As Sisters in Zion

Hello everyone!! It sounds like all you AZ dwellers are roasting!! I've been praying for all those Arizona missionaries! Up here in PA we just have 87% humidity... So it's a little different summer weather :)

 We had a great concert on Saturday! We titled it "Why We Serve" and had 10 different musical numbers. We each took a turn in between songs sharing testimonies of why we chose to serve, why we are serving now, things we've learned since being out, etc.

A little behind-the-scenes of concert prep:
a serious outfit coordination meeting.  Haha!  

Elder Walker gathered us all together before we performed and said a prayer for us. After the prayer we opened the door, and President and Sister Anderson were standing right there!! Best surprise ever! Even with them packing up their home and everything else, they said they wouldn't have missed our concert for the world.

Final pic with Sister Anderson and Pres. Anderson

The concert was geared toward the young women of stake, so afterwards we greeted guests, ate a ridiculous amount of cookies, and had fun with the young women. Lots of people from the stake heard us sing at conference a few weeks ago, and when they heard we were putting on a concert they came back for more, which was awesome! There weren't many young women who came, but one, Kimberly, who has frequented the site with her parents and asked us lots of questions about our service, told us that as we sang "Consider the Lilies," she felt a very strong impression that the Lord wants her to serve a mission, and now she is making her preparation for a mission her priority. In a VC meeting we thought that even if there had been 5,000 people in attendance, and we found that we had only impacted one life, we still would have put it all together anyways because you never know what that one person could do. Christ left the 99 to go after the one, and we want to be just as willing to do the same. I'd say it was a very successful evening!! Yesterday was the first day of our stake's girls camp, so they came to the site for a tour before driving to camp.

Adding to the list of wildlife (bears, wild turkeys, squirrels, etc.) 
at the site:  this guy (ABOVE) and his cousins. all nicknamed "Alvin", 
who are much preferred to this little guy (BELOW) picked off of 
one of the sister missionaries after a tour.  

The young women explored the visitor center and grove, watched the movie and visited Joseph and Emma's home. We have been having to give tours all on our own, but I was up and got to take the 4th Years on their tour which was so much fun! Their theme for the week had to do with women in the scriptures, so we got to focus a lot on Emma Smith and her faith as she was working as Joseph's scribe and hearing the words of the Book of Mormon being read aloud for the very first time in her own home. Even near the end of her life, Emma never denied the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon or that it was translated by Joseph who truly had been called as a prophet of God. Talking about these special people and events was a great way for the young women to start off their week at camp, and my testimony was strengthened by theirs and their excitement to learn.

Putting on the concert with my sisters and being around the young women made me think of something Sister Neill F. Marriott said in this past women's conference, "We also build the kingdom when we speak and testify of truth. We follow the Lord’s pattern. He speaks and teaches with power and authority of God. Sisters, we can too... As we work by delegated priesthood authority given to us, our talking and gathering grow into gospel teaching and leading." How grateful I am to have the special calling of being a missionary where every day I dedicate my time to building up our Father's kingdom, even if in the smallest of ways. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Sister Larsen