The Boroughs of Scranton Pennsylvania

Hello!! This week was a great week!! We got to do a lot of service for less active sisters... There were a couple that needed help cleaning their house and stuff so that was fun to serve them!  Something I have learned so far on my mission is to accept service.  Most people out here decline our service even though it's obvious they need help! So I'm very grateful for the people that allow us to help them.

We had zone conference this week which was AMAZING!! They talked a lot about how the only way you can grow and progress is if you're out of your comfort zone. And boy am I out of mine! My comfort zone is a thousand miles and 17 months away, so by the time I return I will be pretty different ha ha.  In the conference they also talked about the parable of the talents. We learned to NOT bury our talents but use them to serve The Lord and gain more talents! The Lord invests so much in us, and he TRUSTS us. So it's important for me to remember to exercise that trust that He gives us with faith.

We got to teach two different non members this week; who both happened to be the Catholic mothers of two members in our ward. They're both very old and set in their ways, but very sweet and loved hearing from us.

We also got to visit an old lady named Esther. She is Jewish and usually every time we go to her house she's about to leave so we don't get to talk to her much. But on Mother's Day she answered the door and talked to us for awhile. We asked her if we could come in and share a message with her, and she wasn't happy about that. She didn't really want us to but said she wants to be hospitable so she reluctantly let us in.  We showed her the new Mormon message about mothers and she LOVED it! She said this wasn't the message she was expecting... I guess she didn't want us to come in and preach to her. We got talking about eternal families and genealogy and she is gonna come to the Family History Center when she has time to find out more about her ancestors. being Jewish, I guess she firmly believes that we die and there is nothing after death... We just cease to exist. That is such a sad thing to believe that doesn't make any sense at all to me.

We asked her if there was anyone else she knew that would love to hear a Mother's Day message and she told us her neighbors probably would but they're most likely too busy. We felt prompted to try so we did and the mom was interested, so she told her whole family to come. They didn't invite us in so we awkwardly showed the video to them on their porch as they stood in the doorway. The mom felt the spirit and the video made her cry. We told her we believe that families are forever and asked if we could teach them more. She said we could "leave some literature" so we gave her a pamphlet and we'll go back and see them in the next week.

Being able to FaceTime for Mother's Day was the best thing ever!! It was so nice to hear your voices and see your beautiful faces. I love you soooooo much!!! I can't even put into words how much I love you. And don't worry, it didn't get me down or make me feel more homesick.

Lots Of Ups But Also Some Downs

Elder Larsen seems to like the MTC from his letter! Not as much as me though.  Ha ha, and the rigorous schedule for the Missionary Training Center was fine for me, but it gets harder out here in the field.  I'm getting used to it though.  How was his setting apart?  Did you record his blessing?  That has been a huge comfort to me out here.

My sweet missionary cousin, Sister Taylor, sent me a very encouraging email today and a letter so that was nice. I'm doing better this week. I still have a ton of ups and downs and often want to come home... I'm still hoping 17 months will go fast but I also know there will be a point where I'll love it. I've been praying almost as often as I breathe out here.

Many have asked why is it hard? The homesickness is hard. It's gotten better as the week has gone on but it still hits me sometimes. 17 months seems so faraway... But I think it will go by fast. It's also hard when we knock on doors and people won't listen to us or even answer.  At first it was frustrating because to me it felt like we weren't doing anything but knocking.  We do get to work with a lot of less actives and that is rewarding. We've visited a lot of old people who are lonely and in senior centers.

Yesterday we finally found a less active couple that we've been searching for... Their address is wrong on the ward list... All we knew for sure is that they lived in a certain trailer park. But we found them and they warmly invited us into their home and were happy we had come.   The mother struggles from bipolarity and depression and that has kept her from coming to church... Her and her husband haven't been to church in a long time. They were converted 12 years ago and this is her second marriage, and she said that the church is what saved her marriage so she's grateful for that. We're going to go over there at least once a week and study the Book of Mormon with them so that will be good.  We want to get them on the road to receiving their temple endowments for when the Philly temple is built!!

My companion is good. She challenges me in companion study and it's good to learn. We have very different personalities though. But, as we've get to know each other more it's gotten better. We are growing to be good friends.  She's helpful with supporting me through being homesick.. She remembers feeling the way I do.  She even insisted on buying me some frozen yogurt last Monday... (That was the day I was having the hardest time).

Sister McPherson (we go to her house to email and do laundry) also helped me that day and made me some tortilla soup (I told her that was one of my favorite meals from home). She is the one that gave us an Easter basket too.

