Tornado warning, River Flooding, and a Baptismal Forecast

Dear friends and family,

Cute row homes

Driving at night - trolleys and taxis

Another good week in the city! We had some stormy weather this week, but it didn't stop us from doing the work! We got a tornado warning while on exchanges in West Chester, and were driving past flooded parts of Philly, but so many good things happened this week. We had some really great lessons and I realized more this week than ever just how important it is to get members out with you to teach!

"Oh dear, I think I must have lost my hair weave in that bush!"  
Haha!  We started a "weave count"  this weekend,  
and we currently have spotted 6 in the last 2 days: on the 
street, in the bushes, etc.  Got to make "finding" fun!  

We taught Abraham again with Aarti and Pooja. We talked more about prophets of old, and how we continue to have prophets today, which he really liked. We invited him to be baptized, but he said he cannot be baptized twice. We tried to explain, but then Aarti and Pooja piped in and talked about how they were both baptized in another faith but realized after talking to the missionaries they needed to be baptized by immersion and someone holding the priesthood authority. And Abraham said he will pray about baptism and let us know what his answer is the next time we meet, but it was because Pooja and Aarti bore their testimonies that he agreed to do that!

My first week here we taught a YSA named Stephanie. She was being taught by the sisters in the fall, but she dropped them around December because she didn't know if she was ready to be taught.  She then called them up again not too long before I came here. She has been making leaps and bounds testimony-wise, considering she was atheist, but now feels that she has a relationship with God. It's amazing how the gospel changes people!! Anyways, this week when we saw her we brought Sister Brown, who is this sweet newly-married lady from Mexico. We were just talking with Stephanie and had planned a lesson, but were then directed to teach her about the Word of Wisdom instead. It was perfect because Sister Brown is a convert and had to give up coffee drinking too, so she was able to totally relate to her! And now Stephanie has committed to live the Word of Wisdom and is considering moving her baptism date up, which is so exciting!!

Mildred and her family had a family emergency come up in Maryland, so we haven't been able to see them and will have to hold their baptism sometime after they come back this upcoming month. We just hope that with everything going on, their testimonies won't be shaken. It can be hard to continue to trust in the Lord when we feel we can't see Him there, but He is always beside us. I love verse 13 in D&C 31, "Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father. Amen."

How many languages can the church library have scriptures and church books in?

I know that when we continually put our trust in Christ, everything will work out in the end!

Have a faith-filled week! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

And They Stuck a Country Sister in the City...

Dear friends and family,

Hello from WEST PHILADELPHIA!!! From the country to the city...Wow, culture shock!!! Haha it is the craziest thing ever! There are African Hair Braiding Salons right and left and row homes as far as the eye can see!!! It is very, very diverse here, and I LOVE it! :)

Row homes, row homes, row homes...  My first reaction?  Wow, that's a LOT of doors to knock! 

Meet the trio:  L-R:  Sisters Roesch (this is her last transfer), Kartchner (2nd to last transfer) 
and Sis. Larsen at their first district meeting, and at church.  "Yes, the church is completely
 gated and we have to use  a key FOB to get in... welcome to the city!"

There are lots of immigrants from Liberia here! It's pretty common for multiple-generation families to live all together in the same house too, so there always lots of people around. We are teaching a Liberian family right now- Mildred, Love, Blessed, Apple, Victoria, Jane and Rufus...With our trio and all of them, it was a full house!  Mildred and Love are preparing to be baptized towards the end of March, so we taught them more about baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and how we can renew our baptismal covenants. Mildred is SO solid!! She practically teaches her own family! At church Mildred bore her testimony in our gospel principles class. She talked about how in Liberia there are a lot of hard feelings towards the church and people believe that the Book of Mormon is evil. If you even touch the book, people thought you wouldn't go to heaven. When she lived there and was walking near the church building, she would run past it so that she wouldn't be on such "unholy" ground for long. Just crazy stuff!! But then she and her family came to the U.S., the sister missionaries found them and introduced them to the Book of Mormon, and they were so nice she decided to read it and instantly felt that it was true when she did.  Now she can see how the Book of Mormon has changed her and her family's life. She is an amazing woman!

