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
No comments:
Post a Comment