Also, the Fyffes sent me an Easter package which was so very kind of them! Be sure to thank them for me... I sent them a card but I don't think they'll have gotten it yet.

I also got to draw a picture for an old lady we go visit... She's in a rehab center because her health is bad and she has no family here so she's very lonely. It's hard for her to talk, but we sing to her and hold her hand and she loved my picture.  I'll try to send you a pic of it soon.

An eight year old girl named Annika, who loves us sister missionaries, she runs up and gives us a huge hug whenever she sees us, is being baptized on May 17.  Her family has invited a lot of family friends who aren't members, so far two are coming for sure. Us missionaries are going teach the plan of salvation!!

We also taught a boy yesterday who's turning 8 soon and being baptized in June. We taught him about the Ten Commandments yesterday.

On Saturday we got to go to Susquehanna for a service project with the whole stake so that was a ton of fun!! There were a ton of missionaries and members.. It was with the whole stake. We waxed fire trucks and cleaned the fire station building and got to rake leaves out of a huge park (that was my favorite part) and we got to visit the priesthood restoration site but it was closed.   I remember being there on heritage tours. It was a fun day.

Overall, it was a good week!! A lot of ups and there was still some downs, but I am growing to love it, slowly but surely.

I love you all so much!! Thanks for all your love and letters and support.. I don't know where I'd be without you guys!

A Bout of Homesickness

I hate to tell you this, having a hard time with Elder Larsen leaving and such, but I will be honest, this week was really hard.   We never taught the two investigators we planned to teach. Those fell through and we haven't really taught anyone except a couple recent converts.   Everyone here says they are Catholic and don't need a new religion.  I actually just laugh at the mean ones.  We had an old lady tell us we were a pain in the (bad word)... Because I guess other missionaries once in this area tried her. And she said to never come back and was quite ornery... But her house keeper lady was super nice to us and said she was baptized a long time ago in the LDS church.  Something happened with an elder and she stopped going.  It was hard to understand her because of her strong Hispanic accent.  We gave her our number and she said it is a good work we are doing so I hope she calls us! We can't go back there because the elderly lady definitely does not want us back.

 I also got very homesick this week.  I miss you guys a lot... I miss my home state a lot and I was feeling very discouraged.  At this point I'm kinda like wow,  I can't believe I have to do this for 17 more months. But, I think as I become more adjusted to missionary life and get over feeling homesick... It will get better.  I'm praying so much that I will learn to love it and I know that will come.

My companion is opposite of me... she's gonna be a chemical engineer and is very left brained.  I've been learning a ton from her so that's good!

We are the only sisters in our district and there are five other pairs of elders... Six if you include the zone leaders. Our district leader is Elder Taylor. Then there's Elder Shamo, Thomas, Pintor, Standing, Bergman, and the two Spanish speaking elders who's names I don't remember. And our zone leaders Elder Rich and Elder Berk.

Oh I also sang in the ward choir yesterday and that was fun. I just had to sight read because I had never heard the song before.  There's like eight people in the choir.   I was able to meet a lot of families in the ward yesterday.

Here is a picture of my first package from home- Easter package

First Week In The Field

Hello!  So I've almost been in the mission field a week! Wow!  My first night in Pennsylvania I stayed at the mission home and President Anderson interviewed everyone.  When he interviewed me, I of course told him about my Delaware dream.  After I did, he asked, "do you know how many missionaries are in this mission?"  Then he stood up and walked over to a flat wide cabinet and opened it up.  There were individual pictures of each missionary serving in the mission, divided into what branches or areas they are serving in.  I looked and found my picture under the Dover, Delaware branch.  My heart started racing with excitement and President Anderson said something about having impressions and that these weren't set in stone but he didn't see any
reason why I would be changed to somewhere different.  I was so excited!!  I went to bed so happy and excited for the next day.

The next day I got my new companion, Sister Fletcher who is awesome. She said something like, "are you excited to go to Scranton?"  Since I thought I was going to Delaware, I said, "oh is there a Scranton in Delaware, too?"  But no, there isn't and so my first area is Scranton PA! I was super disappointed actually. I had been so excited about going to Delaware. So I wasn't feeling very happy and I was still exhausted from pulling an all nighter when I was traveling... On top of that I had to be the driver because sister Fletcher doesn't drive.  But when I got to Clark's Summit, which is a borough (or suburb) of Scranton, I saw it is the perfect place for me. It's probably the most mountainous spot in Pennsylvania and we live right in the middle of them! (Okay they're technically really big hills with a lot of trees but I'll take what I can get haha)  nevertheless, I think it is the perfect place for me to transition to missionary life. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love mountains and how at home they make me feel. So being here feels a bit more like home, if that makes sense.

