There can be miracles when you believe!

Dear family and friends,

What a week!! Just so everyone knows, we are all safe and sound here in Susquehanna... not even a flurry of snow up here! So while the rest of our mission was "grounded" we got permission from President to keep on working :) I've decided I must bring a little AZ sunshine with me wherever I go because last winter at BYU-Idaho they had the most mild winter they've had in years, and here we've completely avoided one of the biggest storms on the east coast! And this week we had an amazing miracle happen!

About a week and a half ago we were out finding late at night, it was about 8:45, we had gone through all of our back ups, and were in our truck thinking of who we could go see or where we could find someone outside, when a very tall man walking his dog passed our truck. And when I say tall, I mean taller-than-Sister-Robison-tall, which is tall!! But the street we were on was not the most inviting street to walk down late at night, and the man we were watching was just about to go around he corner... But we felt like we needed to talk to him so we got out of the truck and literally started chasing this guy down, half-running and half-walking to catch him! We kind of started to yell at him, "Excuse me, ummm excuse me, sir!," until he turned around and pulled his earbuds out. We tried to talk to him, but his dog was barking nonstop and the neighbors whose house we were standing in front of kept angrily looking out their windows at us. He could barely hear us, the neighbors were mad, and the dog was not giving up anytime soon, so we left him with a Mormon.org card and he managed to tell us his name was Tim and where he lived over the barking, and then we went home. To say the least, it was not the "8:45 Miracle," we were hoping for. (Note: What is an "8:45 Miracle"? It's basically when you've worked as hard as you can all day without any success, but trusting in God with a positive attitude and without giving up. It's when you choose to keep going, to knock on one more door, and to resist the temptation to head home 5 minutes early at night that God sometimes blesses you with miracles.)

One night we were out finding again at 8:45, and decided to go to Main Street which we never do because nobody is ever out, but we went anyway. We saw one man going to his car, so we approached him and started talking to him, but he really wasn't interested. Again, not anything exciting. Then we had exchanges, which everyone knows bring miracles, so I stayed here in Susquehanna and Sister Jolley from Tuncannock came with me for the day. Our appointments had fallen through, but we were by Tim's house, so I figured we might as well try his house again since we were there. Miracle #1: We knocked on the door and he was home!! He said he had been reading up online and had some questions, so we set up a time for him to come meet us at the Priesthood Restoration Site for a tour to show him around and answer his questions.

The next day when Sister Robison and I were at the site, Miracle #2: Tim actually came in!! He said he wanted the full tour, so we gave him some background and went into the video where there are scenes of Book of Mormon translation and John the Baptist and Peter, James and John appearing and conferring the priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Needless to say it can be "very different" for lots of nonmembers because it's new information. After the film was over we asked him if he had any questions, but he just sat there and said, "Well, that's the weird thing, I don't. It makes sense." Miracle #3: Then we saw the bust (statue) of Christ and he started talking about having to have faith in Jesus Christ and the need to be humble before we could even say anything! Miracle #4: He is just like an investigator they talk about in Preach My Gospel, it's crazy! (FYI, Preach My Gospel is a missionary training manual that teaches missionaries to teach the way that the Savior did when He was on the earth.) Walking between the homes he started talking about how he has a hunger for truth and is "trying to fill an emptiness he feels." And boy do we have something to fill him up!! Miracle #5: In the Smith home we were talking about Joseph and he asked, "So does this mean that there is a prophet today?"... Yes!! Miracle #6: He accepted a Book of Mormon and read Moroni 10:3-5 with us, and said he would take Moroni's challenge to read and pray to know if it is true! Miracle #7: We walked through the grove where the priesthood was restored and he was asking about temples and priesthood power and loves the idea of eternal families and that sealings give people the desire to work through relationships because they last so much longer than just this life. Miracle #8: Back at the church we showed him the baptismal font, and he said if he were baptized he would like to do so in the river and the more we talked he started saying he can stand up to cold water pretty good so... :) We talked about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and baptism, and he understands that this is a lifelong commitment and wants to take it seriously. He accepted our invitation to be baptized and we are all praying about a date now!! Miracle #9: He recognizes the Spirit and associates the feelings he had at the site with previous strong spiritual experiences he has had, without us having to point it out! He told us he had been thinking about going back to a church when we found him walking his dog (and yes, he could hear us running with his earbuds in haha). Then he saw us again when we were talking to that man on Main Street and figured if there were such a thing as signs, seeing the same two sisters must mean God was trying to tell him something. Miracle #10: He asked about the age limit to serve a mission, and he's still young enough! I love missionary work!! Miracle #11: It was time to close the site so he left, and Sister Robison, the Richardsons and I were all on the verge of tears because this young man was so excited about the gospel. Then we heard at knock at the door... It was Tim! He said he had 2 questions: if he needed to shave his beard for church (and he was willing to do that!) and what our stance was on "hot drinks," a.k.a. the Word of Wisdom. So we explained to him what we do not partake of and we do that because we are blessed both physically and spiritually. He said, "I smoke sometimes, but I don't need that anymore!" And holding a Book of Mormon and waving at the church building he said, "I need this!!" Wow. Wow. Wow. We were blown away by his enthusiasm and acceptance of the gospel!! And I'm smiling ear to ear just typing this up! :)

The Lord works in mysterious ways, and people are being prepared all the time through little experiences here and there, but we only see miracles come about when we have faith. And faith requires action! Sometimes the Lord requires us to take that leap of faith before we know where we are landing, but if we remain obedient, humble and trying to do all we can to follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our faith can carry us through the good times and the not-so-good times. I'm am so happy to be serving here in Susquehanna and for all the miracles that are ahead! Hurrah for Israel!!

