Carl's Baptism! #LegendsOnly

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has definitely been a long one but it ended miraculously! Before I go on, we got transfer doctrine last night and I get to stay in Clinton for another transfer with Elder Knight! Couldn't be more excited :)

Monday evening we went out with Bishop and visited Carl. We got him a cassette player and the Book of Mormon on tape so he can listen to the BoM while his eye sight is recovering. After that we visited Bradley and Shyanne. We fasted with them on Sunday so that they could know what day God wants them to get married on. Shyanne had been thinking about the 18th of April for a while now but hadn't ever said anything to Bradley about it. Well while they were fasting, the 18th of April kept coming to Bradley's mind and so at the end of the fast, he told her that that was the day he was thinking about. She was shocked and told him that that was the day she was thinking about too. So they're going to get married on the 18th of April and baptized on the 23rd of April! We're so excited for them and it was definitely a miracle :)

Tuesday we drove to the city and had to say Goodbye to Elder Quinonez (Not my old companion, a different one) which was really sad. I hope he's doing well back home. So ever since then I've been in a trio with Elder Knight and Elder Burt. We got a new car to drive for the week (A super nice 2016 Nissan Altima) and drove back to Clinton. We visited Carl and were able to solidify his baptismal date which was really cool :) We went back to Weatherford in the evening for a Book of Mormon class.

Wednesday we spent the whole day in Weatherford/Watonga. We did lots of driving, got some service done, and were able to teach quite a few lessons :)

Thursday we visited Carl twice in order to get everything ready for his baptism and did lots of planning. After that the food truck came and so got to help with that. After dinner we taught Laura about the law of tithing. She is doing really well and will hopefully be baptized on March 12th!

Friday after district meeting Carl had his baptismal interview and it went well :) In the evening we went to Cordell to teach Beth and Karie. Karie is Beth's daughter and she is a less-active member. Beth is not a member but is really interested. We taught them the plan of salvation and she received it really well. After the lesson we were able to give them both blessings and we gave one to Karie's daughter too (While we were giving the 3 year-old the blessing she ran away and so our hands were just floating in the air until her mom but her back on the chair so that was interesting ;))

Saturday morning was the baptism of Carl Ray Guffee! His granddaughter and grandson in law are active members of the Church and they came all the way from Missouri for the baptism so it was really awesome that he had the family support :) Everything went smoothly and the spirit was really strong. I've never seen Carl so happy :) It was definitely a miracle that he was able to be baptized. The spirit is so powerful and all things are truly possible through Christ!

Sunday Carl made it to church and I had the privilege of conferring the Holy Ghost which was an awesome experience :) We also had Bradley, Shyanne, Laura, Beth, and Travis at Church :) 

This week I studied a lot on the Book of Mormon and how it's the most powerful resource in conversion when it's combined with the spirit. The Book of Mormon truly is the most correct of any book of Earth. It's the keystone of our religion and therefore the foundation of our testimonies. It all comes back to the Book of Mormon. I exhort you all to continually strengthen and rely upon your testimony of the Book of Mormon, and if you don't already have a testimony of it to gain one through diligent study and prayer. The Book of Mormon has changed my life and I don't know what I would do without it. I love being able to share it with others and to bear testimony of it everyday.

This past week has been filled with miracles and I'm so pumped for this coming week! This next transfer will hopefully see some more baptisms :) I'm doing great and I feel so blessed to be a part of this great latter-day work. Hope y'all have a wonderful week full of love and tender mercies :)

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 17:11

1. Saying goodbye to Elder Quinonez

2. Our sick new ride!

3. Doing service in Weatherford

4. Picture of the guy we did service for (He had a sweet mustache!)

5. Elder Knight and I in Watonga

6. Trio pick in front of the baptismal font

7. Elder Knight and I with Carl

8. Selfie with some really nice ponies:)

Here are some pictures I got from Elder  Knights mom. 

