Sister Larsen in the City of Brotherly Love : I Always Knew Tiffany Was a Good Name...

I LOVE being a missionary!
at Love Park, Philadelphia

Dear friends and family,

We had a wonderful week of finding and remembering what is so important this time of year! Although I miss the Easter tradition of going to the Easter pageant, I've been busy making new Easter memories here in Philly!

This week we went on companion exchanges, so I stayed here, my companions left me for West Chester, and Sister Nielson came with me for the day. It was such a good day full of miracles!! We did a ton of finding with the new Easter initiative, "Hallelujah," and showed it to anyone and everyone who would watch. If you haven't seen the video, click here: https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah We got 4 return appointments and several church invites out of it which was awesome!

The best part of my day with Sister Nielson was finding TIFFANY! (How fun is that?!?) We were walking down a street, not totally sure where we should go. We asked some people walking by if they would like to see the video, and they said no. Then Tiffany walked out of her house and we asked her if she would like to see the Easter video and she said yes! Literally 10 seconds into the video, she tells us to stop the video and runs inside her house. So we stood there on the steps hoping she would come back out... And she did, bringing her daughter, Nikaya, with her because she wanted her to watch it too! Tiffany was tearing up during it, and invited us to come back to talk to her and her family!

Fast forward 4 days and we go to Tiffany's for a lesson and to get to know them. She is so awesome!! She gathered everyone together, and made sure everyone would be home when we came. We asked Tiffany why she had come back and she said the video we showed her really touched her, especially since she has had loved ones pass away. She said she didn't know why she walked outside her house the day we were there, but did anyways. She thought it might have been God's way of speaking to her through us, so how could she not invite us back? She really wants to deepen her relationship and trust in Heavenly Father and wants the best for her two kids. I just love her already!! We hear it all the time on the mission, but God really is preparing people everywhere, sometimes we just have to wait and be in the right place at the right time for Him to use us to bring others to greater light and understanding.

Something we've been asking Ward members and people we meet is to share "Hallelujah" on their social media and use #hallelujah to spread the joy and hope of the Easter season. I love the tools that the church gives each of us to participate in missionary work so easily! I know that using social media for good really does work and spread the good news of the restored gospel because we have gotten so many referrals for Bibles from Mormon.org and the special Easter website, which is wonderful! So moral of the story... Go grab your phone and post a picture of you and your family at the Mesa Easter Pageant and use the hashtag, or share the video and your testimony of Christ on Facebook. Be creative to get the word out and be a missionary!

I know the Lord can and will use each of us in His work, whether we wear a black name tag or just have the Savior's name imprinted in our heart. With this beautiful time of year may we all, like we say here everyday in the PPM, "Learn it, live it, share it!"

Love,
Sister Larsen

Now for a million "tourist pics" of my trip to the city...