#LIGHTtheWORLD

Dear friends and family,

It hasn't been very long since I last emailed, but the snow is pretty well melted away, we ate lots of Thanksgiving leftovers, and the church finally released this year's Christmas initiative, "Light the World." Woohoo!!!

Back when I was a golden, we visited a less active man in our branch named Brother Lane who had not been to church in years. He was always very kind and enjoyed having us over, but never made much effort to change or come attend a meeting. When I got to Great Bend at the beginning of this transfer, due to recent boundary changes in proselyting areas, Brother Lane was now part of the Great Bend area so Sister Martinez and I decided to visit and teach him weekly. Yesterday at church, as chorister, I looked out at the congregation and lo and behold who did I see slip into the back pew? Brother Lane!!! He loved the meeting and bore a powerful testimony in our gospel principles class about how the Lord had continued to reach out to him even when he was lost. Whenever he began to think about how he needed the church back in his life, the missionaries always called or stopped by not too long after. He told us after coming, being with branch members and feeling the spirit he had a desire to make greater effort to come out to church! The light of the gospel has been rekindled in Brother Lane!!

At church with Bro. Lane

 Dalton and Mae also came up to the Priesthood Restoration Site to watch the film and see the Hale home. I absolutely love them!! They are just the cutest newlywed couple.   Mae had been taking the lessons with elders about 2 years ago, so she already has quite a bit of background and already has such a strong testimony! She was the one explaining to Dalton what the Books of Mormon is, why it is correct and helps clarify truths in the Bible. She says even after she stopped meeting with the elders she "couldn't get enough of the Book." At the end of our tour she was the one asking for chapters that she and Dalton could read in preparation for the next time we would meet! Mae has a lot of personality, and Dalton is quieter, but as we talked in the Hale home about Emma Smith and her experience praying as a young girl, they both shared experiences of when their prayers had been answered and how they are looking to strengthen their relationship with each other and with God. We are so, so, so excited to be teaching them!

If you haven't seen the new Christmas initiative, "Light the World," go watch it now!! 

Light the World Site Decorations

 (https://www.mormon.org). I can promise you will love it!! Sister Martinez and I have been singing the music walking up and down streets ever since Friday... it is so good! What I love about this video is that it so simply teaches when we serve others, we come to know Christ better. He is the light, but we can a light to others too. Our acts of service don't have to be big, grand events, but they can be little things. Last week in our weekly visitor center training meeting we talked about diligence. The word "diligent" comes from the Latin word "diligere," which means "love and to take delight in." When we diligently serve, our love for the Savior increases and whatever work we are a part of becomes more of a delight to us because we are coming to see those we are serving as Christ would. It's a beautiful thing!

Have a wonderful week and check out mormon.org for more ways you can include this year's Christmas initiative in your Christmas celebrations! 

Love,

Sister Larsen

When your milk and your comp expire on the same day 🐄

Let Us Give Thanks!

*Note from Alicia:  Sis. Larsen's Mission President changed pday for all of the missionaries this week to Thanksgiving Day.  Sis. Larsen sent this email yesterday after her shopping, and just before heading to a Thanksgiving dinner appointment.*

Dear friends and family,

"I would consider it a blizzard; we got a foot of snow before Thanksgiving!"

I am so GRATEFUL for such a fantastic week and a half Sister Martinez and I have just had! At the beginning of last week we had absolutely no investigators. By Tuesday everyone we had taught or were wanting to teach either dropped us or we had still not been able to contact them after several weeks of trying.... so we got to start completely fresh. But just like Ether 12:6, "...ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith," we began to see miracle after miracle!

On Wednesday of last week we had exchanges, so Sister Harvey got to come to Great Bend with me and I love her! While we were walking back to our car after an appointment that fell through we saw Crystal, who is the daughter of Brother Powers, who is a less active because of his health. And to make a long story short, we had a great little lesson and Crystal, Brother Powers, Carl (Brother Power's friend), Mae (Crystal's daughter) and Mae's husband, Dalton, agreed to come to the site the following evening for a tour!

Unwrapping artwork by Liz Lemon Swindle
for a traveling art exhibit about the Savior

"Witnesses of Christ" traveling art exhibit here at the site from Nov. 18 -Dec. 6.
And guess where it was right before coming to us?  The Mesa Temple Visitor's Center!

The next evening they came and looked at the paintings and then we were able to go to the Smith home with Brother Powers, Crystal, Mae and her husband Dalton, and Carl. As we were talking about reading from the Book of Mormon in the very place where it was translated Carl asked, "So where can someone get a Book of Mormon?" And then Mae also asked for a copy, and Dalton too! So as we happy danced we quickly whisked them into the next room where the copies were sitting on the hutch!

