Coolest Lightening Storm Ever!!

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another wonderful week here in Seminole and the Lord is blessing us in so many ways!

Monday evening we had dinner with some awesome members that live out in the middle of nowhere :) After dinner, we went with the father to visit a LA/PM family and got attacked by dogs! It's was an adventure for sure but they came to church on Sunday so that was cool :)

Tuesday morning we had to run to walmart to get some slime for my bike tire, thank goodness it fixed the problem :) At 1 we went to the church to have a lesson with a less-active but they didn't show up. It all worked out though because Bishop was there randomly and so we got to talk with him and get some updated lists of people to go try and visit. At 2 we had a lesson with Allen. He's met with missionaries on and off for years now and he reads the Book of Mormon on a pretty consistent basis but he doesn't come to church and doesn't really want to get baptized. So we started off the lesson by asking what he was wanting to get out of meeting with us and he said he wanted to be more spiritual. From there, the spirit guided the whole lesson and he ended up committing himself to praying for humility. It was such a neat lesson, I love how powerful the spirit is in softening people's hearts :) After that we had a member drive us to an outlying town called Prague so we could deliver a bible to a referral named Pamela. Pamela has a brother who lives in Utah and is super awesome and active in the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon as well and she seems really interested in learning more and coming to church sometime. So excited to teach her! When we got back to Seminole we had coorelation meeting with the assistant ward mission leader, had dinner, and then had a super amazing lesson with Mack. He accepted a Book of Mormon and seems really open to reading it and learning more :)

Wednesday morning we had a member drive us out to Holdenville. Our appointment with Rose fell through since she was out of town but her daughter was there and she accepted a Book of Mormon :) We ended up having a good visit with a less-active and making contact with a potential investigator named Steve. When we got back to Seminole the member fed us lunch so that was nice :) In the afternoon we visited an awesome recent convert named Margaret who is working on going to the temple to receive her endowment. So excited for her! After having dinner with some members outside of town, I got to meet up with Ronny and Amanda Smith from the Norman 2nd ward! It was so much fun to get to see them for a few minutes and I'm glad they're doing well :) 

Thursday morning we did weekly planning and then in the afternoon we drove out to Maud and biked around for a while. A lot people weren't home but we tried to visit a less-active we found on the roster and she was really receptive. She hasn't had any contact with the church since she moved here but she still watches General conference and she seems to have some desire to come back to church so that was a sweet miracle! After dinner we stopped by to see Mack again and gave him a specific chapter in the Book of Mormon to read to try and spark more of his interest so hopefully he's read a little by the time we go and visit him tonight.

Friday we had district meeting in Shawnee and finally got our car tire fixed #Hallelujah When we got back to Seminole we visited some less-actives, had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant, visited a recent convert, an investigator named Ron, and a sweet old lady in the ward :)

Saturday morning we went by Allen's place to remind him about church (he didn't end up making it unfortunately). After lunch we drove out to Wewoka and biked around in the heat and humidity for 5 hours which was awesome! We had our first lesson with Chris (the miracle investigator from last week) and it was a great lesson on the Book of Mormon. And instead of us asking him when we could come back, he asked us when we were coming back :) #Solid After dinner in Seminole we tried a less-active and made contact with him so that was good. When we got back to our apartment there was sweet lightning storm going on. I love Oklahoma storms so much, they're so cool!

Sunday we didn't have any investigators make to church :( But there's always next week. We ended up doing a lot of finding the rest of the day and we found a pretty solid potential named Chris #Miracle

I listened to a BYU devotional this last week from Elder Bednar titled, "Learning to Love Learning" and it was awesome! He talks about

1. Leanring to Love Learning is Central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Leanring to Love Learning is Vital to our Ongoing Spiritual and Personal Development

3. Leanring to Love Learning is an Absolute Necessity in the World in which do now and will yet live, serve, and work.

I love these statements from Brigham Young:

Statement 1. “The religion embraced by the Latter-day Saints, if only slightly understood, prompts them to search diligently after knowledge. There is no other people in existence more eager to see, hear, learn, and understand truth” (JD 8:6).

Statement 2. “Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can, and then distribute your knowledge to the people” (JD 8:146).

Statement 3. “This work is a progressive work, this doctrine that is taught the Latter-day Saints in its nature is exalting, increasing, expanding and extending broader and broader until we can know as we are known, see as we are seen” (JD 16:165).

I've learned so many things while serving on my mission but I think one of the principles that I'm most grateful to have learned is learning to love learning. It makes life so much more enjoyable and interesting, and it helps the gospel change us in ways we never thought possible. Let's all learn to love learning!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 46:30

1. Me, Ronny, and Amanda

2. The district with 2 trios

3. Elder Tureson with a kitty in Wewoka

4-8. Pics of the lightning storm