Bishop bought them pizza on Sunday. Ox and the mire!

Elder Burt fell asleep during the lesson.

Road Trip to Tulsa

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely crazy! And this next week isn't looking any better :)

Monday night we... Uh... We did missionary work. It's been a long week. Can't remember exactly what we did, but we proselyted and it was fun :)

Tuesday we had another lesson with one of our solid new investigators but he's not very interested anymore so we'll see what ends up happening with him. We had a really spiritual lesson with Bessie. The spirit softened her heart and she committed to baptism on March 26th! We made a specific plan for her to quit smoking and she has been following it thus far :) We did some service for Shyanne (helping her with math homework) which was fun :) That evening he had another lesson with Travis who is part of a part member family. Today was also the day that the Weatherford Elders minivan got hit by a semi-truck. They were driving back from a doctor's appointment in the city and got stopped at some road construction on the freeway. Well the semi that was behind them wasn't paying attention and couldn't brake fast enough and would've rear-ended them going 40+ MPH if the Elder driving hadn't looked in the rear view mirror, saw the semi, and tried to get out of the way. So the back right corner of the van got hammered pretty good. Both the Elders were fine except for one of them got a black eye. It was definitely a miracle that they escaped practically unharmed. 

Wednesday was a logistical nightmare due to the loss of the minivan. We had to wake up an hour earlier than usual in order to get to a leadership training meeting in the city on time. The meeting was really awesome and I learned so much about how to be a better leader :) After the meeting, we went to the mission office to work out the car situation with the vehicle coordinator. We ended up having to have 3 missionaries (Me and the zone-leaders) drive 2 cars back to the OKC stake center. So one of my zone-leaders was driving a truck all by himself which was really weird. When we got to the stake center, the zone-leaders had to do a baptismal interview. Then we headed west to pick up an Elder from Weatherford who was with the El Reno Elders for the day. We were almost there when we reaching a railroad crossing with a stationary train blocking our way. So we wandered around for a while trying to find a way around it and finally got to where we were trying to go. So at this point, any plans that we had for the day were out the window and so me and the Weatherford Elder drove back to Weatherford and spent the night with my usual companion and the other weatherford Elder. Longest day ever.

Thursday we were able to teach a bunch of lessons and saw lots of miracles! In the evening we went out to Cordell again to teach Beth and we were able to set a solid baptismal date with her which was awesome! She also said she would come to church next week which is super exciting!

Friday we had district meeting which was good. After dinner we had a lesson with Laura and Ruby. When we stopped by last week we gave her a la palabra de sabiduria folleto (Word of wisdom pamphlet) because she was having questions about coffee. Well apparently she read through the pamphlet and she decided to quit drinking coffee because of it #Miracle After that we drove to Yukon and slept over at the Zone-leaders apartment.

Saturday we had to wake up at 4 in the morning to a catch a bus that took us to Tulsa to meet with Elder D. Todd Christofferson (of the quorum of the 12 apostles) and Elder Lynn G. Robbins (of the presidency of the seventy)! Every missionary in the OKC mission and the Bentonville Arkansas mission were there which was super cool and rare :) We all got to shake their hands and the meeting was super spiritual. I learned so much and I feel so blessed for the opportunity to go :)

Sunday was pretty solid. We had Carl, Bessie, Bradley, and Shyanne at church. That evening we had a get-together with most of the members who live in Clinton and we got to have a missionary discussion with them to motivate them to do missionary work. It was really fun and everyone was glad that they came :)

Carl has been off cigarettes for 10 days now! He's staying strong and he's going to quit drinking coffee today. His baptism is scheduled for this Saturday but it may or may not happen. He's struggling with his testimony of the Book of Mormon. I'm pretty sure he'll eventually gain a testimony, I just don't know how long it will take. We thought we resolved his concerns the week before last but apparently not. It's really frustrating because he's had eye surgeries recently and so now he can't read. But for the most part, he's been doing really well :)

Bradley and Shyanne are basically the driest Mormons on the planet. They've been at Church the past 5 weeks in a row. We went over the visit them Saturday night and they had one of their friends over. We taught her the restoration and Bradley and Shyanne acted as members throughout the lesson and bore down in pure testimony. It was miraculous! #KindOfAMemberPresentLesson

Bessie is doing a lot better and is right on track for her baptism on March 26th!