A day after the tour with the Powers clan we messaged Carl on Facebook. He said he was pretty busy so he couldn't meet for the next few days, which we were bummed about. But then he said that he had been reading from the Book of Mormon! We asked him how he was liking it and he said it was pretty slow going because the text was small, and he was "only in 1 Nephi 14." Happy dancing commenced once again as we were shocked and thrilled as to how much he had read, and we talked a little bit about the Tree of Life. We are so excited to see Carl soon!!!!

Two days ago we also were going to stop by Brother Powers' place to see Mae because she takes care of him in the mornings. He wasn't well, so Mae came outside and told us that she had been talking with her husband and wanted to join the church, so she'd like to start taking the lessons. LOTS more happy dancing!!! We will be meeting with Mae and Dalton very soon as well! 

And if all of that wasn't enough, Sister Martinez and I were out knocking doors inviting everyone to the art exhibit at the site. We knocked on a door, and a cute lady answered the door. We gave her a little card to the exhibit and then asked if we could share a message with her about truths that have been restored to us by God. She smiled and said yes and told us to come in right then and there! That definitely took Sister Martinez and I by surprise, but we got to know her, Marni, a little bit and were able to teach her about the Restoration. We gave a Book of Mormon, and invited her to be baptized and she said would be if she came to know what we shared was true! We asked if we could come back after Thanksgiving and she said, "How about Friday?" By this point we didn't even remember how to happy dance, we were so shocked! So I'll be reporting back on our lesson with Marni in just a few days!

This Thanksgiving season I am grateful for so many things-- family, snow boots, smiles from strangers, thoughtful texts, snowflake designs, laughter, prayer, chocolate, scriptures, daily tender mercies and everything in between! But most of all I am grateful for a Savior, Jesus Christ, who makes second chances, forever families, and eternal joy possible. I know He lives and loves me, and each one of us! I am grateful for this time I have to dedicate all that I am to being a representative of Him. "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son." 

Love,

Sister Larsen

Freezing and happy!!

A picture of our "sistrict" with the Zone Leaders.  (Note from Alicia:  
Sis. Larsen and Sis. Brown were called a few weeks ago as District Leaders, 
so they've nicknamed themselves the "sistrict".)

The Worth of a Soul

Dear friends and family,

Wonderful lessons, wonderful people, wonderful conferences, wonderful weather, wonderful news.... I just love being a missionary!!

Hello Great Bend!

As promised, an update on our investigator, Mary-- Our lesson went so well! We were able to teach her about the Restoration with Sister Edwards from our branch. She had  plenty of questions, but the lesson went so well that when we invited Mary to come to the site for a tour to even better understand the priesthood, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon she decided she wanted to come the very next day! And she did! She absolutely loved the film and kept referring back to it as we talked and said it was very moving. She loved that she lives in a place where she can come to a place to learn both historically and spiritually. Having the site has been such a blessing! Mary told us that on any other day she would have come to the site just interested in the history, but this time she came spiritually ready to learn. And she knows she felt the Spirit! In the Smith home we invited her to baptism and she accepted our invitation, however she said she still has lots of questions and would need some time before rushing into any major decisions. But more good things to come!

With Sis. Martinez

I was also able to meet Jennifer, who the sisters had met just a few weeks ago. She is a super sweet mom, with 3 young kids. The sisters had taught her, and her 11 year old daughter the Plan of Salvation, which they really loved, so we taught the Restoration to Jennifer. We got to know her a little more and found that she likes reading from the Book of Mormon and learning about the gospel. Church isn't something that has been a part of her life for quite a while, but she wants to be a good mom and raise her children right. We also invited her to baptism and she said yes! So with another lesson tonight, we will talk more about the importance of following Jesus Christ's example and living the gospel!

A definite highlight from the week was our day trip down to Broomall for another mission Conference, this time with Elder Valeri Cordón of the seventy. He is a fairly new general authority, but now one of my absolute favorites!! It was such an awesome conference!! He talked about two things that Dallin H. Oaks has said was most important in missionary work-- understanding who we are and what we have been called to do. We talked about Moses' experience in discovering who he was. He had to go before Egypt to ask Pharaoh to free the Israelites. With his experience of the burning bush, and seeing all of God's creations, his perspective was widened and He realized that there was no comparison to God, the ultimate super power. He also knew that he was a son of God... and suddenly Egypt didn't seem so big! Like Moses we can conquer our "Egypts" as children of God and have access to His divine help and strength. How can we fail with the Lord on our side?

