Hello from the Happiest Place on Earth!

Dear friends and family,

And the craziness has begun!! This week the Palmyra pageant started this week and lots of visitors have been coming to our site on their way to or from there, and even cast members who visited on their p-day. In the past few days we've had about 800 people every day—It is like a Mormon Disneyland here!!! So many people from all over the country and all over the world, and even at times lines to get into the homes! Crazy crazy fun!!

I LOVE meeting people from all over the world! It is so neat to me how many people from all over the world come to church history sites because of their conviction that this is truly the restored church of Jesus Christ. There is so much power in the gathering of saints whoever they are, or wherever they may be from.

With a cute family from Seoul, South Korea and Sis.Agado

This week Elder Hamilton from the Seventy came in for a tour and I was able to meet him, and he was so kind. Elder Brent K. Nielson of the Seventy who is head of the missionary department also came in with his family for vacation, and I was able to meet him! He went on a tour and he and his wife spoke in sacrament meeting. Elder Nielson told about an experience he had recently with one of the head directors from the United States Peace Corps. She asked to meet with whoever was in charge of our church's 75 thousand missionaries so Elder Nielson met with her. He said she had several different questions for him. "How do you get so many young men and women to voluntarily do this and pay their own way?" "How do your young men and women learn to speak the the languages they are assigned so well?" "And how to you get that many young men and woman to be so obedient?" Elder Nielson said he then was able to have a very interesting discussion with this woman about the Spirit, and what our work is really about. She then concluded, "This is a very spiritual work." What a neat opportunity for Elder Nielson to bear his testimony of the restored gospel to this woman!

Here at the site we usually reach our peak of visitors in the afternoon and then have to continue to giving single tours (without a companion) because we still have plenty of visitors in the evenings. This past week on a single tour I took one of my hands-down favorite tours EVER!!    It was several Tahitian families from the same extended family that have been traveling in the States for the past couple of weeks. In total there were 17 of them and it was such a fun group. 

One big happy family with my very favorite Tahitians!

Only one lady in the entire group was able to speak English well enough that she could translate for the rest of the group who spoke French. I said everything a lot more simply and sometimes it took a little bit of time to figure out what word to use in French but it all worked out!  They loved being able to lift up the box which is weighted as if the plates were inside and laughed over the size of the empty cradle in Joseph and Emma's home because their 1 year old was huge! They taught me how to say a few words and phrases in French and got to practice their broken English on me as they asked about home and serving a mission.  In the Smith summer kitchen I told the sister translating that she and her group could have a few minutes to talk about the things that they learned or share testimonies rather than listening to my English for even longer. They talked amongst themselves for a minute and then turned to me and said they would like to sing a song instead. They chose to sing, "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." Everyone in the room knew the words, even the little kids, all of them singing in French and me in English. Everyone sat there quietly for a minute after we finished singing. The spirit was so strong. I simply said the Spirit is a universal language and everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. That little experience reconfirmed to me that the Spirit has no boundaries and can touch the hearts of those from different places, those with different backgrounds, those who speak different languages--anyone and everyone because we are all part of God's family.

I have never been more tired or more happy in my entire life! Best feeling ever!! I feel so lucky to share my testimony of latter-day prophets and Jesus Christ everyday with people from all over. The gospel is where we find everlasting JOY. This is where we can find the most happiness on earth! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Sister Larsen

And this is what humidity looks like!

11 months of MTC tripanionship fun with these cuties!