One of the Weatherford Elders is going home early tomorrow for anxiety/depression issues :( so I will be in a trio with the other Weatherford Elder this next week until transfers on March 2nd. So we will be covering 2 proselyting areas with one companionship which will be interesting to say the least.

I've learned SO much this past week and my brain is fried right now but there is one quote that I really like. President David O. McKay once said: “Spirituality is the consciousness of victory over self." Our competition in life is the person we see in the mirror. Let us all strive to kill the natural man within us and develop greater self-mastery. As we do so, we will increase in happiness :)

Well I hope y'all have a simply wonderful week! Thanks for all your love and support!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 8:14-15

Road trip to Shawnee

Driving back from Shawnee. 

We got this picture in the mail today. 

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been another super solid one! The Lord is blessing us beyond measure and it's so exciting to see our investigators come closer to Christ :)

Monday evening we had dinner at a member's house with Bradley and Shyanne which was super cool! We taught them about tithes and offerings and they were already discussing the night before how they wanted to contribute to the church so that was awesome. 

Tuesday we taught 5 lessons which was probably the most I've ever had in one day. We gave Bradley and Shyanne a picture of the Oklahoma City Temple and a picture of Christ Monday night and when we visited them Tuesday night they had already framed them on their wall. They are such dry Mormons, it's crazy. Never seen someone so prepared to receive this gospel.

Wednesday we taught Laura's daughter, Ruby, the restoration which went well :) Then we visited a part-member family and set a baptismal date with the husband, Travis!

Thursday we had a classic missionary miracle. Basically everything fell through and so did ALL of our backups. (We were able to visit with one less-active. He told us he didn't need the sacrament because he hadn't sinned in 23 years. And then he asked why we had weird looks on our faces and we were like, "Bro, you just said you hadn't sinned in 23 years.") We had a member coming out with us in the evening and we had no idea what we were going to do with him. We ended up driving south of Clinton down to a town called Cordell where we only have 1 active member. So we tried to visit the less-actives on the list but with no success (Haha one guy told us, "I'm excommunicated and proud of it!"). So at 8:40 we had one more person to try. We knocked on the door and she wasn't home but her mom was. She's super nice and she let us in. We were able to quickly give her a Book of Mormon and talk about her religious background. She talked about how she grew up baptist but didn't like how there was so much fear of God. She told us her concept of God and it was basically the exact same thing it says in the pamphlets so that was really cool :) We're going to visit her again this week so hopefully she finds some time to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

Friday after District Meeting we had exchanges with the Weatherford Elders. Elder Burt (his Dad also served in Las Vegas. Do you remember an Elder Burt from your mission dad?) and I fixed a bike, taught Bessie a lesson with Bishop, and talked with Laura and Ruby :)

Saturday was pretty slow and our 2 appointments fell through but we got fed dinner so that was a plus :)

Sunday we had Bradley, Shyanne, and Travis at Church which was good :) Right after Church Elder Knight and I had to drive back to Elder Knight's old area (Shawnee) for a baptism. Yay for 4 hours in the car! :) The baptism went well and we had Sunday dinner with the Wolfe's.