Elder Cordón also talked about our callings as missionaries. Much like Elder Robbins had mentioned when we talked with him a few weeks ago, Elder Cordón said that our mission is our "mini life." If we are negative now, if we can't work hard now, if we can't love others now, this time we have gives good indication of how we will probably be for the rest of our lives. So if we can learn to be positive now, if we can be obedient now, if we love others now, that is the kind of person we will be. But by grace, our life can be changed in this "mini life," if we give all we have, look to the Savior and understand that the Lord is more concerned about where we are headed, rather than where we are. 

We are children of God, and have the potential to become like Him. Some people don't know their potential, others do, and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to help others recognize their potential and watch them learn, grow and change. Here is a message from a woman I was able to take on tour this past summer, along with her nonmember husband, John, and their 2 children: "Hello! Sister Larsen!  It is true❤. John was baptized on Oct 14th a Friday and then the following weekend he baptized the twins on Oct 22nd Sat. I have been full of so much joy!  I know that John was ready before the trip, but visiting the sites and going to the Philadelphia Temple Open House helped put things into motion. It was an amazing experience...." It was definitely a happy heart moment, hearing that this family was now coming closer to God and closer together. 

 Miracles happen! And often happen through small and simple means. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Lunch at Benihana after our mission conference

The "brain" of the Visitor's Center

A very windy day!

Greetings from Great Bend!

Dear friends and family,

It's been quite a while since I sent a letter from the part-time proselyting world! I am now in the Great Bend area, which is the other proselyting area in our sweet, little Susquehanna Branch. I'm feeling like a “golden” (a newbie) all over again, but all is well. I've been blessed with Sister Martinez as a wonderful companion who is incredibly patient and I have already learned so much from her... and the first couple of days we've had together were full of tiny miracles! 

Since proselyting in the Susquehanna area last year, the boundaries between our two areas have been changed, so there are a few people who used to be in the Susquehanna area who are now in the Great Bend area (hopefully you were able to follow that). The Davis family is a family is a darling family who I worked with in the past, who I get to work with again, which I'm super, super excited about! This past summer they had a baby, so we are just waiting on the family van to get fixed so all 7 of them can come to church. They have strong testimonies of the gospel and we are excited to help them strengthen them and get their family on the road to the temple!

The sisters here a couple weeks ago found a woman from Liberia, Etta, who takes care of a cute elderly woman, Ollie. They started teaching Etta, but when they invited her to be baptized they came to find out that she was already a member! Haha.  So now we are just teaching her, helping her remember gospel principles and finding her records in Philadelphia. But needless to say, it is a good time, I'm getting a throwback to my days in Philly, and Etta and Ollie are the funniest duo here in Great Bend.

We were also invited to a banquet put on by the Susquehanna County Conservation Council at the VFW in Montrose, because the church was being presented an award for the great conservation efforts we've done at the site. (There's a stream bed and wetlands that we worked with). 

On our way to dinner

The man presenting awards had gone to the site the first month or so of us being open, and we sang while he was visiting, so he asked that we sing at the award banquet. We sang "Abide with Me" and "I Am a Child of God." They spoke very highly of the Church, everyone loved the singing and when Elder Walker got to give a little thank you speech he invited everyone to come out the site. Building bridges with the community!

Every Friday we volunteer at the food pantry at the Methodist church. It is great little place where families in need can come in and get a week's work of basic groceries, and thanks to all the previous sisters who have served here, we have a wonderful relationship with everyone there. We walked in and they were all excited to "adopt in" the new sister! One of the women who we serve with there, named Mary, we were able to work on family history with Sister Edwards earlier in the week. When we saw her on Friday she said she just loves "the glow" about us and how we so happily live our religion. She said she loves talking with us, so we gave her a call later and she said she there is just something we have that she doesn't so she wants to learn about our religion. So stayed tuned for next week because our lesson is tonight! (And fun back story, a few weeks ago our zone had a competition to see who could get the most phone numbers on a Pday. While Sister Anderson and I were at the grocery store we saw Mary, started talking family history, gave her number to the Great Bend sisters... and now here I am in Great Bend, teaching Mary with Sister Martinez!  Blessings!)

I'm grateful for the opportunity to be proselyting and serving at the Priesthood Restoration Site, sharing the message of the restored gospel with the people everywhere! I know, and have found especially in the past few days, that we may not always feel like we are enough, but when we step forward in faith and put forth whatever is our best, our older brother and Savior Jesus Christ is there for us to rely on. 

I'm reminded of these verses in Jacob 5:71-72, which talks about the allegory of the olive trees. "And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.  And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights, and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things."  

Christ is beside us always, if we just put our trust in him and are exactly obedient we will see miracles come. Hurrah for Israel!!

