Helen's getting baptized!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, Helen Finnley from the 7th ward is getting baptized this Saturday!!! #MIRACLE I got word a couple of weeks ago that she committed to baptism but I got to talk with my old trainer, Elder Holbrook this week, and he informed me that's she committed to the date and her husband is fine with it! SO EXCITED!! I'll be able to borrow the Weatherford sister missionaries van to drive to the city this weekend and support her! Can't wait to go to my first convert baptism!! :D Helen is the super sweet older lady that me and Elder Holbrook found through a finding miracle a couple of weeks into my mission. I'm so excited for her!

Second off, thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes, cards, and packages! It means so much to me to know that I have so many family and friends who love and support me. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I can't thank you all enough. Thanks again for everything you do for me! So far I'm having a wonderful birthday :)

This past week has been a blast! Even with Thanksgiving and a meeting in the City we still were able to get lots of work done.

Monday night we stopped by some of our Spanish investigators to drop off some El Libro de Mormons and they were doing their nightly recited prayers to their Holy Mary shrine. That was an interesting experience to say the least. Afterwards, my companion told me that they called me a "Guero" or "White Boy". LOL Sometimes I wonder why the Lord called me as an English speaking missionary and then sent me to an area where about 1/4 of the people only speak Spanish or speak very little English. I can usually understand what people are saying but I'm not able to say very much to them which can be frustrating at times. But we've started doing some language study which has helped out a lot.

Tuesday we found a random member who has been less-active for about 40 or 50 years but really wants to come back to Church so that's cool :)

Wednesday the Food Truck came to the church to fill food orders. That was my first first-hand experience with Church Welfare so that was interesting. We taught people about Daily Bread and Gratitude while they waited for their food so that was good.

Thanksgiving was a blast! Our ward had a Turkey bowl in the morning and it was so much fun to run around and play some good ol football for the first time in a while. I'm still sore from it so that shows you how out of shape I am right now ;) The rest of the morning and afternoon we did studies and weekly planning. We spent the evening with some members in Weatherford and got fed a simply delicious meal. Awesome day! :)

Friday we had a zone training meeting in the city for the new Christmas Initiative "A Savior is Born". If you haven't already check out christmas.mormon.org and watch the videos, they're so good. Christmas time is a GREAT time to share the gospel and help people "Discover Why" we need a savior. Get some pass-along cards and give them to your friends. The missionaries will greatly appreciate the referrals and hopefully we can get some referrals from it as well. So excited for this Christmas season!

Saturday was a LONG, literally freezing, day. Everything was covered in ice. Not fluffy snow, ice. The roads were pretty bad so we got to walk around all day and try not to freeze to death. We were able to teach some good lessons though so it was all worth it :) I was on exchanges with Elder Sanchez at the time and he also doesn't speak Spanish. Ironically, I can understand and speak more than he can so the Spanish people we tried to talk to and invite to church kept poking fun at him because his last name is "Sanchez" and he's brown. #WhiteBoySwag

Sunday we had no investigators at church (I'm hoping it was mostly due to the weather, not laziness). We went to go pick one of them up before church but we're pretty sure she sent her Grandson to lie to us and tell us that she's "out of town" even though we met with her literally the night before. I unexpectedly played piano again so I guess I'm the ward Pianist now ;) Bishop cancelled church after we had sacrament meeting in the primary room (the heater in the chapel wasn't working so it was like 60 degrees in there. So we all squeezed in the primary room.) It was a bummer we only got a little over an hour of church.  

As far as our investigators go, the part-member families are struggling. We're going to have to consider dropping a lot of our investigators since they won't come to church. Coming to church consistently is a great indicator of people's commitment level so apparently the people we're teaching aren't very committed. Hopefully this next week will go better with church attendance.

Anyways, I'm still doing great and I'm staying warm for the most part :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season filled with the Love of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the "Reason for the Season".

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 24:12

Christmas/Birthday package

This is the package I sent Tyler for Christmas decorating and for his birthday.  

Come to church!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a harder one but things are still going good and I'm so excited for this coming week!