There are murals EVERYWHERE!  Love it!!

We are also starting to teach another Liberian man, Abraham, who actually came here from Liberia several weeks ago. We were able to take two members, Pooja and Aarti, who are sisters and from India, and they really added great insight to our discussion. Before we went into the lesson Aarti said a prayer for us, in Hindi which was super neat. We talked with Abraham about the Book of Mormon being the word of God, how it has blessed our lives and families and asked about how he liked church last week. It turns out that he got some missionary pamphlets from someone last week and after reading about the Word of Wisdom and learning that his body is a temple, he has completely quit drinking! He also came to church again and loved everything! It's so nice that the ward is so welcoming to investigators. After the lesson we went to Pooja and Aarti's for a snack and got to know them better. My favorite thing was that on one wall of their home were pictures of their Indian weddings, everyone decked from head to toe in jewelry and traditional dress, and on the other wall was a picture of their whole family wearing white temple clothes at the Manhattan Temple the day of their sealing. It was so sweet!

Dinner at a Hmong member's house.  We are crazy Thai chicken soup
eaters... Yes, we ate the feet and the brain.  It tastes like chicken! :)  The
feet are gelatin-like and you kind of suck on them.  For the head, you peel the
skin off, nibble on the neck, crack open the skull, and pick the brains out.
They have a pudding-like texture.  Yum.  :)

It's amazing to see so many different people being unified by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It reminds me of the quote by President Packer, "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.” I love what this gospel can do for people and what it continues to do for me each and every day! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Sister Larsen

The Philly skyline -- typical view from the back seat

17 Below and New Places to Go!!

Dear family and friends,

This Arizona sister survived -17 degree weather (with wind chill) and is still living to tell the tales of another wonderful week in Susquehanna, PA! And it was a good last week because on Sunday night I got a call that I'm being transferred! It's a little bittersweet to be leaving this place right now, but a comfort to know I'll be back in 7 short weeks when all 12 visitor center sisters have a big reunion and go full steam ahead for the summertime!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Sunday afternoon shift of PRS Sisters
 (L-R) Sisters Anderson, Walker, Robison, Larsen

Opening Valentines at the Visitor's Center

Monday night Sara and Stan invited us over for dinner and a lesson with them and their three little guys, and they are SO fun!!! They both have religious backgrounds and  loved learning about the restoration of the gospel. Even the little kids liked learning, because they have been asking lots of questions lately. Something funny Libby, the little girl, did recently was draw a picture of their family with God and Jesus Christ and "Sin"... So we tried to help her understand that "Sin" isn't a person, just mistakes we make :) But even funnier than that we were talking about the Bible a little bit and then Stan said, "Here's my own theory... There's got to be some book out there, buried in the earth for thousands of years, with all the answers in it." ...."Ummm yeah, and it's that book sitting in front of you on YOUR KITCHEN TABLE!" Hahaha :) They are such great people with a real desire to follow the word of God and bring their family even closer together. 

We also had an amazing lesson with Tim on Tuesday!!! We finished talking about the Plan of Salvation and taught him about the Word of Wisdom. He continues to accept everything and follow through on his commitments, and is so excited to continue progressing and learning!! He was especially excited to do temple baptisms for the dead because his father passed away this past December, just weeks before we found him. I continue to be amazed by the Lord's timing in every part of this work!! I can't wait to come back to the branch and see Tim as a member!

We also taught Casen again, and taught him the Plan of Salvation as well which he had lots of questions about. It went so well!! He loved being able to find answers to questions in the Book of Mormon, which was great to help him understand that the Book of Mormon really can give us the answers to life's biggest questions! He is starting to read the Book of Mormon everyday now to get in his 15 of reading homework for school. What a great kid!!