Carl smoked 1 cigarette last Sunday and Monday, a half a cigarette on Tuesday and Wednesday, none on Thursday, 2 on Friday, and none since then. He still needs to give up coffee this week but as far as we know, he's done smoking now! Hopefully he'll be ready for baptism on February 27th. So exciting! Thank y'all so much for the prayers in his behalf, they've definitely been helping a lot :)

This week I've been thinking a lot about the simplicity of the Gospel and how vital it is to have a testimony of the reality of God. If we don't know that God is really there, then nothing else is going to matter. There's a reason that the first interview question for Baptism or the Temple is "Do you believe that God is our Eternal father?" As soon as we accept this reality, any honest seeker of truth will also come to know that Jesus is the Christ, that Jospeh Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. But it all starts with a testimony of God. One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon is in Alma 30:44 "But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough;will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign,when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea,and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." I know that God is real, that we are all his children, and that he loves us more than we can comprehend :)

Well, things are going fantastic here in Clinton, Oklahoma and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Thank you all for your love and support. I have the best family and friends ever! Happy President's Day and I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 30:44

I Love to See the Temple

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely amazing! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and to witness miracles on a weekly basis.

Monday I gave myself a haircut (sorry Emily ;)) In the evening we walked around and visited some of our investigators. As we were starting to walk back home I felt a rain drop. And then another. And then it started down-pouring and the wind really picked up. So we sprinted in the rain with the wind blowing straight against us. It was awesome! We got back to the apartment and we were both soaking wet :) I called the information line on our phone to see what the weather forecast was (Because I listened to it earlier and didn't hear anything about rain)  and it said it was currently "Mostly clear" and the forecast for the evening was "Occasional clouds". That's the understatement of the century ;)

Tuesday we taught the Restoration to one of our new investigators. We were teaching Carl the law of chastity and we started off with the question, "Do you know anything about the law of Chastity Carl?" And he was like "I think my Granddaughter is named Chastity" And we were like "What?" Pretty funny :) Then we had a member who went out with us and we were able to teach quite a few lessons which was cool.

Wednesday the bike tube for Elder Knight's bike came which was really exciting! Yay for no more walking and boring afternoons!! That evening we taught Bradley and Shyanne. They shared with us how they each came to know for themselves that the Book of Mormon is true and it was such a cool experience! They are so going to get baptized!

Thursday we had our Zone Temple Day and was basically the best day ever. I love the temple SO much! :) It truly is the house of God. That evening we read with Laura out of El Libro de Mormon which was bueno :)

Friday after district meeting we went on exchanges. I stayed in Clinton with Elder Kaiser. We had a good time and were able to teach Bessie about the Word of Wisdom with Bishop. She committed to living it and is making progress again which is super exciting!

Saturday we got to do service in the morning and then we taught Bradley and Shyanne about the Word of Wisdom. Within the last year they've both given up smoking and drinking and so now the only issue is coffee and tea. They committed to living the Word of Wisdom and it was awesome. I love being able to see the spirit working through them. They have truly been prepared to receive this gospel. For lunch, the elderly member who took all the missionaries out to dinner on New Years Eve took all the missionaries out to lunch which was super nice of him :) He's a convert to the church and probably one of the healthiest 83 year olds I've ever met.

Sunday was one of the best Sundays on my whole mission :) We had 6 investigators at Church! Bradley and Shyanne were there for the fourth week in a row, Carl was there for his third time, Laura was there with her daughter, and the husband of a part-member family came as well. It was truly a miracle to see so many people at church :) The rest of the day was surprisingly effective considering it was Super Bowl Sunday. We did lots of member work and biked out to the Indian living center. Another miracle was that we ran into the Ellis family and apparently they have moved and changed their phone number but we should be able to make contact again with them this week which will be exciting! 

Bradley and Shyanne will be married and baptized sometime in April or May. Carl smoked 1 cigarette yesterday so he is really close to quitting! His new baptismal date is Feb 20th. Bessie is continuing to progress and hopefully she will be able to live the word of wisdom soon. 

Something we have been focusing on recently with the members is the 21 day challenge. You have heard about it before, but basically what you do is write down the names of some people you know who need the gospel in their life. Then you pray for them morning and night, and read a certain scripture each day for the next 3 weeks. The promise is that one of the people on your list will hear the missionary discussions. My companion found a really cool scripture in the Book of Mormon that goes along with it perfectly.