Monday night we met with the part-member families and had an awesome lesson about the doctrine of Christ. We committed them to baptism and it was really cool :)

Tuesday we got a solid new investigator named Ladonna. We taught her the restoration and committed her to CPR (Church, Prayer, Reading) and set a baptismal date with her. We also tried talking to an old lady out picking up Pecans. She wasn't very nice and basically told us we were going to hell. She kept on trying to tell us what we believe and she wouldn't listen to us. People like that make me so mad. I said goodbye and walked away to stop myself from bashing and yelling at her. 

Wednesday we met with a less-active and got in a discussion about daily scripture study. He kept on trying to tell me that reading the scriptures everyday is not a commandment from God. I know that it's a commandment and God knows that I know that it's a commandment so I can't deny it. Resisting the urge to bash is so hard but it's the right thing to do. Haha we ran into another lady out picking Pecans and she told us that our church is wrong. Moral of the story is: Watch out for the old ladies out picking up Pecans. Unless you're a missionary and you're obligated to talk to everyone even if you don't want to ;) 

Thursday we biked out to the Indian Independent Living Center and committed a less-active to come to church.

Friday we had interviews with President Walkenhorst which was awesome! My bike also got a flat tire which was obnoxious. We stopped by the part-member family and committed them to come to church on Sunday. We had a super spiritual lesson with one of our more solid investigators named Cesar which was cool. 

Saturday we went around and committed as many people as we could to go to church. We even got Carl to commit to church which was a miracle because when we first got there he told us he wasn't going to come #PowerOfTheSpirit 

Sunday was a struggle. The guy who usually plays piano in sacrament meeting hurt his back and called me on Saturday to ask if I could play piano in sacrament meeting. So I spent an hour Saturday night practicing piano. At church I played piano in sacrament meeting (and I messed up a lot which was frustrating) and in Primary and in Priesthood. I'm more than happy to use my talents it's just kind of stressful at times but whatever :) We had 1 investigator at church which was devastating. It's a lot harder to enjoy church when you're sad because your friends won't use their agency and come to church. But as the natural question of "What did we do wrong?" entered my mind, the spirit assured me that I had done all that I could to help them come to church. I'm so grateful for the spirit. That's the ultimate measure of how pleased God is with us. Whenever I feel like a failure as a missionary because people aren't progressing and keeping commitments, the spirit reassures me and gives me the peace I need. We succeed when we invite and follow the spirit. Submitting our will to God's is not easy but we have to do it. We can't control others and this is God's work, not ours. Just have to keep on working hard and staying positive; motivated by the hope of a single conversion that may or may not come. God's will not mine be done.

Hopefully this next week will be better :) I'm so excited for Thanksgiving and I hope you all have a wonderful week! If I had to pick one thing I'm most grateful for it would definitely by my testimony. Without my testimony and conversion I would be so lost. My greatest desire is to endure to the end and never lose my faith. The gospel is so true and I don't know what I would do without my Savior's love. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Nephi 19:9

He thinks of Grandma and Grandpa Jensen every time he eats. 

Exchanges in Elk City

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a long. Between Zone P-day and Exchanges it's been hard to accomplish everything we want to but we're trying our best.

Tuesday we taught a lady named Inez the Restoration. We committed her to come to church and she didn't accept or turn down the baptismal invitation. She seemed pretty interested so we set up a lesson for Friday but when we went there on Friday she ignored us. Later in the afternoon we went out with a member and all of our plans fell through so we visited an investigator, Carl,  we hadn't planned on seeing. Apparently, the Lord wanted us to go there because the member and Carl connected and hopefully Carl will be more comfortable coming to church now. That night we had a lesson with Cesar about marriage and Word of Wisdom. He was progressing pretty good but he's been having some commitment issues recently.

Wednesday we biked out to the VA to visit a less-active member and wish him a happy veterans day but he wasn't there. That evening we went with a member out to Butler and picked up some new investigators. But we got word yesterday that they're moving to Missouri in a couple of weeks so that won't work out anymore.

Thursday we visited a lady named Michelle. She's been taught by the missionaries for months now but she can't seem to stop smoking. We've started teaching her mother in law and we're trying to get the rest of her family involved too. Family support is vital when people are trying to overcome addictions.

