April Showers bring... May Showers ☔️

Dear friends and family,

It's rained everyday this month!!...granted it’s only been 2 days, but it's a good thing! :)

Spring flowers are blooming

The site is starting to look greener and greener, and the people are coming in more and more! On Saturday we had more than 200 guests, it was so much fun!

This week we had a sweet young family come in who I have actually taken on tour twice before. They are awesome! I love their little girl, Lola. She is so cute! As we were walking to the Hale home she told me how a few months ago her Bishop asked her to talk in Sacrament Meeting (still several years shy of being in YW) on the Plan of Salvation and how excited she was to give her 7 minute talk! She also loves to bear her testimony in Sacrament Meeting every month, which the exception of being sick and not able to go to church on those Sundays. So as we were finishing up our tour at the Smith home we invited them all to bear their testimony of the site and the events that took place in either Sacrament Meeting or in a church class to strengthen other people's testimonies. Lola really wanted Sister Francis and I to be there when she bore her testimony, so her family actually came and attended our branch. She talked all about how important baptism and the Holy Ghost are, and it was so sweet watching this little girl with absolute no fear to share the gospel get up in front of a congregation to tell them what she knew to be true. And to put a cherry on top of all that, Lola and her family are planning to bring their nonmember neighbors to the site for a FHE tour soon!

At the Hale home

In the Hale home I love to tell a story about Emma when she was 7 years old (and I'm sorry if this is a repeat), how circuit riders or traveling preachers would come through the area frequently. Emma loved to listen to them and one a day a preacher asked everyone listening in the congregation to go out into the woods and pray for a spiritual experience, and so little Emma did. As she was kneeling the woods near her home praying aloud, her father, a hunter came across her and overheard her prayer which was actually for him. Emma was praying that his heart would be softened, and soon after that experience he allowed preachers to come use his home as a place for them to preach to congregations. It all came through Emma's childlike faith.

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon I've come to really love since being here at the visitor center. It's Moroni 8:17, "And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation."  Having childlike faith helps us to truly feel of our Savior's love for us as we trust in Him and our Savior's plan.  Our faith is what leads to action, action that will keep on the right path which leads back to our heavenly home.

I'm so grateful for this restored gospel and to be a missionary! Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women out there making a difference in so many lives!

Love,
Sister Larsen

Covering the online referral call system