Christmas!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely amazing! It was a very different week in a lot of ways but it was still awesome.

Monday night we went to a member's house in Weatherford for dinner. The Elk City Elders and the Weatherford sisters were there too so it was a party ;) So thankful for the generosity of members!

Tuesday we went on splits with the Zone-leaders. One of our Zone-leaders, Elder Paxman (who is also from southern Utah) served in Clinton a while back so he was happy to be able to come back for a day. He said that Clinton is doing really well and he's happy that we're seeing some success :) The day was awesome. We set baptismal dates, taught lessons, and set up appointments :)

Wednesday the food truck came so we got to help out with that which was cool. Afterwards a member took us out and we taught Bessie a lesson about the Doctrine of Christ. It was good but she still hasn't made a decision about Baptism. Then we went and dropped Cesar because he hasn't come to church. It was really hard to do because I love the guy a lot but my loyalty is first to the Lord.

Christmas Eve we had District Meeting in the morning which was a blast :) We went out and tried to visit some people in the afternoon without much success. In the evening we got fed by another family in Weatherford which was really fun :)

Christmas was basically the best day ever. Did the usual morning routine, opened presents, and did some traditions from back home (Listening to the testimonies of the prophets and watching the nativity to "Breath of Heaven"). Then Bishop fed us lunch and Brother Tyler took us to Weatherford so we could Skype with our families (The only member in Clinton who has a web cam was out of town). It was so awesome to talk with my family and I feel so blessed to have so much love and support :) When we got back to Clinton, we had another meal with an older lady who is a former investigator. It was so selfless of her to feed us and that's one of the reasons I love the people of Oklahoma; southern hospitality :) At 4 we had a Church tour with the young Spanish couple, Nasario and Fatima, and it was so cool! We ended the tour by watching "He Is the Gift" and the spirit was so strong. They have committed to be baptized on January 23rd! In the evening we got fed another meal by a less-active member. There was some random girl there from BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) so we talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon for Christmas #BestGiftEver For a Christmas away from home, it was absolutely perfect! :)

Saturday is when the weather starting heading south. We weren't able to use bikes because it was so windy and rainy and cold. So we walked around all day and managed to stay pretty warm :) We visited the part-member family and read the Book of Mormon with them which was really cool. We helped them to apply the scriptures to their lives so hopefully they'll have a bigger desire to read on a daily basis now. Hopefully this next week they'll be able to reach a decision on Baptism and Marriage.

Sunday was interesting to say the least. Church got cancelled #WorstDayEver. Everything is covered in ice and snow so all mission vehicles in Western Oklahoma are grounded. So instead of staying in the apartment bored all day, we went with the Elk City Elders and had an adventure ;) Basically, we walked around in the near-blizzard conditions and helped people get their cars unstuck! It was so much fun! We walked to the church and used the computers to watch church videos for a while and then walked to Bishop's house and watched "Ephraim's Rescue". Then Bishop drove us back to the apartment and gave us some left-over frozen pizzas #TenderMercy. After dinner and some rounds of Apples to Apples, we went out to find more stuck people but ended up surfing down ice banks (It looks like snow, but it's all ice. And it's really slippery :)) So much fun! 

Well, we have a quite a few investigators with baptismal dates which is really exciting! The next couple of weeks are going to be lots of hard work but I'm so excited for it! (The highs for this week are in the lower 30s so the ice and snow probably won't be melting anytime soon...) Anyways, I'm doing awesome and I love being a missionary in Oklahoma. It's the best! Hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope y'all have a Happy New Year! :)

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 93:28