Sister Robison and I taught the lesson in Relief Society on Sunday about how adversity and challenges are all part of God's plan for us. Each experience that we go through is a moment of molding. We used a piece of play dough to explain. We are like a ball of play dough needing to become a star. As the play dough gets squished and pinched into a shape, we can't always tell what it will end up looking like, but after time it will become all that it needs to become. For us, our trials seem to just be bumps and bruises, and we can't always see what difficulties we may face will help us become. So long as we continue to trust in the ultimate potter, our Savior, He will shape us into the person we need to become. I love what Sister Marriot said in this past General Conference, "President Gordon B. Hinckley said: 'If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God. … The Lord will not forsake us.'... [not], 'It will all work out now.' It speaks of our hope in the eternal outcome--not necessarily of present results."   Whatever difficulties we may have now or that we will go through, so long as we trust in our Savior and our Father's eternal perspective, it will all work out. 

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen 

And for picture overload, here are a few more pics as of late:

Violin lessons after church with Malinda

After church with Malinda, Sis. Larsen, Shayna, and Sis. Anderson

At the PRS with Elder and Sis. Hanks

Just An Instrument in His Hands

Dear friends and family,

What a good, good week! Things in Susquehanna are just getting better and better all the time! The sun is even starting to set later which is so nice! I feel that the Lord has truly been walking alongside Sister Robison and I this week.

"On the Susquehanna River -- dead trees and it still looks pretty!"

We met a woman named Diane a little while ago and were able to meet with her for the first time this past week and teach her about the restoration of the gospel. Since being out, here have been times when I wonder if people really are wondering about God and religion, or searching for truth and direction, and talking with Diane helped me remember that people are really looking! She mentioned that there are so any different churches and so many different opinions, she felt as if there should only be one, true church. Sounds a lot like someone we know as Joseph Smith, right? She was very interested in the lesson and will be praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true!

Early this week we were able to meet with a less active woman in our branch and her little boy is who isn't baptized and teach him the first lesson. I have been trying to teach Ashley and Casen since I came to Susquehanna 6 months ago, and we are now finally helping them find and grow their testimonies of the restored gospel! Casen really liked the lesson and visual aid we used to explain the importance of the priesthood, and as of this week is preparing to be baptized the 3rd weekend in March! I am so excited for him and to see that Ashley still has a powerful testimony. One of my favorite parts during the lesson was asking Ashley about her experience when she received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true-- she was almost unable to describe how wonderful she felt! The spirit was so strong! So lesson learned: Don't give up on less active members. They still have a testimony, it's just a matter of time and "re-finding" it!

We also stopped by a home a few weeks ago and briefly met a busy, young mother. Sara, who said we could try back again. We were out finding and decided to go try her again. This time she let us in and we showed her and her little kids one of my very favorite Mormon messages, "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father," and Sara loved it because that was their day to day life.  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng   Just as the video finished, her husband walked in the door and we got talking to him as well. He had a ton of really good, honest questions that we were able to answer for him!  I pulled a Book of Mormon out of my bag to give to them  and before I hardly had it out all the way, Sara's husband came and took it and started looking through the pages, asking if he could have it! And what was crazy is that Sara's husband came home from work early, which never happens and he said walking into the house he knew the Mormons were there! We are going over tonight for dinner and more discussion, which we are so excited about! Just another instance where we saw the Lord's hand was working in our lives, and the lives of others.

Windsor, NY: "I think they are missing one!" 

And now... Tim!! We thought all was lost because we had texted and called and knocked on his door, and hadn't heard anything for days. We thought he had just fallen off the face of the earth, which sometimes happens with investigators. But we kept on trying and doing what we do. On Thursday, around 8:45 at night we had planned to go find some, "Main Street Miracles," and were driving towards downtown. We stopped at the stop sign by our house, and saw someone very tall walking their dog. It was Tim!! So Sister Robison threw our truck into an emergency back up, parked in our yard and we jumped out of the truck and started running down the street after him...for the second time haha! When we finally caught up to him, we figured out why we weren't able to get a hold of him and asked him about the commitments we had left him. He said he wanted to "tread the water" a little bit, before he jumped right into being baptized and making a life long commitment, so we were thinking "Great, it will probably be April or May." But he said he had prayed about a date to be baptized on, liked we had asked him to, and he wanted to be baptized on February 28th. That's "treading the water?!?" We couldn't believe it!!! We were so excited!! So the next day we scheduled a lesson with him and taught the Plan of Salvation, and he was eating it up. We answered a lot of his questions, and teaching him is so fun because you can see in face when a light bulb turns on, and he goes, "Yes! That makes sense!" And we are meeting with him again tomorrow. At first Tim asked to meet at 1 on Tuesday, then he changed his mind and asked if we could meet at 11 so we could have more time to teach him.  Haha! He loves learning!!