Love, Sister Larsen

At a missionary meeting

Note from Alicia:  The sweet woman with Sis. Larsen and Sis. Robison is Sis. Hanks,
also a missionary serving with her husband.  We have mutual friends  (it's a small
world!), and she regularly texts pics to me through others when she sees Sis. Larsen.
 It's always a fun surprise when I get a picture of my favorite missionary!

Hello SNOW!

Dear friends and family,

It's officially winter! Snow has stuck!! Sister Robison says the best thing about snow is having a companion who is from Arizona... So I'll just let you imagine what my reaction to the weather has been like :)

 Last week we met a boy named Steven and planned to come by his home to teach him this week. When  got to his house, Steven's dad answered and told us he wasn't home, but if there was ever a red bike on the front lawn we would know he was home. We couldn't wait around, so we went finding, knocking doors a couple streets over. After a while we started walking back to our truck and saw a boy on a bike coming down the hill... It was Steven!! What a miracle!! We were able to talk to him for a few minutes, and he told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, and loves learning about God. Hopefully we will be able to catch him at home this week for a lesson!

We started teaching a cute little family! Ashley, the mom, is so sweet! Her dad was raised Amish, but didn't like the fact that it was forced on him, so he didn't raise her in any religion. But both she and her husband are wanting to bring faith into their own home, especially for their two little kids. We talked a lot about families and prophets and are excited to teach the Plan of Salvation in a couple of days! I think teaching them about God's plan will be really good, especially since their little girl is asking what happens to people after they die, due to recent deaths in their extended family. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ and Book of Mormon really do answer questions of the soul. That is definitely something that makes the most sense to me-- that our Heavenly Father is a loving God, who wouldn't let His children wander about in confusion with no direction and no purpose, but He has given us so many different resources and tools to discover for ourselves the peace we can receive in this life and in the life to come!

Snow at the PRS

We also had a neat experience at the site! It's definitely slowed down, but that doesn't mean the miracles stop! We were in the guide room studying and the phone rang so we answered. A man, Robert, called us asking if he had called a number where someone could tell him more about Jesus Christ (cue jaw drop because that can't even be real life)! And he couldn't have called anyone more excited to talk to him! He was raised in a Jewish home, but had always had a curiosity about Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done. We were able to invite him to church, to the Priesthood Restoration Site and direct him to mormon.org (best site ever!) where he could learn more. A few days later, Elder Richardson answered the phone but felt like he needed to have Sister Robison and I talk to whoever had called in. As it turns out, it was Robert again!! We were able to answer the questions he had about the site hours and he is reading the Book of Mormon online now. We are trying to set up an appointment with him this week! It is so neat how anyone and everyone is drawn to Jesus Christ and finding purpose through Him!

It is through Christ that we can do all things! I am so grateful for my Savior who has made it possible for me to find happiness in every step of life, through ups and downs.  He makes it possible to make the bad times good and the good times better! We can each find purpose in our Father's plan because of Jesus Christ who is at the center of it all.   Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Check out what we spotted -- a pair of bald eagles!

Yielding Our Hearts to God

Dear friends and family,

I hit my 5 month mark and time is flying!! It was one of our tougher weeks, and we don't have any progressing investigators in our teaching pool again, but found a lot of potential investigators this week so that was awesome!

There is a man in town named Porter Rockwell, (named after his great-great grandfather, Porter Rockwell, Joseph Smith's body guard!). We came to a stop sign in town when we saw Porter running up to our car window. He told us we'd crossed his mind the other day and that he had been thinking about coming up to the Priesthood Restoration Site to take a tour from us! We haven't seen him yet, but it's interesting to think that the Lord is slowly preparing people everywhere to hear the message of the gospel through little experiences here and there.

"At the Visitor's Center -- finally a picture where I'm taller than Sis. Robison.  Haha!" 

One day this week we had planned to stop by to see a potential investigator, and long story short, she really wasn't interested in hearing anything we had to say, so we kept on moving. As a back up we had planned to talk to the next person we saw... Nobody was outside. Not a soul!! So we walked up the street and stood on the corner by our house, thinking of where we might be able to catch someone outside when a man on a motorcycle pulled up to the stop sign next to us. We said hello, introduced ourselves and asked if we could stop by his house to share a message about how we can find purpose in this life through Jesus Christ with him and his family. He told us his name and address right then and there! It was the first time anyone has ever given me their actual house number, and not a, "The yellow house up on Elm Street across from the people with the loud dog," kind of answer, or having me get it out of them! It was so cool to have someone put right in our path, in the very minute we needed it. We are excited to stop by this week!

