Getting Exercised by Abraham

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another amazing week here in Norman, Oklahoma, the Lord is blessing us so much!

Monday evening we had an awesome couple come out teaching with us. Our appointments we had fell through but we were able to have another lesson with Martin on his porch. We read the rest of 1 Nephi 8 and he set a return appointment for later in the week!

Tuesday morning we got some rain and got wet riding our bikes which was a blast! At noon we had a lesson with a less-active member and her non-member granddaughter who wants to be baptized. We watched the Restoration movie with them and it was really spiritual :) Had a couple recent convert lessons in the afternoon and then biked around and did some finding after dinner. It felt great to have a day void of meetings, planning, etc, and to go out and work :)

Wednesday morning we stopped by and visited Danny so see how he was doing. He said he wants to get a part-time job so he can pay more tithing and have some more spending money. He's been reading and praying individually and with the family, and he's teaching Raven the articles of faith. He's so awesome!! :) The rest of day consisted of service, visiting a less-active and finally getting her to commit to praying, the return appointment with Martin falling through, and biking around talking to people.

Thursday we helped Angela load up her stuff and move to Shawnee. The Shawnee missionaries met her there and helped her unload so hopefully they'll be able to continue teaching her. After planning and dinner we got to go reteach the Williams family the Restoration and it was amazing :)

Friday after district meeting we got to go help someone in the ward do some moving. Yay for service :) Danny came out teaching with us and we had a super solid lesson with Barry, one of our investigators who wants to be baptized but doesn't feel ready. Danny's testimony and conversion story really helped him out a lot and hopefully we can get him to church this next week :) After dinner we were able to find some new investigators through a cool finding miracle. We were walking around a street that we felt impressed to go to and the first house we felt like we should knock on answered and had some really good questions. They agreed for us to come back next Friday and so hopefully everything goes well.

Saturday morning we had a meeting with our new relief society president and went over the ward roster and discussed visiting teaching assignment which was good. After lunch we were able to set up a last minute lesson with one of our former golden investigators named Courtney and we were able to find a member to go with us last minute. We retaught her the restoration and recommitted her to baptism! It was a cool lesson and the spirit was really strong :) #Miracle After that we were able to have a lesson with Carrie but her son Zion wasn't cooperating too well so hopefully she got something out of it. After dinner we went to go visit one of our investigators named Abraham. So 2 weeks ago we stopped by to try and have a lesson with him and he seemed to think that Elder Kilmer was possessed with an evil spirit or something. And because we're his "brothers in Christ" he felt it was he duty to try and perform and exorcism on Elder Kilmer. So he started chanting in some weird native american language with really wide eyes, slowly moving closer and closer to Elder Kilmer's face, waving an eagle feather around. (Haha Elder Kilmer just stood there and stared at him with a face of stone, it was hilarious!) So after that crazy experience we decided to keep on texting him scriptures from the Book of Mormon each day and to try back in a couple of weeks. We visited him Saturday evening and he seemed a lot more normal. He said he loved the scriptures that we were sending him and that they were helping him draw closer to Christ. He agreed to let us come back and start teaching him more :) So we'll see how it all turns out ;)

Sunday was really great. Danny got the Aaronic Priesthood and got ordained to the office of Priest. One of the awesome families in the ward got assigned to speak in sacrament meeting so they invited their non member friends to come watch. They came and stayed for the 2nd and 3rd hours as well which was really cool :) After lunch we taught Danny and family more about the priesthood and then did some finding before dinner. After dinner we biked around and it was a beautiful evening. There were lots of people out and we had some good conversations :)

Earlier today we got to some more moving for another member of the ward. Seems like everyone is moving stuff around recently...

This morning I was reading in 1 Nephi 17 and I really liked verses 8-9:

8 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.

9 And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?

I love how when Nephi was faced with a challenge, he was able to remember

1. God is our Father, he loves us and he has a perfect plan for us.

2. The challenges and trials we face in life are according to God's will and plan for us.

3. The Lord will always give us commandments and challenges that with his help, we can overcome. (1 Nephi 3:7)

The question Nephi asks in verse 9 implies that he has unwavering faith in the Lord's ability to help him accomplish the Lord's will and follow the Lord's plan. Sometimes we're tempted to complain or to give up or to ask "why me?" or to ask "How is this possible?". Let us all try to be like Nephi and have the trust and confidence that the Lord will provide a way to overcome challenges or obstacles in our paths. Let us humbly ask for his direction and then go and do.

Well I hope y'all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your love and support, I love and miss you so much but I know I'm where the Lord wants me :)

Love, Elder Larsen

3 Nephi 19:24 

Willams Family Baptism

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been one of the best of my entire mission! So happy for the Williams family and their decision to be baptized. Danny, Elizabeth, MaKayla, and Raven are the best, I love them!

