April 17,2012   Miracles From the Temple

This past week has been amazing, I thought last week was awesome but it was only just the beginning! With the temple open house, I have met some truly amazing people. We have also seen some miracles in our area and with those that we are teaching too! I love when the Lord just pours out blessings :) The 9 year old girl we are teaching, Mayanna is truly a special spirit. We have been going through some of the commandments that we have to teach and we have probably my favorite lesson with the Law of Chastity I have ever had on my mission. Mayanna was given a Strength for Youth booklet from a member and has been reading it ever since she got it a month ago. As we started to introduce the Law of Chastity she stops us and says "this reminds me of this scary chapter I read in that book!" then she finds the book, opens it up to "Sexual Purity". Haha. She told us how she had just finished the chapter about dating and she had no idea that she could date at 16 but she hopes to "date a missionary which is going to be really hard". We assured her that she could find a return missionary when she is ready but she is still worried about finding a good missionary. The lesson continued on and she insisted on reading some of the paragraphs in the book so we could help her understand and so she could show us the "scary" parts. Whenever she read the word SACRED she said SCARED so she thought it was all scary. Haha. We barely started talking about marriage when she said "I want to get married in our temple here because I know its the right thing to do, I don't want to get married any where else." It was amazing because we didn't really talk about temples with her at all but it was something she remembered learning in Primary/Sunday School. We finished our lesson, she closed the book and said "okay I get it...are we done? Cause every time we talk about this stuff I feel all weird inside" as she wiggled in her seat describing this feeling. Haha. Mayanna truly is such a wonderful girl, she is the driving force that is helping their whole family get active in the church again. Their house has changed so much since we have been visiting with them. We all went to the temple on Friday which was so fun! The girls looked in the eternity mirrors and just loved it. Thank goodness for the temple because it is amazing.

Working at the temple the past week has been AWESOME. There isnt even enough time to tell you everything that has gone on because in the 3 shifts I have worked since last Wednesday, there is probably 15 stories I would want to share! One amazing experience was on Wednesday last week, I met a man who I had taken through the Liberty Jail back after Christmas and he was investigating the church still. I had a wonderful time getting to know him at the Jail, had some spiritual experiences and told him to let me know when he gets baptized cause I knew it was going to be soon and he responded you're prob right, it will prob be when these elders are here too! The elders faces were shocked when those words came out of his mouth as they left the jail. This man was standing in front on me with a HOST name badge on in a beautiful gray suit with a beautiful glow all around him. He got baptized the first of Feb and he knew exactly who I was as we stood talking about his conversion into the church. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so amazing, I was so happy for him and am grateful I got to be apart of his conversion!

On Friday last week, I was talking to these 3 nonmember ladies who had just gone through the temple and they were asking me questions. They had LOTS of questions but it was a fun time with them. One of them asked me what I was going to do after I did my time for my service, another lady turned to her and said "you're sounding like her mother!" to that she responded "well someone has to! Her mother isn't around!!" Haha. So for you parents of mine, I have people looking after me and keeping me in check haha. That night when we went to dinner with the family we are teaching, I saw an old friend of mine, Mary, from high school in Colorado!! It was a fun surprise to both of us as we stood talking for prob a half hour. She lives in North Kansas City and has lived in MO for like 7 yrs, we got talking about life and the temple which she was excited for it and wanted to go in! It was so fun seeing her! Love her.

Monday, yesterday, was my favorite. This lady asked a member she met in line if she could get a Book of Mormon. He came up to me in the gym where they all come at the end and asked me if I could get her one. I searched around and there was one left. I brought it over to their table and handed it to her. When she took it, she held it right next to her heart and hid it under her jacket as she thanked me over and over again. She came through with her husband because they lived in Liberty and watched the building go up. Her eyes lit up as she described her experience through the temple and was so excited to read more. I have never had that kind of a response with giving out a Book of Mormon. It was amazing. I also got to see my favorite bishop, Bishop Boswell from Odessa and their whole 10 kid family!! I love that family. There was another girl who has a Methodist background who told me that there was one thing that she realized that day. While she was in the celestial room, she was looking around, learning how there is all this symbolism throughout the temple and she thought to herself..."wow, how did man come up with such an amazing place?!....." then it hit her, it wasn't from Man. It was God. God created that wonderful place and it was his plans. The spirit was so amazing as she spoke and I couldn't believe it. I was speechless.

I truly love being in such a wonderful and being a missionary at this special time. Since transfers came and went, I am staying here in Chillicothe for one more transfer with Sister Barnum. I am very grateful too. We have seen miracles in our branch already with some special families that were less active come back into the church. We learned about Repentance in Gospel Principles yesterday and our class was full and people were participating :) I loved it. I think I might have had a permanent smile on my face the whole time. I am very excited to see what sort of blessings come our way this week! I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and love!!

Love,

Sista Larson