Families are the Gospel

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week here in Yukon has flown by. I'm having so much fun and I love it here :) It's not always easy to bike in freezing rain but it can be really rewarding!

Monday evening we had dinner and a lesson with the Edwards family, Tim is making some good progress and hopefully will be able to quit smoking this next week :)

Tuesday the weather was perfect. In the morning we did some last minute service for some members who were moving some furniture and in the afternoon we did some service for a lady in the ward. Before dinner we did some tracting and tried to visit some less-actives. After dinner, we had a lesson with one of our less-active recent converts who got baptized back in November and she made it to church yesterday so that was awesome :)

Wednesday was great. We started planning a baptism for a kid whose parents are less-active and whose 9th birthday is today. Long story short, we got him baptized last night while he was still 8 years old because he was adamant about doing the right thing and getting baptized when he was 8 years old. It was pretty cool and hopefully it helps the whole family to become active again :) Anyways, we dropped one of our investigators because she refused to read the Book of Mormon. We did some tracting and ran into a Jew who tried to bash us not with Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon or Brigham Young but with the king james version of the bible. It was pretty great. The whole time I was thinking "Where is he trying to go with this? We believe the bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly..." Some people are crazy. Cool random miracle though: we stopped by one of our investigators who has been feeling sick for a couple of weeks now but is starting to feel a little better. As we were talking in his garage, he offered to give us a small guitar without strings on it. Elder May accepted it and we biked off to our next appointment with some members. As we were meeting with them, one of them spotted the guitar sticking out of Elder May's backpack and asked him about it. She then took the guitar, found some guitar strings in her garage, and strung the guitar for him. Turns out she used to own a music shop and was glad to have an opportunity to work on a guitar again. So I guess the Lord really wants my companion to learn how to play the guitar ;)

Thursday we did weekly planning and did a lot of tracting and sewing seeds :)

Friday after district meeting we had a good lesson with a less-active. Then we got to teach a little review lesson to the kid who got baptized yesterday. He's such a smart kid. Then we did some tracting before dinner. And guess who we ran into? The head pastor of Grit Church of all people. #GotToLoveIt The conversation started out pretty chill but then he started asking us what we believe and the next thing we know, he's showing us an anti Joseph Smith book and telling us we should look into it. It just makes me so sad to how Satan has managed to deceive so many people. But it makes me more and more grateful for the Book of Mormon because it is the convincing evidence, one of the fruits of by which we can know truth.

Saturday morning we had correlation with our ward mission leader and then in the afternoon we had a lesson with some less-actives and did a lot of tracting. Miracle/highlight of the day was tracting into this guy wearing a shirt that said, "NOPE: Not Today" who was really happy to see us, said that we made his day, was willing to say a prayer with us, and then gave us some bro hugs. It was awesome :)

Sunday was good and busy. After church we had a lesson with a family who the Mom got baptized in November. She has a temple recommend and wants to go do baptisms for the dead. So we were able to set a goal with them for them to go to the temple as a family next month and do baptisms together. So excited for them, they're an amazing family :) After that we went to the baptism of Lyric and it was so cool to see his enthusiasm and excitement about being able to get baptized while he's still 8. After that we got to deliver the sacrament to some people which was cool :)

Throughout my mission there have been times when I've asked myself or when I've been asked, "Why are you a Mormon? Why do you have faith in God?" And as I've thought about it, my mind usually comes back to a verse of scripture found in Ether 12:4.

"4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

It is the hope of there being something after this life that keeps me anchored to faith in God. To me, it comes down to the choice between having hope of a better world to come or having no hope in there being something after this life therefore making life meaningless and everything temporary.

As today is my brother Wyatt's angel day, 9 years from his passing away, I wish to declare my witness that God is real. We are literally his children. He sends us here to Earth in families because families are the gospel. They aren't just a part of the gospel. It all comes back to families and love. Jesus Christ lives and because he lives the bands of death have been broken, the sting of death is swallowed up, and families can be together forever. There is hope of eternal life and it's that hope that keep me moving each and every day. I love and I miss Wyatt and I know he's with me, probably more than I realize. I love the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith,

"We have again the warning voice sounded in our midst, which shows the uncertainty of human life; and in my leisure moments I have meditated upon the subject, and asked the question, why it is that infants, innocent children, are taken away from us, especially those that seem to be the most intelligent and interesting. The strongest reasons that present themselves to my mind are these: This world is a very wicked world; and it … grows more wicked and corrupt. … The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again."

My heart is full of gratitude and love for my savior, and I feel to rejoice daily in the great plan of happiness! I hope y'all have a blessed week :)

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 137:10