We had stake conference Saturday night, and apparently the area that Sister Casey is serving in is in our stake so she was there and it was SO GOOD to see a familiar face! I was so happy to see her and hear that she's doing well.

The ward here is extremely helpful.  I went and had Easter dinner at the Macpherson's home, who are so nice, they made us an Easter basket and everything.  Brother Macpherson opened the East Houston mission,
so he's curious to find out what area Elder Taylor is in right now.  So someone should tell me and that would be great! :)

We have been visiting a lot of members and semi inactives and that has been good. We try to visit potential investigators homes but most of them have not even been answering!! A couple do and say they are not interested. One lady was soooo not happy to see us on her doorstep and never wants to see us again... She wasn't very nice about it so that was interesting hahaha.  We'll tonight we have two appointments of teaching investigators so please wish me luck! It will be my first time teaching real investigators and not just practicing on members.

I can't believe Taylor is going to the MTC in 9 days!! He is gonna be great and just remember, the MTC will be good if you have a good attitude about it!!

I love you!!!

Sister Larsen

Sister Larsen Meets President & Sister Anderson

Last Letter from the Missionary Training Center

Hello!!!

I LOVED all of your letters and the photos that were sent!  I got them last Wednesday- so thank you!  And I got the package on Friday and that was great!  Thank you so much for everything!  I love you guys and I'll try to write each of you back individually when I get time.

Well I can't believe I am flying to Pennsylvania tomorrow!  Exciting times!!! Today Elder Morris and Elder Hollaway left for the mission field in Tampa, Florida.  I wish our whole district could have left on the same day- we had to say our goodbyes last night and that was hard.

Me and my companion, Sister Casey have become good friends.  We have a ton in common and she is seriously so nice- there isn't a mean bone in her body!  Although we have similar likes and interests, our personalities are very different.  Surprisingly, I'm the one who takes charge when we're teaching investigators.  Sister Casey was struggling a bit so I taught way more and had to be more outspoken, which is good for me.  And Sister Casey really has improved!  And so have I, when I think about how awkward our first time teaching was. 

 Last night we had a really amazing devotional put on by the BYU men's chorus.  It was AMAZING!  They sang classical songs, hymns, pop songs like "Lean On Me" and my two favorite ones, "Baba Yetu" and then the last song that is on that "Calling All Dawns" CD (that starts with a K) and Taylor, they reminded me of you!  They had the cool drums and other instruments and everything- it made me so happy that they did these songs that I cried.  And I'm mad at myself for not bringing that CD, haha.  But hearing those made me miss Taylor.   It's so weird to think that by the end of the month he'll be here doing what I'm doing!  So weird!  It went by so fast and yet it seems like ages ago that you guys dropped me off.  The MTC is a time warp and all the days kind of blend together.

My favorite thing about the MTC is the people.  I have made so many friends and I love hearing people's testimonies from all over the world.  Taylor, be outgoing and just talk to everyone!  Really bond with your district... it makes your MTC experience more fun :-)

Yesterday was great... my calling is the music coordinator for our zone and so I played all the hymns for sacrament meeting.  Sister Ezekiela and I did a musical number... we sang, "A Child's Prayer," Acapella since I'm the only one in our zone that plays piano. :-)  It went well!

Also cool experience, we walked to the temple yesterday and took photos on the grounds... there was tons of missionaries everywhere!  Well I asked two girls if they would come take a photo of me and the other sisters in my district.  They asked us where we were going on our missions so we told them.  Sister Casey, Sister Wood and I to Philadelphia and sister Ezekiela to New Zealand.  They freaked out because turns out, one girl had just gotten back from the Philadelphia mission, and the other girl that I asked to take our photo had just returned from the New Zealand Visitors Center Mission, just like Sister Ezekiela!  Seriously, what are the odds!!! It was awesome!  And the girl that had just returned from Philly knew Emily Gottfredson, they were companions or something!

Something else I forgot to tell you in my email last week... you know how my district and I went to the temple on P day and I did a session?  The girl whose work I did was from Philadelphia!  She was born in the late 1700's.  Cool Right?!

Well I hope you are all well!  Thank you for everything and I love you SO MUCH!

Love,

Sister Larsen

Week One Down

So, Week 1 of the MTC is gone and over with! It has gone by SO FAST!!! But it's been great and I've been loving it. I have already grown so much and learned a ton!