I know that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to help us in every aspect of our lives! It makes the bad times good and the good times better when we trust in the Lord and strive to become better instruments in his hands. I love the quote by Elder Richard G. Scott, "Heavenly Father did not put us on this earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously." When we put forth our best effort, the Lord will help carry us and improve our lives so that we can succeed gloriously! What a wonderful blessing!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Staying on the Straight and Narrow Path!

Dear friends and family,

Happy No Snow! It has actually been surprisingly warm in the past few days, and I've heard rumors of 50 degree weather this week, so I'm definitely looking forward to that! But this past week was a pretty good one!

We were warned to not take any back roads because they could be icy, but because we have a limited number of miles we can drive each month, we have our GPS set to "shortest distance," which often takes us down back roads. And it isn't anything unusual to feel a bit like Indiana Jones as we drive in our truck from place to place. So we started driving down this dirt road, all was well and we were looking at how pretty the sunset was, and to make a long story short, we ended up having to walk a mile and a half through the woods in the dark to the nearest house to find help because the road turned into solid ice. While in the moment we thought we were lost forever in the middle of nowhere (and hoping that bears really do hibernate), we can now laugh our heads off at what we had gotten ourselves into.  There are a lot of things, though, I learned from that experience...

1. Always follow promptings you receive! Once we realized we could not control our truck from sliding, we knew we needed to walk somewhere for help. We started down the road because our GPS told us we were more than halfway to the end of the road. But after several minutes of walking we felt that we needed to turn around and go back the direction we came. As it turns out, the direction of our GPS was turned around and we actually had more than halfway to go and would have been walking for a lot longer! Sometimes, and I've found as a missionary, it can be frustrating to "listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost," because it can be difficult to discern whether it is the Spirit or your own thoughts... But it doesn't matter! I love the scripture in Moroni 7:13:  "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God."  If it is a good thing, act on it because all good things come from God!
2. Always have a sure footing! The ice on the road was so thick and slippery that we couldn't stand up on it, so we had to walk along the edge of the road in the trees where there was some snow. It reminded me that we have to walk on sure ground, and not slip or waver in our testimony. How? Through the little things! All those "primary answers," like studying scriptures or attending church meetings really do strengthen our testimonies of the restored gospel, so when difficult times come and it's hard to stand, we won't fall! 
3. Always be prepared! For some reason Sister Robison and I had left our snow boots in the back seat of our truck, even though it hadn't snowed for weeks. That morning we had also had put an extra blanket in the truck. So when we decided we had to walk to help we changed our shoes, grabbed the blanket, and a small flashlight that was in the truck. Granted, we didn't think we would be lost overnight, but we were prepared! Being spiritually prepared is the same! We have to have built our testimonies and done those things that help us come closer to Christ because if something comes up to shake our testimony, and we aren't ready for it, we can be harmed spiritually. 
4. Know you can always find "cell service!" In addition to it being completely dark outside when we got stuck, we had no cell service. We knew of countless people who would be to our rescue in the blink of an eye, if only we could call them. But there is someone we can never get out of touch with, and that is our Heavenly Father. Prayer is like a 100% guaranteed phone call, with no ignored messages and no voice mail, because He always is there to answer! He loves us and wants to hear from us, wanting to help us, all we have to do is get on our knees and call out to Him.
5. Look for the good in all things! Optimism is key! Once we got to the closest house, we were welcomed in by the most adorable family ever! They invited us in, lent us their phone, had us join them for dinner and even offered to keep us overnight if nobody was able to come until morning. We were able to get to know them, tell them about what we do as missionaries, the Priesthood Restoration Site and why families are important to us. Now we have a potential family to teach and all because our truck got stuck on an icy road!

