A Susquehanna Holiday

Dear family and friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! The past week has gone by in such a blur, I can't believe that December is almost over and a new year is just around the corner! This past week has been all about CHRISTMAS!

Decorating for Christmas

Making cookies at a member's house for Christmas deliveries

We had our Christmas conference for the Scranton zone and two others on Tuesday and it was so much fun!  And get this, the conference was in Nazareth, PA and we had to stay the night in Bethlehem, PA!!

A "Sisters Sleepover" in Bethlehem

It was the coolest thing!  At the conference we learned about and discussed our new mission theme and scripture for the year, (stay tuned and read more next week), had A Christmas Dress for Ellen read to us, watched "Ephraim's Rescue," (which is all about the priesthood, exact obedience, acting on the Spirit, all sorts of awesome missionary lessons!) and had a talent show which was so much fun!  Sister Walker and I played "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and all the Visitor Center sisters who were at the conference with us sang "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul." I've learned more here on my mission about how music can invite the Spirit than I previously recognized.

On Christmas Eve we had a little get-together with the Priesthood Restoration Site senior couples... Our little adopted family! I love them all to pieces and am grateful to have spent part of the holiday with such great examples of Christlike love and service.  After that we went to the Slocum's house for Christmas Eve dinner and had an Italian feast!! Along with stuffing our faces with homemade sausages and manicotti we sang Christmas carols, watched a Christmas Mormon message ("The Reason Behind Christmas"), and talked about why Christ is so central to our lives. It was a great evening!

With the Slocum Family - 12/24/15

Christmas Day I got to FaceTime my AMAZING family! Highlight of the day!! But the rest of the day we visited people in our branch, went to a dinner appointment and even taught a lesson to our neighbors! At our lesson we taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it is such a gift to have a perfect example, the example of Jesus Christ, to follow.

The birth, life, sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ is such a gift to each of us, to every person who ever did and ever will live on this earth. But like any other gift we have received, we need to open and use what we've been given! This past Christmas season has been very different from any other I've had, because while I have always remembered and reflected on the birth of our Savior, this Christmas it is all I thought about, and my relationship with Him. It has been a wonderful way to bring the year to a close and begin to think about the upcoming year and how I will carry the "spirit of Christmas," this spirit of Christ with me all year round!

Have a wonderful week and remember to keep that spirit of Christ in your heart always! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Sister Larsen

A Very Merry Christmas!

Note from Alicia:  We are so excited to FaceTime Sis. Larsen this week on Christmas!  One of the couple missionaries serving near the PRS shared the video below of another missionary and Tiffany performing a musical number.   Merry Christmas to you all!

Dear family and friends,

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SISTER LARSEN AND SISTER ROBISON!!! It's been a bit of a crazy day today so we are putting our heads together to write you all the this lovely email! What a great time of year to be a missionary!

Not too much happened this past week teaching-wise... One of our investigators may have "broken up with us," so we are still trying to figure that one out. Hopefully we will be able to find and continue meeting with those people who are humble seekers of truth! Our other investigators have recently been having some health issues, but are doing well and still willing to learn! It's weeks like this that help us recognize the little tender mercies we are given and appreciate the work that is going on.

(The following story is told by Sister Robison as Sister Larsen laughs her head off) Guess what?! It snowed for one day this week! That means everything was covered by snow, including dog poop. We were being our busy missionary selves, out finding in the snow, walking from house to house, then got in our truck to head to our next destination, when suddenly an overwhelming smell filled the car. We began smelling our ourselves, and each other, and could not figure out what the terrible smell was coming from, until we found a little surprise on the bottom of both of our boots. But just like our finale song in the concert, "All is Well," we took care of that problem really quickly!

We put on a Christmas concert on Saturday night, similar to the concert we did for Thanksgiving.

R-L:  Sisters Harvey, Walker, Larsen, special guest performer Josh,
Sisters Martinez, Anderson, Robison

While there were only 6 of us sisters putting it on, we had an amazing turnout, and the majority of the people who came were nonmembers--our neighbors, people we met at the grocery store, friends from the Bible Study group we go to, etc. We had a guest performer, Josh, who the Great Bend sisters are currently teaching, and he really added to our performance with his organ, piano and voice talent!

Sister Larsen and Sister Walker played "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," arranged by the Piano Guys and Sister Robison might as well become the next Dr. Seuss because she read a Christmas poem she wrote and it was so good! It was a great night for all who were there!!

We hope you all remember the reason for why we have this wonderful time of year and the importance of Christmas Day!! We feel so blessed to be here in Susquehanna serving the people here and talking to people about how Christmas is all about Christ and we can carry the spirit of Christmas with us everyday of the year when we write his name upon our hearts! Love you all and Merry Christmas!!

Love,

Sister Robison and Sister Larsen

Remember the Reason for the Season!

Dear family and friends,

I feel like Susquehanna is having a Gilbert, AZ Christmas! I haven't worn a coat or boots all week long, and we are enjoying 60 degree weather and no snow! I'll keep this all winter long!! We've had such a great week and are really starting to see our investigators progress! We have 8 baptism dates set, which is super exciting for me to finally see people taking a step of faith in preparing to be baptized after being in this area for almost 4 months!