Monday we had our zone p-day activity of throwing water balloons at our zone leaders which was super fun :) Before dinner we had a lesson with an Okie talker named Jim. We were able to resolve a couple of concerns which was good but it was definitely a good test of my patience as well ;) After dinner we biked out to go visit some investigators and saw a sweet miracle! We were biking down this street and this truck was backing out so we stopped our bikes to wait for him but when he saw us, he pulled back into his driveway and got out of his car in tears. He told us that he wanted to say a prayer with us because his Mom just got diagnosed with cancer. So we got to say a prayer for him and we were giving him our number when another guy pulled up and asked, "Hey, are yall Mormons?" but he said it in a friendly/curious tone instead of a hostile one. So we introduced ourselves and he said he had a question about whether or not we believe in "spirit babies". We asked him to elaborate what he meant by that and he said that he thought we believed that black people were bad spirit babies in the pre-earth life and that's why they're black. So we explained to him that that was totally false. He said he goes to the Church of Christ (which explains his concern since they're notorious for anti-mormon classes and such) and that he's interested in learning more. I've never had 2 people reach out to us back to back like that so it was definitely a miracle :) After that we were able to have a chill lesson with Greg at the gazebo by where he lives. He's got a lot of potential if we can just start meeting with him on a more consistent basis.

Tuesday was our zone temple day and it was so awesome! I love the temple SO much! :) We arrived at the church building by the temple early in the morning so that President could do interviews with us and so that the APs could give us a training on talking with everyone. I learned so much from the whole experience :) After we got done in the temple, President still had a ton of interviews to do and we had an appointment at 6 with our ward mission leader so they told us they would come to our apartment in the evening and interview us there. So we got back to Norman just in time for the meeting and then afterwards we biked out and tried to visit some people until President gave us a call and said he was waiting for us at our apartment. So we did interviews in our apartment which was fun (luckily our apartment was pretty clean ;)). I love President and Sister Mansell, they're the best!

Wednesday we tried to do some exchanges with the Elders in the 4th ward but then they ended up having to start moving apartments so we helped them move some stuff. We had some solid lessons in the afternoon and evening and got to do some service which made for a solid Wednesday :)

Thursday we spent most of the day planning and helping the Elders move. In the evening we had a lesson with Danny and fam and then another one with Carrie :)

Friday after district meeting we got to go jump-start a member's car and then make some preparations for the baptism. Before dinner we had an awesome lesson with one of our new investigators named Barry. He wants to be baptized and is praying about a date now so we're super excited for him!

Saturday morning we had the Williams family baptism. Everything went smoothly and it was a really spiritual experience. A lot of the ward members were there to support them and the stake president and President Mansell were able to attend as well :) They were baptized by Brother Williams, a really nice guy in the ward who comes out teaching with us a lot and Elder Kilmer and I were able to do the talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost. Danny and Elizabeth also had some non-member family who came as well which made it really special :) After the baptism, President Mansell took all the missionaries out to lunch which was really nice of him :) Elder Vincent was able to come back for the baptism as well so that was cool. Also, our investigator Carrie was able to come to baptism and she said she had a really good time. She's really warming up to the idea of baptism and is now trying to decide on a date. So excited for her!

Sunday was fantastic! Danny and Raven were confirmed by one of their new friends in the ward and Elder Kilmer and I got the opportunity of confirming MaKayla and Elizabeth. It was simply wonderful! :)

Also, we got transfer doctrine last night, and to my great surprise and delight, I will be spending another transfer with Elder Kilmer here in the Norman 2nd ward! Norman is the best and I absolutely love serving here with Elder Kilmer, I couldn't be more excited for the coming transfer :)

One of my favorite talks from October conference of last year is "What Lack I Yet?" by Elder Lawrence. As I was studying this talk I was reminded of a couple of scriptures in the Book of Mormon.

"Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe." Alma 32:16

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27

This helped me to see that we have 2 choices when it comes to continually learning and growing in the gospel. We can be passive about it and wait for God to compel us to be humble by showing us our weaknesses. Or we can be proactive about it and seek to humble ourselves without being compelled to be humble. If we're actively and repeatedly asking ourselves "What Lack I Yet?" on a daily basis, our growth and change will accelerate and it will be so much more enjoyable. Let us choose to be humble and to strive to rely on the Lord in order to overcome our weaknesses :)

Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful and good luck to those of you who are going back to school! I definitely feel for you ;)

Love, Elder Larsen

Jacob 4:14

1. Comp selfie #SWAG

2. Norman Zone at the temple

3. Williams family

4. Williams family with Brother Williams

5. Elder Vincent and I with the Williams

6. Picture frame that people signed

7. Elder Kilmer, I, President Mansell, and the Williams

Brad Pool

I just got this message on Facebook from Brad Pool who Tyler taught and baptized in Clinton. Love it!