"The Lost Lamb" by Del Parson

As we turn to Christ we become spiritually safe! If we rely on Him and our Heavenly Father, we will not fail because, "Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised this will never change." -Thomas S. Monson. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love,

Sister Larsen 

There can be miracles when you believe!

Dear family and friends,

What a week!! Just so everyone knows, we are all safe and sound here in Susquehanna... not even a flurry of snow up here! So while the rest of our mission was "grounded" we got permission from President to keep on working :) I've decided I must bring a little AZ sunshine with me wherever I go because last winter at BYU-Idaho they had the most mild winter they've had in years, and here we've completely avoided one of the biggest storms on the east coast! And this week we had an amazing miracle happen!

About a week and a half ago we were out finding late at night, it was about 8:45, we had gone through all of our back ups, and were in our truck thinking of who we could go see or where we could find someone outside, when a very tall man walking his dog passed our truck. And when I say tall, I mean taller-than-Sister-Robison-tall, which is tall!! But the street we were on was not the most inviting street to walk down late at night, and the man we were watching was just about to go around he corner... But we felt like we needed to talk to him so we got out of the truck and literally started chasing this guy down, half-running and half-walking to catch him! We kind of started to yell at him, "Excuse me, ummm excuse me, sir!," until he turned around and pulled his earbuds out. We tried to talk to him, but his dog was barking nonstop and the neighbors whose house we were standing in front of kept angrily looking out their windows at us. He could barely hear us, the neighbors were mad, and the dog was not giving up anytime soon, so we left him with a Mormon.org card and he managed to tell us his name was Tim and where he lived over the barking, and then we went home. To say the least, it was not the "8:45 Miracle," we were hoping for. (Note: What is an "8:45 Miracle"? It's basically when you've worked as hard as you can all day without any success, but trusting in God with a positive attitude and without giving up. It's when you choose to keep going, to knock on one more door, and to resist the temptation to head home 5 minutes early at night that God sometimes blesses you with miracles.)

One night we were out finding again at 8:45, and decided to go to Main Street which we never do because nobody is ever out, but we went anyway. We saw one man going to his car, so we approached him and started talking to him, but he really wasn't interested. Again, not anything exciting. Then we had exchanges, which everyone knows bring miracles, so I stayed here in Susquehanna and Sister Jolley from Tuncannock came with me for the day. Our appointments had fallen through, but we were by Tim's house, so I figured we might as well try his house again since we were there. Miracle #1: We knocked on the door and he was home!! He said he had been reading up online and had some questions, so we set up a time for him to come meet us at the Priesthood Restoration Site for a tour to show him around and answer his questions.

