Sister Larsen in the City of Brotherly Love : Adventure is Out There!

Dear friends and family,

What an adventurous two weeks it's been! So much has happened, I don't know how to put it all in an email!! We've had highs and lows, car chases in Philadelphia, days we were snowed in, and we also found new investigators, went to birthday parties, sang in church, and a million other things! Being a missionary is the best.

The day that church was cancelled because there was too much snow
on the roads. I should look a lot more sad than I do in this picture;

(and I was) but these pictures don't do the snow justice. It snowed
a ton and the entire mission was grounded until that evening.

We successfully shoveled ourselves out!

On New Year's we had met a darling young woman named Autumn, but hadn't been able to get to meet with her because of different things going on with her family and her health. But we invited her to our Valentine's Day Relief Society activity, and she was able to come!

At the RS Valentine's Activity with
Jolanta (a recent convert), Sis. Loscig, Robin, Sis. Baantjer, me and Autumn

It was so much fun, and really wonderful for her to get to know some of the branch members. After the activity she agreed to stay for a tour of the site, which went super well. Sister VanOrden joined us as we went through the film and homes. Autumn told us her favorite part of the film was that John the Baptist and Peter, James and John were the ones to restore the Priesthood, because they were the very people who had it in the Bible. It just seemed that everything we talked about clicked for her... and that's because it's true! When we were in the Smith home, sitting in the summer kitchen, we sat down and were talking about the Book of Mormon and read Moroni 10:3-5 (in the very place it was translated!), the Spirit was so strong, and so we invited Autumn to be baptized and she said YES!! We could not stop smiling!

Church was cancelled that Sunday because of the terrible weather, but we saw her Tuesday and taught the Plan of Salvation which she loved because she felt like she was finally getting answers to the questions she had. She also recognized the importance of the Book of Mormon because it teaches us a lot about God's plan for us, that isn't as clear in the Bible. And it was especially touching because she is expecting a baby in April. Unfortunately because of some difficult circumstances Autumn was moving that week to Montrose, so we won't be able to prepare her for baptism, but the sisters in Montrose will! :)

We were also able to go on a trip to the Philadelphia Temple with members from our branch. I love the temple and feel so blessed to have gone as much as I have these past few months! We had a wonderful time all together and I loved being in the Celestial Room of the temple and seeing the branch members all dressed in white there too. It was reconfirmed to me that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children, and we will be able to make it back to Him one day.

Some of the branch members who were on the temple trip with the missionaries

Another highlight from the week was seeing Tiffany and her son, Eddy!! Eddy is 14 and loves to play the piano and has taught himself on a little keyboard his mom bought him when he was 5 years old, so they came to let Eddy play on our piano. He is so talented, and is was super fun to watch him so excited to play for people on a piano! But we were also able to walk Tiffany and Eddy through the visitor center, which they loved. Tiffany really seemed to love it, and Joseph Smith's story of the First Vision and receiving the golden plates which we told her. It was so neat to watch her explain to Eddy that Joseph Smith was led by God to the plates, and then was helped to translate them for us. They really loved the 2 minute video in the center of Elder Bednar who talks about the importance and blessings of the priesthood, and Tiffany said it made her want to get baptized by Priesthood authority and continue to learn how she could come closer to God! We then watched the film that tells the story of what happened here at the site and afterwards Tiffany was crying. We asked her what she was feeling and she said "peace." We asked her if she knew what that peaceful feeling was and she said, "God." It was such a sweet experience. We talked about how the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. She knew in that moment that what we had seen and talked about was true. I know all of us discovered or had reconfirmed, our testimonies of the restored gospel in that time that we shared together.

I am so grateful for all of the little moments I've had as a missionary to see the message of the restored gospel bring light into people's lives. I know this is Christ's church and through living His gospel we can find joy! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Other pics from the last 2 weeks:

Pink pancakes for Valentine's Day

A combined birthday party for Bro. Powers
and Dalton who share the same birthday!
L-R: me, Bro. Powers, Mae, Crystal, Jean, Susan, Sarah, Carl and Dalton