After district meeting on Friday we went on exchanges. I went to Elk City with Elder Santamaria. On our way to Elk City we stopped in Burns Flatt and tried to visit some people. As we were walking around we saw two ladies talking in their driveway. We started talking to them and one of them had never even heard of our church. She hadn't even heard the term "Mormons" before and she's in her 30's. She was super interested and agreed to listen to our message. So we sat down on her driveway and taught her the Restoration. After we had set up a return appointment and said goodbye, a random member walked up and started bearing his testimony and sharing his conversion story. It was such an awesome miracle! #tendermercies 

Saturday we spent all day in Elk City building a porch for a less-active member which was fun but probably not the most effective thing in the world.

Sunday no one came to church. At least none of our investigators. We talked to Cesar on the phone literally 20 minutes before church started and he said he was coming. But then he never showed up. The part-member families we were working with kept rescheduling this week so we were never able to meet with them but they said they would be at church. Elder Quinones and I spoke in sacrament meeting which was fun. It was really depressing that no one came to church though. The rest of the day was really hard. Supposedly, Sunday evenings are prime proselyting time but no one would let us in. One of my favorite quotes is by Elder Holland. "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.  Salvation never was easy.  We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our great eternal head.  How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that life isn't supposed to be easy. We have to suffer as a part of the plan. But Christ has suffered more than we ever will. "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:8) If we rely on the Savior we will always be able to have the strength to make it through challenges.

Anyways, I'm still doing fantastic and I'm so excited for this next week! :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Nephi 15:25

Clinton, Oklahoma

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow what a crazy week it's been. It's been long but we've gotten lots of work done!

My first P-day in Clinton was fun. Everything is lot more expensive than in the city so hopefully I don't starve to death ;) That night we did some service helping someone move and then had an awesome lesson with a part-member family. We were about to start the lesson when another part-member family showed up so we got some more potential baptisms! Most of them showed up to church on Sunday which was so awesome.

Tuesday we biked out to an Indian Independent living center to visit some investigators and less-actives. They weren't there but we ran into a less-active who isn't on the roster so that was good.  That night we visited a less-active who thought it was 11 instead of 7 so he opened the door and started yelling at us because he thought it was really late at night.

Wednesday morning we did service for one of our investigators (Bessie, an Okie talker like none other.) We visited lots of people and taught lots of lessons. In my old area, getting member-present lessons was hard because we didn't teach any lessons. This area is hard because we don't have hardly any members to take out with us. Interesting how that works.

Thursday was rough. I wasn't feeling too good and I feel asleep at a less-active's house because my comp and the less-active were speaking spanish.

Friday was party! We celebrated Hermana Hansen's birthday at district meeting. We tried visiting the Mother in law of one of our investigators who can't quit smoking and she actually listened to us and committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. Apparently in the past she has ran away from missionaries so it was a miracle that she was that receptive. Friday night we had a cool experience. We got back to the apartment at 8:55 so we started walking around the apartments across the street and ran into a lady who was not doing too well. She was leaving her family and trying to get to Kansas or something. We gave her a Book of Mormon and said a prayer with her. I didn't really know what to say to her but I tried talking anyways and the spirit gave me the words I needed to say. I've realized that the key to missionary work is relying on the spirit so I'm trying to get better at it.

Saturday was a pretty typical day. Taught some lessons and got to do a FHE with an investigator. During dinner some guy in the ward called me and asked me if I wanted to do a piano solo in church the next day so that was awesome :)

Sunday we had a regional broadcast and it was SO good. We had quite a few investigators and less-actives at church which was a 100% improvement from last week. 

Yesterday was Zone P-day so we drove to the city and went to the Zoo which was fun I guess.

This area has so much potential and things are going so good! The Lord is blessing us with so many miracles and we have 4 investigators with a baptismal date for the 28th. We've been slacking off with doing member missionary work because we don't have very many members but we're going to repent and do phase 3 on a daily basis! Things in my old area aren't going too well. Helen is struggling with her marriage, and the less-active and his girlfriend are struggling as well. On the bright side, the 3 foster kids apparently have a lawyer and they're pushing to get rid of their mom's parental rights which would mean baptism!

The weather is getting colder here and I'm starting to miss St. George more and more. The cold is no bueno! Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Veterans Day!