The next day when Sister Robison and I were at the site, Miracle #2: Tim actually came in!! He said he wanted the full tour, so we gave him some background and went into the video where there are scenes of Book of Mormon translation and John the Baptist and Peter, James and John appearing and conferring the priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Needless to say it can be "very different" for lots of nonmembers because it's new information. After the film was over we asked him if he had any questions, but he just sat there and said, "Well, that's the weird thing, I don't. It makes sense." Miracle #3: Then we saw the bust (statue) of Christ and he started talking about having to have faith in Jesus Christ and the need to be humble before we could even say anything! Miracle #4: He is just like an investigator they talk about in Preach My Gospel, it's crazy! (FYI, Preach My Gospel is a missionary training manual that teaches missionaries to teach the way that the Savior did when He was on the earth.) Walking between the homes he started talking about how he has a hunger for truth and is "trying to fill an emptiness he feels." And boy do we have something to fill him up!! Miracle #5: In the Smith home we were talking about Joseph and he asked, "So does this mean that there is a prophet today?"... Yes!! Miracle #6: He accepted a Book of Mormon and read Moroni 10:3-5 with us, and said he would take Moroni's challenge to read and pray to know if it is true! Miracle #7: We walked through the grove where the priesthood was restored and he was asking about temples and priesthood power and loves the idea of eternal families and that sealings give people the desire to work through relationships because they last so much longer than just this life. Miracle #8: Back at the church we showed him the baptismal font, and he said if he were baptized he would like to do so in the river and the more we talked he started saying he can stand up to cold water pretty good so... :) We talked about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and baptism, and he understands that this is a lifelong commitment and wants to take it seriously. He accepted our invitation to be baptized and we are all praying about a date now!! Miracle #9: He recognizes the Spirit and associates the feelings he had at the site with previous strong spiritual experiences he has had, without us having to point it out! He told us he had been thinking about going back to a church when we found him walking his dog (and yes, he could hear us running with his earbuds in haha). Then he saw us again when we were talking to that man on Main Street and figured if there were such a thing as signs, seeing the same two sisters must mean God was trying to tell him something. Miracle #10: He asked about the age limit to serve a mission, and he's still young enough! I love missionary work!! Miracle #11: It was time to close the site so he left, and Sister Robison, the Richardsons and I were all on the verge of tears because this young man was so excited about the gospel. Then we heard at knock at the door... It was Tim! He said he had 2 questions: if he needed to shave his beard for church (and he was willing to do that!) and what our stance was on "hot drinks," a.k.a. the Word of Wisdom. So we explained to him what we do not partake of and we do that because we are blessed both physically and spiritually. He said, "I smoke sometimes, but I don't need that anymore!" And holding a Book of Mormon and waving at the church building he said, "I need this!!" Wow. Wow. Wow. We were blown away by his enthusiasm and acceptance of the gospel!! And I'm smiling ear to ear just typing this up! :)

The Lord works in mysterious ways, and people are being prepared all the time through little experiences here and there, but we only see miracles come about when we have faith. And faith requires action! Sometimes the Lord requires us to take that leap of faith before we know where we are landing, but if we remain obedient, humble and trying to do all we can to follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our faith can carry us through the good times and the not-so-good times. I'm am so happy to be serving here in Susquehanna and for all the miracles that are ahead! Hurrah for Israel!!

Love, Sister Larsen

At a missionary meeting

Note from Alicia:  The sweet woman with Sis. Larsen and Sis. Robison is Sis. Hanks,
also a missionary serving with her husband.  We have mutual friends  (it's a small
world!), and she regularly texts pics to me through others when she sees Sis. Larsen.
 It's always a fun surprise when I get a picture of my favorite missionary!

Hello SNOW!

Dear friends and family,

It's officially winter! Snow has stuck!! Sister Robison says the best thing about snow is having a companion who is from Arizona... So I'll just let you imagine what my reaction to the weather has been like :)

 Last week we met a boy named Steven and planned to come by his home to teach him this week. When  got to his house, Steven's dad answered and told us he wasn't home, but if there was ever a red bike on the front lawn we would know he was home. We couldn't wait around, so we went finding, knocking doors a couple streets over. After a while we started walking back to our truck and saw a boy on a bike coming down the hill... It was Steven!! What a miracle!! We were able to talk to him for a few minutes, and he told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, and loves learning about God. Hopefully we will be able to catch him at home this week for a lesson!

We started teaching a cute little family! Ashley, the mom, is so sweet! Her dad was raised Amish, but didn't like the fact that it was forced on him, so he didn't raise her in any religion. But both she and her husband are wanting to bring faith into their own home, especially for their two little kids. We talked a lot about families and prophets and are excited to teach the Plan of Salvation in a couple of days! I think teaching them about God's plan will be really good, especially since their little girl is asking what happens to people after they die, due to recent deaths in their extended family. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ and Book of Mormon really do answer questions of the soul. That is definitely something that makes the most sense to me-- that our Heavenly Father is a loving God, who wouldn't let His children wander about in confusion with no direction and no purpose, but He has given us so many different resources and tools to discover for ourselves the peace we can receive in this life and in the life to come!