"And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith." - Mosiah 27:14

Praying with faith is so vital. Faith always precedes the miracle. This past week has definitely strengthened my testimony of the power of prayer. No matter what happens, we can always say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father for help. He hears all of our prayers and I know that the power of prayer is real.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 37:6-7

1. Selfie after running in the rain :)

2. Temple

3. Panorama of the sunset

Some pictures I got from Elder Knights mom. 

In Which I Go Golfing

Elder Knight and Elder Larsen

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been amazing! Our investigators are progressing and we've been very blessed.

Tuesday we were unable to fix Elder Knight's bike tire and there isn't a store in Clinton or Weatherford that has the right size of tube so we had to find one online. So we've been doing a lot of walking. And I mean a LOT of walking. That night we had a member out with us and we were able to teach 3 solid lessons which was definitely a miracle!

Wednesday we ended up going tracting for part of the day because of our bike situation. It was pretty ineffective and we got rejected by about everyone who actually answered the door. That night we were able to teach a lesson to Laura with someone from the ward who speaks Spanish so that was really good.

Thursday we visited Carl and made a plan for him to stop smoking. We counted out his last cigarettes and he let us throw the rest away. He didn't end up sticking to the plan but it was still cool to see his desire to quit :) That night we got fed dinner from a member in Weatherford and then went out teaching. We visited Shyanne Pool and the member we were with was able to give her some great fellowship :)

Friday was the first real district meeting this transfer because last Friday all we did was watch the broadcast. It went good and I'm so excited for this transfer! That afternoon we visited some members and ended up visiting Elvis Allison. He's a really funny guy and he sang us some country songs which was hilarious!

Saturday morning we taught the restoration to a 16 year old who seems pretty interested. We set a baptismal date with him and we'll find out this next week if he's keeping commitments. In the afternoon we went with Bishop to Thomas, Oklahoma to give an elderly member a blessing but when we got there, the Elders in Weatherford had beat us to it. Apparently they randomly decided to go visit him right when he needed a blessing. So that was cool but we also were able to go visit an excommunicated member which was a neat experience. That night we met with the ward mission leader to go over the ward mission plan.

Sunday we had 4 investigators at Sacrament Meeting and all 4 of them have baptismal dates which was a really cool miracle :) I also went to the Spanish group's sacrament meeting for the first time which was really cool and I was able to understand a lot of what was being said :) Bradley and Shyanne Pool were there for their 3rd time, Carl came for his 2nd time, and Bessie was there her 3rd time. They're all progressing and doing well, and if Carl can quit smoking this week he can be baptized on the 13th! So exciting! After Sunday lunch with the Wolfe's, we went with Brother Wolfe to visit some elderly single sisters. They're some awesome sisters and they have a very special and sweet spirit about them :) That night we visited Bradley and Shyanne. We read The Family: A Proclamation to the World and committed them to praying about marriage so hopefully they'll decide on a marriage date this next week!

This week I read one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon. It's in Mosiah 24:14-15

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

There's been countless times on my mission when I've wondered whether I had the strength to keep on working, to keep on being diligent. But as I've excised faith by working hard even when I don't think I can and when I don't really want to, the Lord has truly blessed me with strength. There's been days where I've asked myself, "How did I have the energy to keep on going? I should have been too tired to do that." I testify that as we submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord, as we excise that great faith, we receive the divine strength we need to make it through trials and afflictions. He's always there and we can always turn to him. He will not leave us comfortless.

Things are still going great in Clinton, Oklahoma and on Thursday we should be able to start biking again which will be a relief. Walking around everywhere has definitely been testing my patience ;) I hope y'all have a wonderful week and thanks again for all the love and support. Y'all are the best! :)

Love, Elder Larsen

Mosiah 26:18, 20

I used Carl's cigarettes as golf tees #BlessingsOfTheWordOfWisdom