Hello Andrea-  We met your son in January in western Oklahoma, I saw the comment on his picture on the mission page so I thought I would let you know how the message he brought us changed our lives, he knocked our door at a very unsettling time in our lives, I had just been laid off and we had lost everything, moved into a small apartment with not much for my wife and son, I rejected him but he gave me their number.  As soon as he had walked away my wife and I had a strange feeling that we needed to call him and listen at least once so we did so, the promises of blessings he made thru the spirit with each lesson took my wife and I to our marriage and baptism.  I've told him nobody else could have brought us the message like he did at that time, we would not of listened to any other missionary at that time, he sounded so sure all the time that it was for real and thru him and the spirit he changed our lives forever.  Being non religious at that time I am now an elder in the church and my wife is over young women's.  We thought you might like hearing some of the good he had done 

Brad Pool

Shortest weekly email ever!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I had this whole awesome email typed out and it disappeared into thin air. And I'm too lazy to retype it so here's a summary of my week:

This past week has been so much fun and filled with miracles :) Probably was the best week of teaching on my entire mission, so many awesome lessons! Danny and family are all set to be baptized on Saturday and I couldn't be more excited for them. They're really looking forward to the temple sealing in a year :) Life is good and I couldn't be happier :) Here's one of my favorite scriptures: "O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12) Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 5:16

1. Haha Elder Kilmer and I got a pretty good kick out of this sign #Matthew5:28

Good News!!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, President Mansell called us on Saturday and let us know that Danny has been cleared for baptism!! Wahooo! Him and his family are planning on being baptized in 2 weeks on August 20th! Couldn't be more excited for them!

Monday after dinner we went to go visit our investigator named Jim. He said that he forgot about the appointment and that he didn't have time to talk. But he then decided to Okie talk us on his porch for the next 45 minutes which was pretty funny ;) He knows a lot of truth and seems really prepared, we just need to be able to go into his house and sit down so we can set some expectations and have an actual lesson. Hopefully we'll be able to do that later today :) Later in the evening we were able to have a lesson with Martin (the boyfriend of Marelyn who we've been trying to teach for a while now) and it was super sweet! He was telling us about how he spent lots of time with his family on the weekend and we tied that into the importance of families. We were able to read most of 1 Nephi 8 with him and his interpretations of the vision of the tree of life were spot on! The spirit was strong and he said he wants to do a family home evening with us sometime :)

Tuesday morning/afternoon I had a mission-wide leadership training meeting in the city which was a blast! I learned lots and got to visit with some of my past companions :) 

Wednesday we did some family history work, service, and biking. In the evening we had a good lesson with one of our less-actives :)

Thursday evening we had a lesson with Danny and his family. We had an older couple come teaching with us and they did a great job of fellowshipping them. They even invited Danny and his family over for dinner yesterday which was awesome! We read 1 Nephi 2 and recommitted them to reading/praying every day as a family (we followed up on Sunday and they did it!) Also, quick miracle: we got back to the apartment 5 minutes early and so we walked around and found a new investigator named Damien who wants help with quitting smoking :)

Friday after district meeting we had exchanges with the Elders in the 4th ward which was fun :)

Saturday was an awesome day of random service projects! :) In the morning we biked around and visited some yard sales since the city had a permit free yard sale day. After lunch we were leaving our apartment complex and we stopped to ask a lady if she needed help with anything and she said she could use help moving a queen mattress and box spring to her friend's house down the street. So we exchanged phone numbers and started calling some of our members with trucks to see if they might be able to help. So we continued to our destination and had a quick lesson with one of our less-actives and then got a phone call from some other person in our complex who needed help moving a couch up the stairs. So we biked all the way back to our apartment and helped them move the couch. Then we saw some other people who were moving some stuff in and so we went and helped them as well. Then we booked it over to some teaching appointments and then headed back to the apartment for dinner. Before hopping in the car and heading to dinner, we went into the front office at our apartment complex to thank them for giving our number out to the people who needed help moving the couch and it turns out they were about to give our number to someone else who needed help moving. So we got to move some more stuff for some other people in our complex right before dinner :) After dinner, we went with one of our members who had a truck so we could go transport the queen mattress and box spring for the one lady. We got it out of her apartment just fine but getting it up the stairs and around the corner at her friend's house was a different story. We spent at least an hour trying to shove that box spring up those stairs. It was great ;) After trying every possible angle, we had to call it a night and head back to our apartment for the evening. It was quite a crazy and fun day :)

Sunday was fantastic! Danny and his family were there again and their first fast and testimony meeting went pretty well :) We had a lesson with them after church and gave them the good news about Danny being able to be baptized. So awesome!!

