D&C 123:17

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a lot better than last week as far as teaching lessons goes. As far as handing out Book of Mormons is concerned, we weren't able to hand out single one all week. I wish I could say that the work is hastening in the OKC 7th ward but until the members are able to invite their friends to receive the restored gospel, we can only do so much. Preach My Gospel makes it clear that the ideal teaching situation is when members invite their friends to receive the gospel. Before I got to the Oklahoma City Mission, a general authority gave a training on the 3 phases of missionary work (which I may or may not of already told you guys about). 

Phase 1: Missionaries doing missionary work - 5 baptisms

Phase 2: Members helping missionaries do missionary work - 10 baptisms

Phase 3: Missionaries helping members do missionary work - 100 baptisms

Our vision for this area is to help it become a phase 3 area so we're doing a lot of work with the members. #PHASE3!

On Tuesday we got to do some service with some other missionaries which was a blast! Also, we had a really good lesson with Taryn and Jonalea (who moved back in with Taryn) but they didn't make it to church on Sunday so we'll see how this week goes.

Wednesday we had a ward party to celebrate the completion of the ward's Book of Mormon challenge. Hopefully the ward members will now be better able to give BoMs to their friends.

Thursday the preacher called us and left a voicemail saying that he wants 5-10 physical evidences of the Book of Mormon. We don't know what part of "The only way you can know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God is by reading and praying about it with real intent" he doesn't seem to grasp. It's so tempting to bash with him. "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16:17) "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." (Jeremiah 17:5) God is the source of all truth and knowledge, and trusting in the arm of the flesh and the philosophies of men is not good. Relying of physical evidence in NOT faith. Anyways, we gave Bro Judd a "jail" blessing because he was going to court and seemed to think that he was going to end up going to jail for contempt of court. But by some miracle he managed to keep his cool and not go to jail so that's a relief :) 

Friday we had a good lesson with Helen about the Word of Wisdom. We had a down to earth talk with her husband, Don, and hopefully he'll read the Book of Mormon now. Helen is such a miracle!

Saturday was one of those days when all you can do is follow the counsel given in D&C 123:17. "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." We did all we could and we tried to keep smiles on our faces even though we pulled straight 0's that day.

Sunday we had a less-active member who showed up to church for the first time in 20 years. The guy isn't even on our records anymore but we ran into him a couple of weeks ago and he seemed pretty open to the idea of coming to church with us. Since he came to our church though, we can go check out his church now. He goes to something called "LifeChurch.tv" and from what we've heard it's more of a rock concert than anything else. It's interesting what some people will label as "church" these days. #TheApostasyIsReal  Last night we went out to watch the Blood Moon and the Jesus dude who lives below us was out watching it as well. The guy actually preaches pretty solid doctrine and he's a good guy. He's just been a little deceived by false revelation. For example, one night in a dream Jesus told him to build an ark of the covenant so when he woke up at 3 AM he started building one. He showed it to us and it looked pretty cool. He made it out of Cyprus wood and a metallic gold spray. Pretty impressive if you ask me ;) We're going to try one last time before we move to give him a Book of Mormon or at least a Family Proclamation. 

The 5 kids all still need permission but we're still making slow but sure progress. The less-active and his girlfriend have been really busy lately but we're meeting with them this week so that will be awesome. We met with Freedom Sinclair for the first time in more than a month and set a baptismal date with her so things were looking really good until she texted us literally right now and said she's done with the Mormon church. Sometimes I feel like my calling is to pass through sorrow so that I can better appreciate the atonement. The hard part is glorying in tribulation like Joseph Smith did. "And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it." (D&C 127:2) Sometimes all you can do is smile and do everything in your power to help others. God's ways are higher than our ways; this is his work, not ours. Missions aren't easy but they're worth it :)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Prepare for conference so you can get more out of it. General Conference is like Christmas for missionaries so I've never been more excited for Conference in my life. It's going to be so awesome!! :) #Prophets #WatchConference

Love, Elder Larsen