Snow at the PRS

We also had a neat experience at the site! It's definitely slowed down, but that doesn't mean the miracles stop! We were in the guide room studying and the phone rang so we answered. A man, Robert, called us asking if he had called a number where someone could tell him more about Jesus Christ (cue jaw drop because that can't even be real life)! And he couldn't have called anyone more excited to talk to him! He was raised in a Jewish home, but had always had a curiosity about Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done. We were able to invite him to church, to the Priesthood Restoration Site and direct him to mormon.org (best site ever!) where he could learn more. A few days later, Elder Richardson answered the phone but felt like he needed to have Sister Robison and I talk to whoever had called in. As it turns out, it was Robert again!! We were able to answer the questions he had about the site hours and he is reading the Book of Mormon online now. We are trying to set up an appointment with him this week! It is so neat how anyone and everyone is drawn to Jesus Christ and finding purpose through Him!

It is through Christ that we can do all things! I am so grateful for my Savior who has made it possible for me to find happiness in every step of life, through ups and downs.  He makes it possible to make the bad times good and the good times better! We can each find purpose in our Father's plan because of Jesus Christ who is at the center of it all.   Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Check out what we spotted -- a pair of bald eagles!

Yielding Our Hearts to God

Dear friends and family,

I hit my 5 month mark and time is flying!! It was one of our tougher weeks, and we don't have any progressing investigators in our teaching pool again, but found a lot of potential investigators this week so that was awesome!

There is a man in town named Porter Rockwell, (named after his great-great grandfather, Porter Rockwell, Joseph Smith's body guard!). We came to a stop sign in town when we saw Porter running up to our car window. He told us we'd crossed his mind the other day and that he had been thinking about coming up to the Priesthood Restoration Site to take a tour from us! We haven't seen him yet, but it's interesting to think that the Lord is slowly preparing people everywhere to hear the message of the gospel through little experiences here and there.

"At the Visitor's Center -- finally a picture where I'm taller than Sis. Robison.  Haha!" 

One day this week we had planned to stop by to see a potential investigator, and long story short, she really wasn't interested in hearing anything we had to say, so we kept on moving. As a back up we had planned to talk to the next person we saw... Nobody was outside. Not a soul!! So we walked up the street and stood on the corner by our house, thinking of where we might be able to catch someone outside when a man on a motorcycle pulled up to the stop sign next to us. We said hello, introduced ourselves and asked if we could stop by his house to share a message about how we can find purpose in this life through Jesus Christ with him and his family. He told us his name and address right then and there! It was the first time anyone has ever given me their actual house number, and not a, "The yellow house up on Elm Street across from the people with the loud dog," kind of answer, or having me get it out of them! It was so cool to have someone put right in our path, in the very minute we needed it. We are excited to stop by this week!

Another stop sign story! All our appointments and back up plans fell through, so after trying our last back up house, we got in our car and drove down the road. We stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street and said a little prayer of where we needed to be and decided to go to the next town over and see if Jenn was home because we haven't been able to schedule an appointment in a while... And what do you know? She was home! Busy at the time, but we were able to set up a time to see her and her family in the upcoming week! 

I love the talk, "Yielding Our Hearts to God," by Sister Neill F. Marriott, available here:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/yielding-our-hearts-to-god?lang=eng. In it she says, "How do we, a modern, busy, competitive people, become yielded and still? How do we make the Lord’s ways our ways?... When we open ourselves to the Spirit, we learn God’s way and feel His will." With the new year, our mission has changed the recitation we say in companionships everyday before we study. Something interesting that we've added an addition to the missionary purpose statement in Preach My Gospel so we now say, "Our purpose is to do the will of the Father, by inviting others to come into Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel..." As we understand that even Jesus Christ who did so many things for us, was "about his Father's business," and said, "not My will, but Thine be done," we come to recognize that all we do should be to please our Heavenly Father and be obedient to His will too. Yielding our hearts to God, and yielding to the promptings of the Spirit help us be where our Heavenly Father wants us to be both physically and spiritually! So whether it's yielding to the spirit, or literally yielding at a stop sign, if we are obedient, we will see miracles as we strive to do the will of the Father!

