at all. Now anytime we leave the house, go exercise, start and close our studies, eat, wake up and go to bed, get out the car to go to an appointment, we pray... And of course all the silent ones in between. But it is only when we are in tune with the Spirit and seeking out opportunities to serve others when we can be used as a instrument in the Lord's hand (Alma 26... Go read. Seriously good stuff.) just as Alma and his brethren were in days of old.

I know I mentioned Kim in my previous letter, who was a referral given to us by other sisters at the Visitor Center. This weekend was Homecoming and Kim got put in charge of making decorations for the parade floats that go through town on Saturday morning, so we offered to help her paint signs. On Wednesday we went over, painting together and getting to know her. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met! She and her husband Mike have two little boys, Mason who is 9 and loves football, and Connor who is 4 but has learning disabilities and can't communicate. They are the cutest family! 

After we finished our painting projects, we sat down and talked about what our role is as missionaries and what she wanted to get out of meeting with us. We shared the "He Lives" Mormon message with her, and introduced the Book of Mormon, which she had never heard of. At first she was just telling us that she was mostly interested in seeing the differences between our religion and Catholicism, which is the religion she grew up in. As we were talking and bearing testimony to her, out of the blue she said, "You know, a few weeks ago I was having a really hard time with Connor and couldn't figure out what to do. I was so frustrated and lost on what to do that I just prayed to God and asked him to give me help. The next day two of your sister missionaries came knocking on my door to introduce themselves and told me they would send other sisters to come teach me, and now here you are." She told us she didn't believe in coincidences and that she knew that God had answered her prayer, so she felt that rather than pushing away what we might have to tell her, she would let it in. Kim agreed to read and ask God if the Book of Mormon was true, and we will be meeting with her again tomorrow! I am SO excited for all that Heavenly Father has in store for her and her family!

This week Sister Agado's (my MTC companion) dad got baptized and we all got special permission from President to be a part of it via Skype!! Sister Agado's dad had been wanting to be baptized for several years, but was waiting for confirmation from Heavenly Father. He believed everything about the church was true, he had been attended church with his wife since they were married, but was waiting for a big spiritual "a-ha" kind of moment. He kept saying things to himself like, "I'll get baptized before Hope (Sister Agado's younger sister) turns 8 so that I can baptize her." Or "I'll get baptized before Destiny (Sister Agado) goes off to BYU-I," which came and went, and then the time for Sister Agado to go on her mission came and went as well. Brother Agado was so upset after she left because it seemed to him that he let every big milestone or reason to be baptized pass him by. But in his anger he prayed. He told Heavenly Father that now he would never join the church. Not if his wife asked him to, not if his friends asked him to, no way was he ever going to join because he had never received an "answer." Except he left Heavenly Father one condition, that being, he would only ever join if his daughter asked him to be baptized.

Now flip to the side of the story I was part of. At the MTC one of the teachers Sister Agado and I had, Brother Anderson, had us practice the invitation to be baptized on one another. He had us all think of someone back home that we could invite to be baptized, and Sister

Agado thought of her dad. So on our P-day she wrote him a letter asking him to be baptized so that their family could be one step closer to becoming an eternal family. That letter ended up being delayed from Provo to Pocatello, ID for 8 days, making it arrive the day after Brother Agado prayed. Brother Agado contacted his bishop, the missionaries, and wrote Sister Agado he was going to be baptized on October 7th.

Heavenly Father is so aware of each and every one of us. When we turn to him, and try to become more like him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, he can help guide us in a way that allows us to be the answer to someone else's prayer. Did the sisters who live by Kim knock on her door thinking about much more than introducing themselves as neighbors? No. Did Sister Agado really think her dad would accept her invitation to be baptized? No. But in both of these cases, those involved were seeking out opportunities to lift those around them and bring them one step closer to Christ. Like it says in Alma 37:6, "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."

When we turn our hearts to the Lord, he trusts us and can use us as a way to answer prayers and bring about miracles. Look for opportunities to be a extension of the Lord's hands in someone's life this week, and I can promise that it will bring added joy to your life!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Last time at the "Old church on the hill" since we are now meeting
at the newly-dedicated Visitor's Center/Church building