This morning we had one of the members in our ward take us to the driving range at the golf course right by our apartment and so I got to hit some golf balls for the first time in a year! Yay! :)

Yesterday in Gospel Principles we had a lesson on Charity. We discussed Moroni 7:48which tells us how we obtain the gift of Charity. The first step is to "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." Then, in response to the question "What does it mean to pray with all the energy of heart?", our teacher cross referenced us to Luke 22:41-44 when Christ is praying in the garden of Gethsemane. "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." No amount of sheer grit and willpower will allow us to overcome the natural man and be filled with God's love. We first must humbly ask and pray sincerely for the great gift of Charity. As Elder David A. Bednar has said, "We don't possess the gift of Charity; the gift of Charity possesses us." Let us always pray for the gift of Charity for "if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." (Moroni 7:46-47)

Well thank y'all for reading my emails each week! Sometimes I feel like a broken record but missionary work is simply the best and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now! Thanks for all your love and support,

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 43:48

P.S. Haha just in case you were wondering Dad, I can still hit a golf ball and I look forward to beating you when I get back ;)

That awkward moment when someone steals your bike helmet...

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a little crazy but everything worked out in the end!

Monday evening we visited one of our investigators named Alex and he was having a rough day. He was intoxicated and struggling with some family issues but we were able to offer him help and read a scripture with him which was cool. We also visited another one of our investigators named Angela. She has a slight learning disability so teaching her has been a slower process. But we finally got her to pray from her heart instead of saying a memorized prayer she learned at a baptist church! #Miracle Funny story: We locked up our bikes by Angela's apartment complex and when we got back to our bikes, my helmet was missing. Elder Kilmer's was still there but mine was no where to be found. We looked around for a couple of minutes and couldn't find it anywhere. So we started biking home since it was getting late and we hadn't gone far when we saw my helmet sitting on the side of the road. Still not sure how it got there, I guess someone decided they were going to steal it and then got struck by lightning or something ;) But anyways, we found it and I'm grateful for that.

Tuesday morning we had an apartment inspection and zone leadership meeting in the morning which was fun as always :) In the afternoon we were able to meet with one of our more flaky investigators on his front porch. It was a pretty good lesson and as a bonus we got eaten alive by mosquitoes! ;) After dinner we found 2 new investigators! #Miracle One of them was a lady we talked to about a month ago who said she was really glad that we were going around sharing messages with people. This time when we talked to her she was a lot more open and said that we could come back #SpiritPower

Wednesday we did lots of service but we still managed to find some new investigators and to have a really good lesson with one of the less-actives that Bishop asked us to focus on :)

Thursday we stopped by Danny's house in the afternoon to finalize his plans for baptism next Saturday and found out that we might have to push the baptism back a couple of weeks because of some unfortunate events in his past. In the evening though we had an awesome lesson with Carrie and with Danny and his family :)

Friday morning we had a combined zone training meeting instead of district meeting. President Mansell came to it and it was so awesome! Afterwards, President was able to meet with Danny and said that we would be ready for baptism next Saturday. So we were pumped for that! The rest of the day we had exchanges with the zone leaders so I was in the 1st ward which was fun :)

Saturday morning we helped one of our neighbors move a dresser and so he wanted to take us out to lunch. We went to a German restaurant and I got to try some German food for the first time which was delicious :) After that we visited a less-active family and then we were able to do a church tour with Angela. She had a good time and could feel the spirit in the chapel :)

Sunday morning President Mansell texted us and informed us that he made a mistake on Danny's baptismal interview and that we need to postpone the baptism until further notice. It looks like he'll either be baptized in a couple of weeks or he'll have to wait about 10 months... So hopefully it's only a couple of weeks because the rest of the family decided that they want to baptized with him. Elizabeth and Raven even committed to a date which was really cool! Danny is still super solid and excited even though he might have to wait a while to be baptized. I love him and his family so much, they're so awesome! Watching the gospel change people's lives is simply the best :)

As I was reading in 1 Nephi 8 this week about Lehi's vision of the tree of life I noticed something I hadn't previously. Verses 5-8 read,

 5 And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me.
 6 And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.
 7 And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste.
 8 And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.

I think it's interesting how Lehi starts following the Lord but when he turns his attention to his surrounding environment, he sees that he's "in a dark and dreary waste.", and he starts traveling in darkness and eventually has to cry out to the Lord for help. Looking at it like that reminded me of the story of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:26-33. I love the principle this illustrates because when we make Christ the center of our lives, it doesn't matter what's going on around us. It doesn't matter if we're in a dark and dreary waste or if the winds around us are boisterous. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Let us always look to and focus our attention on Christ.

Well, I hope yall are having a super fun summer and staying cool, have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 6:34-37