Well, we are two weeks into the new transfer and our transfer theme is "Rescue Mission". At zone conference on Monday we were told the true story of Scott O'Gradey. Some of you might recognize the name if you've seen the movie "Behind Enemy Lines." To sum it up, Scott was flying an F-16 Jet over Croatian airspace and was shot out of the sky at 26,000 feet. He managed to eject out of the plane and parachute down to safety, but was trapped in the middle of all the hostile Croatian ground forces. When he landed, he had 3 minutes to ditch the chute, grab the emergency kit, and hide before the troops reached him. They searched for him for hours and came withing 3 feet at one point of finding him, but they never saw him. He hid for 5 days, each day being searched for by the troops. When he ran out of food he survived by eating bugs and catching rain in his socks and squeezing it into his mouth for fluids. Each day he would turn his radio on for a very short time and send his signal to his comrades. Finally, one of them was flying overhead and picked up on his call. At that point the military had thought that Scott was dead, but when they found out that he was still living they launched an enormous rescue mission. We saw pictures and descriptions of all the equipment and aircraft that were used in the operation. There were two of each kind and then two more on backup in case something went wrong. The final cost of the mission was well over 10 billion dollars. They ended up getting him out without losing any soldiers, although the helicopter used in the rescue came home with a lot of bullet holes in it.
The story was then related to the resources that the church puts into missionary work. We figured out that for every investigator that is baptized, the cost is thousands of dollars. Just goes to show that there is no price too high to pay as long as we are saving the souls of the children of God.
Then we were presented with a new plan. It's actually a solution for the problem of tracting and never finding anyone at home because they're all at work. We are now going into businesses to tract. It's a little different, though. We call it "Lobbying" and we go in with little card holders that we can put pass-along cards in. On the front it says "FREE GIFT, please take one". So what we do is we go into businesses and talk to the manager to see if we can leave one there and periodically return to refill the cards. It's very much like a sales pitch. If they let us leave it in their business, we try to set up an appointment to bring whatever it is you get from the card (movie, pamphlet, etc.) and watch the movie or explain the pamphlet so that the manager or business owner knows what they are offering to their customers and employees. Crazy, right? It's actually pretty fun. My companion and I did it in a little hispanic store and then we went into Starbucks:) The hispanic store was happy to put it out. The manager of Starbucks said that she would leave some in the back for her employees, but the corporation policy is that anything they put out in stores has to be approved by the Starbucks franchise. It went pretty well, though. I guess I'm going to need to brush up on my door-to-door sales tactics.
I never ceased to be amazed at all of the new approaches we are taking to missionary work. There are always new challenges, but with those come even greater rewards. I know that the work of the Lord is going forward and as we strive to do new things with faith that He will bless us with success. We are in a rescue mission and we are putting all of our resources into the salvation of even one soul!

So I thought that I loved all types of hispanic food, but I found a dish that makes me absolutely sick. It probably didn't help that day that we had already eaten lunch when a member we were visiting wanted to feed us. She brought out a bowl of soup, which I love, so I started digging in. A few minutes later she brought out these huge plates that had what looked like a mountain of rice heaped on top. Then she put the plate in front of me. I didn't notice everything that was on it at first. I just saw a TON of rice and some shrimp and a mussel. At second glance, though, I was horrified to see several little octopi (whole) mixed in there with everything else. I looked at my companion to plead for help and she just smiled and looked at my plate as if to say, "You're on your own with this one. I have my own to worry about." So I came up with a plan. I decided that I would just eat around the little squids. I pushed them aside and scooped up some rice. Right when I took the bite, I made the mistake of taking a second glance at the sea creatures on the plate so it magnified the super strong fishy flavor that the rice had picked up. I have never disliked a food so much. I went for bite two and after that one I thought I was going to lose my first lunch of the day. I couldn't do it. So then I tried getting the member's little girl to eat it for me. I succeeded in getting her to eat part of one of the octopi, but then her mom got after her for stealing food off of my plate. She was lucky, though. She got to eat pizza for lunch. I soon realized that there was no way that I would be able to eat this. So I kept working on my soup...very...slowly...in hopes that everyone else would be finished and I could just say that I was full, which wouldn't have been a lie. Then, Ashley(the little girl) looked at my plate and asked, "Hermana Larsen, por que no comes tu comida?" (Why don't you eat your food?) I whispered, "Porque me asusta."(Because it scares me.) No one else had been aware of our little conversation, but she turned to my companion and said, "Misionera Alvarado, tu debes ayudar a ella! La comida le da mieda!"(You should help her! The food scares her!) Everyone just burst out laughing. I was so relieved when the member said that I didn't have to worry about it. I apologized saying that I'm not accustomed to seafood. She reassured me that it was okay. Luckily, she wasn't the one that cooked it. Her boyfriend brought it home from his work as leftover food.