Another stop sign story! All our appointments and back up plans fell through, so after trying our last back up house, we got in our car and drove down the road. We stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street and said a little prayer of where we needed to be and decided to go to the next town over and see if Jenn was home because we haven't been able to schedule an appointment in a while... And what do you know? She was home! Busy at the time, but we were able to set up a time to see her and her family in the upcoming week! 

I love the talk, "Yielding Our Hearts to God," by Sister Neill F. Marriott, available here:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/yielding-our-hearts-to-god?lang=eng. In it she says, "How do we, a modern, busy, competitive people, become yielded and still? How do we make the Lord’s ways our ways?... When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel His will." With the new year, our mission has changed the recitation we say in companionships everyday before we study. Something interesting that we've added an addition to the missionary purpose statement in Preach My Gospel so we now say, "Our purpose is to do the will of the Father, by inviting others to come into Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel..." As we understand that even Jesus Christ who did so many things for us, was "about his Father's business," and said, "not My will, but Thine be done," we come to recognize that all we do should be to please our Heavenly Father and be obedient to His will too. Yielding our hearts to God, and yielding to the promptings of the Spirit help us be where our Heavenly Father wants us to be both physically and spiritually! So whether it's yielding to the spirit, or literally yielding at a stop sign, if we are obedient, we will see miracles as we strive to do the will of the Father!

Enjoy your week and look for little ways to bring your will in closer harmony with the Lord's so you can become more like Him! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

New Years and 9 Degrees

Beautiful Pennsylvania skies

Dear family and friends,

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's already 2016... Or the fact that it is currently 9 degrees outside, BUT the past (almost) five months have flown by, and it's crazy to think that this entire upcoming year will be 100% dedicated to serving the Lord in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission! 

It was a bit of a roller coaster week, with ups and downs, but a lot of really wonderful things happened! For starters, we got transfer calls on Friday night and.... Sister Robison and I are both staying as companions here in Susquehanna!! We have too much fun together, I have learned SO much from her, and we are both looking forward to the next six weeks!

As a missionary, you find to teach. So when we knock on a door, we hope to be invited in to teach a lesson. This week was the very first time I've been invited into a home to teach a full lesson while we were out finding!! I was so happy!! We knocked on the door of a man named Brian who talked to us on his doorstep for a few minutes, and mentioned he had talked to elders before years ago and had a Book of Mormon. Then he invited us in to come meet his wife, Jane. And to make a long story short, we taught them about the Restoration, and they loved it!...Particularly that we have a living prophet who leads and guides us today, just as prophets did long ago, because God loves us still. We set up a return appointment, and are so excited to see them again this week!

We had another lesson with our neighbors, Chris and Ronnie. Ronnie is loving reading the Book of Mormon, and as of last night is already to Mosiah! He says he loves to read especially when he's having a rough time because it makes him feel better and brings him peace. We love that he recognizes that the Book of Mormon can help him! We talked to them about obedience and keeping the commandments, and did a little restoration review so we can continue helping them progress towards their baptism date and retain the all the new information we are feeding them. They are wonderful people who are learning and growing so much!

We had an amazing week at the Priesthood Restoration Site!

A special experience this week:  Sis. Larsen was able to take Scott's former mission companion
and his family on a tour at the Priesthood Restoration Site.  The Wagstaffs live in New Jersey.
It was a sweet moment to see the picture of Scott's mission companion together
with our daughter now serving her own mission.  -Alicia

Brother Billings from Salt Lake skyped in for a conference call and answered our questions, talked about how Preach My Gospel principles apply to the Visitor's Center, and got us excited to do and be better VC sisters! Since that conference call, we are more committed to keeping in touch with our guests and have gotten so many more referrals than we were previously  receiving! 

This week (especially at the site) we have been focusing on inviting people to set New Years resolutions, not just to eat healthy or exercise more, but resolutions to remember Jesus Christ more and better center our lives on him. I recently read an article from the December Ensign by President Thomas S. Monson called, "Make Time for the Savior."  https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/12/make-time-for-the-savior?lang=eng Short and simple, but so good! In it he said, "Among our resolutions for this year, did we resolve to make time in our lives and room in our hearts for the Savior? No matter how successful we may have been thus far with such a resolution, I am confident we all wish to do better.... In our busy lives, with ever so many other things competing for our attention, it is essential that we make a conscious, committed effort to bring Christ into our lives and into our homes." So something we have been committing lots of people to do is choose to do something that will make the Savior a bigger part of their lives. One of the things that Sister Robison and I are keeping up is writing in our journals everyday how we've seen the Lord's hand in our lives. How have we seen Christ today? It is so cool! You start to 1) Get excited to journal again every night and 2) You start to notice things you didn't take the time to notice before. It is a wonderful way to remember Christ and show our gratitude to him!

May we all take a little more time to remember the Savior this year! I'm excited to see all that 2016 will bring! Hurrah for Israel and Happy New Year!

Love,

Sister Larsen

At the old viaduct, which has been around
since Joseph Smith's time