Enjoy your week and look for little ways to bring your will in closer harmony with the Lord's so you can become more like Him! Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Larsen

New Years and 9 Degrees

Beautiful Pennsylvania skies

Dear family and friends,

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's already 2016... Or the fact that it is currently 9 degrees outside, BUT the past (almost) five months have flown by, and it's crazy to think that this entire upcoming year will be 100% dedicated to serving the Lord in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission! 

It was a bit of a roller coaster week, with ups and downs, but a lot of really wonderful things happened! For starters, we got transfer calls on Friday night and.... Sister Robison and I are both staying as companions here in Susquehanna!! We have too much fun together, I have learned SO much from her, and we are both looking forward to the next six weeks!

As a missionary, you find to teach. So when we knock on a door, we hope to be invited in to teach a lesson. This week was the very first time I've been invited into a home to teach a full lesson while we were out finding!! I was so happy!! We knocked on the door of a man named Brian who talked to us on his doorstep for a few minutes, and mentioned he had talked to elders before years ago and had a Book of Mormon. Then he invited us in to come meet his wife, Jane. And to make a long story short, we taught them about the Restoration, and they loved it!...Particularly that we have a living prophet who leads and guides us today, just as prophets did long ago, because God loves us still. We set up a return appointment, and are so excited to see them again this week!

We had another lesson with our neighbors, Chris and Ronnie. Ronnie is loving reading the Book of Mormon, and as of last night is already to Mosiah! He says he loves to read especially when he's having a rough time because it makes him feel better and brings him peace. We love that he recognizes that the Book of Mormon can help him! We talked to them about obedience and keeping the commandments, and did a little restoration review so we can continue helping them progress towards their baptism date and retain the all the new information we are feeding them. They are wonderful people who are learning and growing so much!

We had an amazing week at the Priesthood Restoration Site!

A special experience this week:  Sis. Larsen was able to take Scott's former mission companion
and his family on a tour at the Priesthood Restoration Site.  The Wagstaffs live in New Jersey.
It was a sweet moment to see the picture of Scott's mission companion together
with our daughter now serving her own mission.  -Alicia

Brother Billings from Salt Lake skyped in for a conference call and answered our questions, talked about how Preach My Gospel principles apply to the Visitor's Center, and got us excited to do and be better VC sisters! Since that conference call, we are more committed to keeping in touch with our guests and have gotten so many more referrals than we were previously  receiving! 

This week (especially at the site) we have been focusing on inviting people to set New Years resolutions, not just to eat healthy or exercise more, but resolutions to remember Jesus Christ more and better center our lives on him. I recently read an article from the December Ensign by President Thomas S. Monson called, "Make Time for the Savior."  https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/12/make-time-for-the-savior?lang=eng Short and simple, but so good! In it he said, "Among our resolutions for this year, did we resolve to make time in our lives and room in our hearts for the Savior? No matter how successful we may have been thus far with such a resolution, I am confident we all wish to do better.... In our busy lives, with ever so many other things competing for our attention, it is essential that we make a conscious, committed effort to bring Christ into our lives and into our homes." So something we have been committing lots of people to do is choose to do something that will make the Savior a bigger part of their lives. One of the things that Sister Robison and I are keeping up is writing in our journals everyday how we've seen the Lord's hand in our lives. How have we seen Christ today? It is so cool! You start to 1) Get excited to journal again every night and 2) You start to notice things you didn't take the time to notice before. It is a wonderful way to remember Christ and show our gratitude to him!

May we all take a little more time to remember the Savior this year! I'm excited to see all that 2016 will bring! Hurrah for Israel and Happy New Year!

Love,

Sister Larsen

At the old viaduct, which has been around
since Joseph Smith's time