I stayed in Liberty

Hello!
My prayers and everyone prayers were answered because Sister Whittier and I stayed here in Liberty until at least October 26th!

First off, I am VERY excited about being with Sister Whittier again because she reminds me a lot of my sister Rachel which of course makes my days very fun and very random. It has been such a blast being with her, we laugh all the time and she is such a hard worker that I truly admire her. The first week of our transfer has already been amazing and full of miracles.

On Wednesday we has the Departure Breakfast for both the Visitor Center and Liberty Jail Center missionaries for those who are leaving. It was a lot of fun! Us Liberty Sisters put together a dance to the Liken video that we danced to awhile ago and spelled out BLACKER on the back of our T-shirts because they were going home. It was such a fun time as we came in and danced with the video playing in the background and just dancing nice and early in the morning haha. No better way! ;-) We really did have such a wonderful time because 2 sisters were also leaving and they all bore their testimonies at the end. I realized, as I sat next to Sister Dodd cause she is serving in the Visitor Center that before we know it we will be in that same position. My mind kind of caught hold of how quickly time is going and how hard I want to keep working.

We received 2 member referrals this week, which I guess hasn't happened since Sister Whittier has been here and they were blessings to us. One is a man named Kevin who Sister Whittier went to teach with a member in our ward but I guess he isn't really that interested (right now at least). The other referral was for a members neighbor who was at dinner when we went, her name is Ranae. She is incredible and has been through SO much at such a young age still. She didn't really talk a whole lot that night at dinner and I was on a short exchange with Sister Fie'eiki so Sister Whittier and I went back yesterday. We got talking to her and she told us about some of her struggles and how grateful she was just to have a roof over hers and her daughters head because they were homeless for a year. We brought up church and she told us that she dated a guy in high school who was Mormon and was actually engaged to him but it didn't work out and she was going to get baptized back then! It was a really cool surprise because she said she was happy to have a Book of Mormon again :) I love her and am praying that we continue to see progress so her life can be blessed even more.

Another miracle this week was with George, our 11 year old investigator who's mom used to be inactive. We went over to their house to be warmly welcomed in which was already really awesome! As we sat there talking, I asked him if he was okay with being baptized in October and to maybe pray about it. As soon as I said that, he folded his arms to pray about it right then so...we did! It was awesome hearing him pray about being baptized and wanting his grandparents (who are active in another ward) to be there. We set a date around grandparents schedule and he will be getting baptized on September 24th!! :D Sariah really wants to make sure her boyfriend Noah is going to be there and so far things look good so pray they stay that way :)

At church, we came walking in to find George and Sariah sitting in the back as well as our other newer investigator Jim (in his 50's, professional artist) sitting in the same row! Yea! It was awesome to see Jim there, he always tries to use every excuse but with my bluntness I call him out haha, don't worry its all in a loving way! But it was really cool because he knows some of the members and he used to go to choir practice. Well, the choir was singing a musical number and they invited Jim up to sing with them...so he went on up not even knowing the song! Ha. I love it. The work really is going so good and I feel extremely blessed to be apart of it all.

I feel like this week in random discussions with other missionaries that the Atonement has been talked a lot about and I wanted to share just a little about what I personally grew from. At a training giving by our zone leaders, they talked about Matthew 26:36-41 where Christ is going to go pray in the garden. If you notice in verse 40 and 41 that He says to them, what can you not sleep but for one hour?? I realized that is what the Lord is asking of us. As He is making the biggest sacrifice, suffering ALL of our sins and all he asks of us is just one hour or just 15 minutes of your day or just a prayer or to help a neighbor or to be at church for 3 hours or to have family prayer or family home evening....all He is asking of us is little compared to what He gives to us. A lot of time it is really hard to keep on going through the tough times, through our own adversities. I know this because I have experienced it many times and even still on my mission its very hard. But I found a scripture in James 1:12 where I realized the hope and blessings that truly come from pushing through. It really comes down to enduring to the end and remembering that the Savior is next to us every step of the way and in the end...we will "receive the crown of life." I am so grateful for that wonderful principle and knowing that the Atonement helps us be stronger, to overcome our imperfections, to strengthen us, to give us hope when all feels dark or lost and to give us the faith to keep on going. While stuck in trials it is truly hard to see the end or the light at the end of the tunnel. But the Lord knows where it is and if we turn to Him in those trying times then he can help us see the light faster than we can on our own.

I love you all and am SOOOOO grateful for you and for our loving Savior :)

Love,

Sistaaaaa Larson