The past week has been absolutely wonderful! Had lots of meetings but also saw lots of miracles and received lots of revelation :)
Monday evening we started exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed in the 2nd ward and it was a crazy evening. We started by helping someone move. They talked to missionaries a few years ago and remembered their offer to help them move if they ever needed it. So they took us up on the offer and we helped them maneuver some bulky furniture out of their upstairs apartment which was challenging but not too big of an issue for professional movers ;) After that we ran to dinner with a less-active family who made us some delicious Indian tacos. Yum :) Then we hurried over to the Williams family and taught them how to do an official family home evening. It was so much fun! I love being around them and their family dynamic reminded me of FHEs back home :) After that we got a call from someone in the hospital who needed a blessing so Danny was kind enough to give us a ride there and back so that we could make our 9:30 curfew. Giving blessings is always a very special and humbling experience :)
Tuesday morning we went with the 4th ward Elders and helped the people from Monday unload the moving truck into their new house. It went really smoothly and they said the 4th elders could come back and visit them soon so that was cool. After that we did some biking and had an interesting lesson with one of our investigators. At first we thought he was going to drop us because of some of the stuff he read online but we taught him more about the Book of Mormon and he said we could come back. After lunch we exchanged back with the zone leaders and Elder Kilmer and I did family history and had dinner. After dinner we had a really long lesson with one of our investigators named Jim. It took a while but he finally started asking us some really good questions about the restoration (which we had already taught him) and so hopefully our answers stuck with him a little more than last time.
Wednesday we had zone conference from 8 AM to 5 PM so it was pretty long but super insightful and super fun :) President Mansell gave us an awesome training on the doctrine of change and another one on different personality types and how to adjust our teaching to those we teach. After dinner, we went with our ward mission leader and his wife to teach Carrie. We had a really good lesson with her and the members were able to keep Carrie's son entertained so she could focus more on the lesson. Carrie is doing pretty well, she totally wants to be baptized but she doesn't want to commit to a specific church yet. She wasn't at church again so that was disappointing. After the lesson with her, we had our usual lesson with a less-active and she had started praying again! So exciting! #Miracle
Thursday we had lots of planning and other stuff to do. Before dinner we had a lesson with the Smiths and found a new investigator. After dinner, we had a lesson with Martin and Marelyn and it was so cool! We were able to do the lesson inside his house which was a sign that he's beginning to trust us. Martin remembered the vision of the tree of life perfectly and it was so great to watch him teach it to his girlfriend and son. After that we read Alma 32 with them and talked a lot about faith. Martin absolutely loved it and says he's looking forward to us coming back again this next week!
Friday we did exchanges with the Elders in the 4th ward and so I went there for the day. All I have to say is that getting to bike everyday is a huge blessing and I hope my next area doesn't have a car :)
Saturday morning we exchanged back and while Elder Kilmer and I were biking around we found a super solid new investigator who we're looking forward to teaching this next week! After lunch, I drove myself and the 2 other district leaders in the Norman zone to a leadership training meeting in Edmond with Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the seventy as the main speaker. Listening to a seventy talk to a group of missionaries was such a neat experience! He talked for a long time and I took tons of notes so it's hard to summarize everything he talked about but the spirit was so strong and I learned so many things :)
Sunday we didn't have a good turnout at church so that was disappointing. But we were able to set up a time to meet with the Bishop and our ward mission leader so that's a miracle ;) After church we were able to have some awesome lessons with some of our recent converts.
Here are a couple of my favorite paraphrases from Elder Pearson:
(In speaking about the importance and value of the Book of Mormon) "One time I had an Elder who came to me and said that he made a goal to read the Old Testament on his mission. Do you know what I told him? 'Elder, that's Stupid! Why would you eat the crumbs on the floor instead of feasting on the table!' " Haha LOL
(In speaking about following the promptings from the Holy Ghost) "Some of you struggle to know if a prompting is coming from the Holy Ghost or if it's just you. Well look back at the old you. Would the old you want to go do that or is it the new you that has been influenced by the Holy Ghost for however many months??"
"Everything is hard until it becomes easy. Hard work reveals your capacity. The more you work, the more capacity you have to work hard. How is God ever going to convince us that we can become like Christ? He's going to work us to death!"
Anyways, I hope y'all have a wonderful week! Thanks for the package fam, I really appreciated it :) Thank y'all for all your letters, postcards, and support. I have the best family and friends ever! Also, happy angel day on Wednesday Wyatt! You're the best brother ever and I can't wait to be with you again someday :)
Love, Elder Larsen
Alma 13
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