This week we taught Tom about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the steps we take that can help us reach our heavenly goal of living with God and Jesus Christ again.  He is a pretty hard-core dirt bike racer, so we taught him that the finish line to his eternal race is Celestial glory, and the steps we take (faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), are like giving your bike a little more gas which will help you get to where you want to go.  He loved that analogy, and understood very quickly and on his own that baptism is just a step in his eternal progression.  I now understand why Christ taught in parables!

At the branch's Christmas party with our neighbors

 We are meeting with our neighbors Chris, and her son, Ronnie, and Sandy and her two boys, Travis and TJ.  We taught them the Plan of Salvation and they all enjoyed it, had some of their questions answered, and have now committed to be baptized! We had some really sweet moments during the lesson, and I know they could feel the Spirit there. They came to our branch Christmas party and knew quite a lot of people in our branch, which was wonderful because a familiar face (other than the missionaries) is great!  I'm realizing more and more the importance and effectiveness of members helping with this marvelous work.

When we went to Jennifer's house again this past week, you probably guessed it, but we sang "I Am A Child of God," with her kids and this time almost all of them had the words memorized! It is so precious!! But we taught them about the Restoration, told them how we like to teach typically 5-6 lessons, and invited them to be baptized. They also accepted, and are ready to learn as we take them one step at a time! They have a sincere desire to come closer to God and to each other as a family, which makes us so excited because the gospel blesses families and only strengthens the bonds that already exist! We have been really trying to make sure that our investigators are genuinely interested and have the commitment level we know will help them make decisions, like baptism. But things are looking promising here in Susquehanna!

Christmastime is the best time to be a missionary!  

A noticeable pair!

 We knocked on the door of a woman, Natasha, who said her little boy wasn't home from school, but because we were missionaries and talk about Jesus Christ, she wanted our help in explaining to her son why Christmas is so important, so we went back later that night. We sat down and showed the two of them the new Christmas initiative video here  https://www.mormon.org/christmas and helped him circle the word "Christ" in "Christmas." We talked to Natasha about how the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ like the Bible, and how it blesses us and our families. She took our book and we will be going by again this upcoming week! We've run into a lot of people who, when we ask them on the street why Christmas is important, say it's a day for the family to come together, and I'm realizing how much smaller Christ is becoming in peoples' ideas of the holiday. But it is people like Natasha who want their children to know why we celebrate, and why it matters! That knowledge is the greatest gift!

I hope you all take some time before Christmas to reflect on our Savior a little bit more. Something we did for our branch Christmas party is have everyone write down "their gift to Christ," that one little thing they will do this holiday season to remember Him. We took all of those papers and wrapped them up and put them under the branch tree. I'd invite each of you to do the same!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Celebrating early Christmas with a sweet new-member family

The Spirit of Christmas

Dear friends and family,

Christmas time is here! Main Street is decorated, the site is decorated, and we are practicing for another "Music and the Spoken Word" Christmas performance!! Everyone is in the Christmas spirit and I love it! I think the reason people love Christmas so much is because whether they are aware of it or not, they are saying Christ's name whenever the holiday comes around, and Christ brings goodness... So even just the mention of His name makes people happier!

Christmas in downtown Susquehanna

With her new companion, Sis. Robison

This week we visited Jennifer and her family. We shared a message about the true meaning and importance of Christmas-- what they each could do in the next week to be more like Jesus Christ, to help them remember why the holiday is so important. The kids also LOVE the song "I Am a Child of God." We sang it for them the last time we were there, and between visits, Jennifer's daughter, Katelyn, had found a Mormon Message of it on YouTube and had been listening to it. And we sang "I Am a Child of God".... 3 more times that night! I found the lyrics and all the kids squished on the couch around me singing their little hearts out! It doesn't matter where we are from, who we are or who we were, the knowledge that we are children of God is something that touches everyone.  

 We met with Tom twice this week and taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and especially how important Christ is in all of it...actually, He is the most important part of the plan because he makes it all possible! But on Friday we had our first baptism in the font at the site, for a little boy named Deken, whose family just recently became members. We were able to invite Tom to the baptism and he really liked it. He asked us if Deken's dad was the man baptizing him, and we said yes. He then asked who would "his dad," when he got baptized, which both just made us smile! He has such a good heart and we are trying to help him understand and learn everything he needs to know about the restored gospel and Jesus Christ that will allow him to become the person he wants to be.

We went to the Christmas devotional on Sunday night and invited our neighbors, Kris, Ronnie and Travis. They all really enjoyed it and we got to show them around the visitor center and watch the devotional on the big screen in the chapel. We committed them all to write down their thoughts and impressions from the devotional before we go see them again this week. I think the devotional was such a great reminder to us about Christmas, and what it is really about, and that's Christ! 

They found some miniature ponies while out finding!

At the Visitor's Center

We've been using the new Christmas initiative Mormon Messages, "A Savior is Born," and "A World Without a Savior," when we've been out finding (which if you haven't seen, you definitely have to check out on lds.org). It's been very sad how many people won't listen to a simple message about the true meaning of Christmas or don't know why they are really celebrating the holiday. It's so easy to get caught up in everything that comes with the season, but we have always remember to bring it back to Jesus Christ because He is the reason for the season! "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." All the joy that we feel during this Christmas season and every day, is because of Jesus Christ. All that is unfair about life is made up through the Atonement. The hope of living with God again comes through Jesus Christ.

Keep Him in mind as Christmas approaches! I love you all and hope you have another wonderful week! Hurrah for Israel!!

Love,

Sister Larsen

At a Zone Conference 
(a training meeting for missionaries serving relatively close to her area)