I thought the nightmare was over, but when we were visiting a less-active member a few days later she offered us some soup. We went into the kitchen while she dished it up and I saw what landed in the first bowl. I looked at my companion and pointed to the nearest one and said, "What's that?" She looked at me with a look of surprise and hurried and said to the member, "Only one! No mas uno!" She was laughing the whole time. (She doesn't even eat the octopus. It's too rubbery for her.) So I ate cookies while they had their soup. Whew! Saved by the companion!
I hope everything is going well for everyone. We have been getting pounded with snow here. We broke the record for the most snowfall in one winter season in the first time since 1899. Pretty amazing! And we're supposed to get another storm on Monday. I can't even express how excited I am... Anyway, have a happy Valentine's Day! I love you!
Love,Hermana Larsen

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've really written. The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. But here is a story that is a real testimony that angels are watching over the missionaries.
It all started on Saturday night. There was a pretty good size snow storm and we couldn't drive our cars as a safety precaution. So we walked to a neighborhood that is relatively near to where we live to visit with some investigators that we have. They talk a lot, so by the time we were leaving their apartment we weren't going to get home until about 9:45 or 10:00 at night. They offered to give us a ride and we declined, but they kept insisting so we finally accepted the offer.
We went out and all piled into their Jeep 4x4. The parking lot is on a pretty big incline, so when Oswaldo pulled out of the spot and tried to go up the hill...we didn't move. So we all got out of the car to try and push. It was his wife and son and then me and Hna. Alvarado. We were all pushing while he was driving, but nothing happened. He decided that he was going to push and that Hna. Alvarado could drive so they made the switch and it still didn't help. Here is where it gets good. My companion put the car in park and stepped out so we could think of what to do and the car started sliding down the hill! Oswaldo started yelling "Did you put it in park?" as he was trying to stop it by pulling on the door. Hna. Alvarado frantically jumped into the drivers' seat to check and see if she could get it to stop. Before that happened, I looked at the tires to find the answer to his question and saw that they weren't spinning. It was definitely in park. My companion was trying to stop the car by pulling on the emergency brake, which obviously didn't help since that wasn't the problem. In the meantime, the thought crossed my mind to get behind and start pushing, but I quickly told myself that was a stupid idea and that I would probably get crushed in between the jeep and the cars it was headed towards. So I did the next logical thing and jumped behind it anyway. I don't know how Hna. Alvarado got out of the car, but she was right next to me and we started pushing. My feet were just sliding as I was getting pushed by the car. And then all of a sudden it just slowed and stopped within just a few feet of pinning us between it and the Lexus behind us.
We were thinking about it that night and we decided that there were some angels just rolling their eyes at us jumping behind a moving car and then they decided they better help those two silly sister missionaries before they hurt themselves. I told Hna. Alvarado that if my dad ever found out that I did that he would be really mad, and here I am writing it to everyone anyway. No worries, though, we escaped without a scratch. We ended up getting the car out on a different side of the building where they live and even then it took several tries with all of us pushing. It turns out that Oswaldo took the tires off because he was going to Mexico and put some different ones on. Perfect timing... But we got home safe and sound at the same time we would have had we walked. Oh well, it made for a good story, right?
Well, another transfer is over and I'm going to be staying here in Arlington with my same companion. I can't believe I'm almost a third of the way through my mission. Time goes by so fast here. I'm enjoying the work and I know that the Lord is protecting and guiding us. I love you all and hope you have a good week!
Love,Hermana Larsen