Love,

Sister Larsen

A few random pictures from the last 2 weeks:

When you thought you'd finished seeing Emma's Garden pictures...
fall brought us potatoes and carrots which made the best stew ever (thanks to Sis. VanOrden)

That plan we had to go for a run?  Changed thanks to snow.

Halloween party!  Can you tell the sisters are Disney princesses?  
See if you can find Mulan, Cinderella, Belle, Anna, Ariel, Muana, Pocahontas,
Rapunzel, Snow White, Jasmine, Merida, and Aurora.

🎶 Come Unto Christ 🎶

**Note from Alicia:  Sis. Larsen forgot to send her group email last week, but I've pasted it below.  This is from 10/31/16.  

Dear friends and family,

A week like this was one for the records! Crazy, crazy, crazy... with lots of laughs and lots of tears. It marked our last week all together before sisters left to proselyte in other places and people start leaving for home. 

Wednesday the site was busy with tech people hopping around testing all the theaters since they were bringing our power back. Thank goodness all went well and we were able to function perfectly again after they left. And just in time too! We had the American Northeast Mission Presidents' Conference hosted here at the site on Thursday. 

Having so many mission presidents, their wives and general authorities (Elder Meurs, Elder Clayton, Elder Bennett, Elder Perkins, Elder Gong and their wives)-- the site had that kind of MTC buzz about it. It was so much fun! We had prepared "dinner and a show" for the conference so as everyone ate, we sang some of our concert songs for everyone. I was having little flashbacks to my Strolling Strings days as I played my violin and sang just inches away from the Gongs. We had 75 people in the overflow! After we had sung, Elder Clayton stood up and said since it wasn't quite appropriate to clap, but he thought it appropriate to give a "silent standing ovation." And right then, all these wonderful mission presidents and general authorities stood up from their tables and faced us with smiles and tears. It was very a very sweet experience. Then we got to take all of them on a tour, and Sister Anderson and I got lucky enough to take the best mission president and his wife on tour, the Randalls! It was their first tour they'd ever taken at the PRS, and it was so neat to be able to stand in the Smith home with them and other presidents and their wives and talk about our feelings towards the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph. 

The next day the Randalls stopped in after the end of their conference which had been finished at a conference center an hour away. They said that Sister Clayton had spoken to the group and talked all about us singing the day prior. She said it is incredibly difficult to sing your part when you are not standing by others singing your part, and especially when you are singing so close to your audience. She said we were individually strong singers, but unified as a whole. She likened that to the gospel and how our testimonies need to be individually strong, but as a ward, as a community, as a church, we need to be unified in purpose and commitment to the restored gospel. 

Saturday=CONCERT DAY!!!!! We were so excited!! Brother Lusvardi from Salt Lake came to visit. He is over all visitor centers and came when the site opened to train us, and it was like seeing an old friend again. We got special training on the new Christmas initiative video the church has made for this upcoming holiday season. They launch it the day after Thanksgiving and it is SO GOOD!!

After our little meeting with Brother Lusvardi we began welcoming guests... and they kept coming...and coming... and coming! First we ran out of chairs in the chapel and overflow, so we took out the dessert tables and replaced them with another row of chairs, but people kept coming, so we had everyone in the overflow scrunch up so people's knees were practically touching the chair in front of them, and we fit in a couple more rows. There were even a few people who people grabbed chairs and sat just outside the doors to listen in the hallway! Once everyone was settled we began. The theme for our program was "Come Unto Christ," and every song we sang was all about the Savior. 

                                "Come Unto Christ"  - dress rehearsal

It was a wonderful way to wrap up the end of a chapter in our time at the PRS, focused on what we do as missionaries-- invite others to Come Unto Christ. The senior couples talked in between the songs, there were picture slideshows of Christ playing through some of our songs, and we were very happy with how everything turned out... especially with how many people came! I am so grateful that we have had so many opportunities to share our testimonies of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel through music. 

With some of the sisters before the concert.  

I had a little group of women, not of our faith, approach me after the concert and tell me how they loved that they could see the light of Christ shining through us as we sang. An elder in our zone told how being able to come to the site and hear our music has strengthened him in times when he needed strengthening and it had changed his mission. Brother Lusvardi said that in the past 25 years he'd gone to many visitor center musical firesides, but had never seen anything like we had done, as it was so missionary-purpose-driven. It's just amazing to me how so many hearts can be touched through the power of music, no matter who you are or where you are in life.

After the concert with my Hobbit House sisters

We wrapped up the week with our Sunday family dinner and a testimony meeting, and I have been incredibly blessed to serve with such amazing, and spiritually strong people in a sacred, dedicated place. 

Final "PRS Family" dinner

It's been the best decision I have ever made to serve-- to learn more about myself and others, and more about my Savior.

Love,

Sister Larsen