Love, Elder Larsen

Moroni 7:45-48

No e-mail today

We didn't get an e-mail from Tyler today so I went onto the Oklahoma City Mission Facebook page and asked if anyone knew why we didn't get one yet.  I had heard from the bishop's wife yesterday on facebook thanking us for giving him piano lessons(which we didn't really give him) because he had played in church "Onward Christian Soldiers" and did a wonderful job.  I tagged the bishop's wife in my facebook comment and she promptly had the bishop call him, thank him for playing the piano and casually asked if he had contacted us today.  I guess he was in meetings all day and didn't get a chance to e-mail.  So grateful for sweet people like this sister that eased my mind so I can sleep tonight knowing he is ok.  So grateful for the internet, facebook and the way we can communicate with people so fast.  I found out within an hour of posting on facebook that he was just fine. Hopefully we will hear from him tomorrow but if not then we will look forward to hearing from him next monday.

Clinton Oklahoma

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been crazy busy! I'm having a great time in Clinton and I'm so excited for this coming transfer!

Monday evening we had a fun time eating dinner with the relief society president's family and then carving pumpkins with another family.

Tuesday we spent the morning getting the car worked on. Then we got to have a lesson with Helen. She is doing good but is still struggling with her husband so she's going to go meet with Bishop and get some marriage counseling. I also got to go and say goodbye to the 5 kids which was awesome :)

Wednesday was transfers. My new companion Elder Quinones is awesome. He's from Vegas and is a convert of about 3 years. He's super spiritual and I've already been able to learn a lot from him. We did some service when we got to Clinton and then went and visited some investigators. Clinton is about the exact opposite of my last area. The ward is super small, has 3 sets of missionaries, is not anywhere near as wealthy, has lots of drug issues, and we don't have a car. It's totally different but I love it and I'm so excited!

Thursday we had an awesome lesson with Julio. He seemed really excited and we set up a church tour with him for Saturday.

Friday was my first district meeting in Clinton and it was really good. After District meeting it was down-pouring. Elder Quinones's trainer taught him that they couldn't do work in the rain. So I got rid of the wicked traditions of our fathers and went out it the pouring rain anyways. It was so much fun! We got drenched but we were able to have some awesome conversations with people.

Saturday we showed up at the church for the tour with Julio but he didn't show up. We've been trying to contact him but he's been avoiding us. The rest of the day we tried really hard to get some new investigators but no one would set up an appointment with us. "I'm really busy right now." Ect, ect. That night we helped some less-actives move. They are definitely hoarders so that was a fun experience :)

Sunday was great. We didn't have any investigators or less-actives at church so we will definitely have to change that. We had a delicious dinner at a member's house with the other 4 missionaries. Then we went and visited investigators and potentials.

As far as progressing investigators go, Cesar is progressing pretty well. His baptismal date is going to be pushed back but he making progress with quitting smoking and drinking. The struggle with him will be getting him to church. Tonight we have an appointment with a part-member family who is very promising.

The miracle this week was getting transferred to an area that doesn't have a car. It's so nice being able to bike everywhere and not having to worry about miles, or gas receipts, or car maintenance.

Something I was able to learn more about this week has been gratitude. "Grateful in Any Circumstances" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf is an excellent talk (Thanks for sending it to me Mom :)) "My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack. Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart never faltered. When his brothers tied him up on the ship—which he had built to take them to the promised land—his ankles and wrists were so sore “they had swollen exceedingly,” and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths of the sea. “Nevertheless,” Nephi said, “I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.”" Let us develop an attitude of gratitude and never complain to the Lord. He has given us everything and even if he takes everything away, we are still indebted to him. Gratitude and eternal perspective are wonderful blessings!

This area is teaching me a lot and the change is helping me grow. I've been working hard cleaning the apartment, organizing the area book, updating whiteboards, and getting everything organized. Haha the carpet was so dirty I figured the apartment didn't have a vacuum but last night I found it in the back closet so the carpet is cleaner now ;) This next week is going to be awesome! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Moroni 10:32

P.S. Congratulations to Alyssa on getting called to the best mission on Earth. Oklahoma is the best! :)

Picture with two of the foster kids.