General Conference was AMAZING. Most of my district and I fasted all day Saturday so that we could have questions answered at General Conference, so that was great.  It's not very hard to keep myself from eating MTC food... I am SO sick of it.

Anyways, I really REALLY loved the talk by Elder Bednar. I loved the story he told about his friend taking his new truck up into the mountains and getting it stuck in the snow, and how he decided instead of just sitting there he would go cut his firewood anyway. And then when he loaded all the firewood up, he was able to get out of the snowbank! So when Elder Bednar said, IT'S THE LOAD... that part hit me with the spirit SOOOOO hard! Like BAM! "Is the load I am carrying providing the spiritual traction I need to stay on the pathway to Christ, and keep me from getting 'stuck?'" I loved how it said a heavy load was necessary to provide traction to get back to his family and move forward... just like in this life, getting out of your comfort zone, being challenged and maybe even going through trials is what helps us progress and learn, and get back to our eternal family in heaven.  My FAVORITE thing about watching General Conference at the MTC was the MUSIC. I loved when they had the whole congregation join the MoTab in singing, and all the missionaries voices just filled the gym. It was very powerful 

Sister Casey and I taught our first investigators this week! The first one was one named Ludmilla, and let me tell ya, our first time teaching her was the most AWKWARD thing I may have ever experienced. Haha I may be exaggerating a bit, but still  We were feeling very discouraged. The second time (a different investigator) was a bit better, but not much. I was very disappointed in myself and my teaching abilities. I was fasting and praying that I could improve. It wasn't until this last Monday that we taught Ludmilla again and WE ROCKED IT! It was an amazing feeling. And then the next day, we taught our second investigator, Kenzie, and it was even more AMAZING! I felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me improve... I feel so much better about teaching now. I was able to rely on the spirit to really feel what the investigators needed to hear.

I've made a ton of new friends here at the MTC! You know Mom, how you always say that I get along best with foreign people? Well that's true here! I have a lot of friends from New Zealand. Sister Ezekiela in my district is from New Zealand and we've come to be really good friends. She's 21 and she loves to sing as well! So we were sitting in the hall outside our classroom singing hymns (she sang melody and I harmonized) and after singing like 5 songs, five Elders from New Zealand came and sat down and started singing with us! They all harmonized and it was beautiful and it made me SO HAPPY!! So the New Zealanders are like my best friends now haha  I seriously could have stayed there and sung with them for hours, but my comp. and Sister Ezekiela's comp. were anxious to go get ready for bed, so we had to leave  The next day I played volleyball with all the New Zealanders and got smacked in the face with the ball... it was hilarious haha. But I got a few good shots in, and the rest were just funny attempts to hit the ball 

Elder Winterton (an elder in my district) and I rewrote "part of your world" From the little mermaid to make it gospel related and it's AWESOME! But we haven't finished it yet so I'll send you the lyrics when it's done haha. My district is SO GREAT! We all went to the temple this morning and I FINALLY got to see the 2nd newest video... since I've only seen the newest one so far. I'm glad I got to see the new one my first time when I received my own endowments because the one I saw today is good but doesn't have the best acting.  But I'm glad I got to go to the temple one last time before I leave for Pennsylvania!

On Sunday night we had a devotional, and guess who put it on? VOCAL POINT!!! They are amazing. They spoke to us and sang to us and I loved every minute of it. When they sang Nearer My God to Thee, I felt the spirit so strong and I've never felt the chills that much before. Oh and guess what, DAVID ARCHULETA WAS HERE FOR A DEVOTIONAL A WEEK BEFORE I GOT HERE! So that's really really sad. I just barely missed him 

I love the MTC and I know I'm going to love my mission! I'm excited to leave for Pennsylvania, and there's a lot of things that make me excited to leave the MTC (such as the food and having a better shower and apartment and trivial things like that) but I'll be sad to leave the MTC. I'm gonna miss my district and the other people I've met here.

All the days pretty much blend together here, and guess what, I LOST MY JOURNAL last night. So hopefully I haven't forgotten anything else important in this email. But I'm trying to find my journal because that has the personal stuff in there!

We're gonna be zone leaders for a new district that just got here today, and they are all going to Eugene Oregon on their mission. Seriously, it's hard to leave home and go to a new place and live by new rules and all that... but it is seriously great! Taylor should be excited! I have had a lot of fun here at the MTC... partly because of the people in my district. We're allowed to have a bit of fun here. Elder Morris, Elder Winterton and Sister Ezekiela get me through the day... they are SO FUNNY.  But Taylor will make a ton of friends here and learn a lot.

Well I love you all and thank you for your support!

With my companion (below) and others in my district.