A New Transfer Has Begun

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has flown by! Things are going well and I'm so excited for this new transfer!

Monday night we visited with the part-member family and were able to answer a lot of their questions which was good. We tried to teach the whole family a lesson later in the week but they kept on rescheduling which was frustrating. And then they didn't make it to church which made it even worse. But hopefully we'll be able to meet with them tonight and talk about baptism and priorities.

Tuesday we biked out to the Veterans Hospital and visited a less-active member. He's a pretty cool guy and he's been through a lot but he was really nice to us. That evening we went out with a member and taught a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon and why it's so important. This week I was thinking, "Why is it that basically no one we talk to ever reads and prays about the Book of Mormon?!? It's so simple and easy, and yet basically no one does it." So this week we focused a lot on the importance of the Book of Mormon and using it more effectively. Preach My Gospel says that the BoM combined with the spirit is the most powerful resource in conversion.

Wednesday was a day of Okie talkers. They test my patience so much. For example, we started talking to this guy and he just goes off for like 5 minutes talking about random gospel stuff. So after we listened to him for a while we started trying to teach him about the restoration but he was just ignoring what we were saying. I started saying something to him and then he tried to interrupt me but I just kept on talking anyways and so did he #EffectiveCommunication It's crazy how many people don't understand the concept of "listening".

Thursday we committed to handing out a bunch of Book of Mormons and we were able to hand out 5 which was so awesome! We talked to a lot of Spanish speakers and got some new potentials and investigators. In the evening we went out with the leader of the Spanish group that meets in our building which was cool :)

Friday we took Bishop with us to try and teach the part-member family but they had to cancel on us :(

Saturday we did some service in the morning which was fun :) We got to give a dog a bath so that was a nice change of pace ;) Oklahoma weather varies so much. Saturday morning I was wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt to do service because it was almost 70 degrees and cloudy (which in my opinion is perfect weather). And then Sunday it got cold. Really cold.

Sunday afternoon/evening was awesome :) It was super cold and rainy. By the end of the day my feet were frozen (despite multiple layers of socks) because we were outside for about 5 hours straight. Someone let us in for 30 minutes but that was it. We tried everyone and anyone we could think of but no one was home/interested/available. But something I've been working on is being more optimistic. So I smiled as much as I could and did my best to stay faithful and upbeat. And it definitely made it more enjoyable :) We get to choose our attitude. We can choose whether to be happy and optimistic or pessimistic and miserable (2 Nephi 2:27) Service is so enjoyable and I love being a missionary! :)

Well things are going great in Clinton, Oklahoma and progress is being made :) Bessie made it to church yesterday and it looked like she had a great time :) Hope you all have a wonderful week! Make sure to share the Christmas spirit #ASaviorIsBorn

Love, Elder Larsen

James 5:11

First baptism!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely fantastic! Definitely one of the best weeks I've had in the mission :) 

On Monday, for the rest of my Birthday, we went to Elk City as a District. The sister missionaries had a bunch of extra miles on their van that we were able to use to make it happen. We went to a museum but it was closed for "falling ice". We still had fun though and took some awesome pictures! That evening we taught the Plan of Salvation in Spanish and then Bishop fed us dinner which was super nice of him and his wife :)

Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I didn't realize how many people in Clinton don't have access to internet until we asked a bunch of them to visit a website. It wouldn't be too big of a deal if this mission was like almost every other one in the US and had iPads because then we could go around showing people the video. But we don't have a iPads and almost everyone has no internet. It's all good though because we found a way to get it onto our ghetto phone :) It's pretty pixelated and small but hey, it works ;) Tuesday night we had one of our Spanish investigators tell us that he can't read the bible because it's only for "perfect people". It was kind of mind boggling and sad to realize that there is still people out there who believe that.

Wednesday night we taught Bessie the Plan of Salvation and she told us about her son who died when he was little. The catholic priest told her that because her son hadn't been baptized he was going to hell. It was really cool to teach her the truth and to bear down in pure testimony about eternal families and about how infant baptism is an abomination. I don't know what I would do without this gospel, I feel blessed beyond measure to have the fullness of it in my life :)

Thursday we had a Church tour with Cesar. We had an awesome member come with us and Cesar had a great time. Going to the church made him feel a lot better and he was able to feel the spirit. He committed to come to Church on Sunday (and he almost came but he got a flat tire right before he left. We even had a member go to his house and offer him a ride. #Rage)

Friday Bishop helped us give Bessie a church tour and it was awesome! She's been progressing pretty well and hopefully when she comes to church this week she'll be able to make a decision about baptism :)

Saturday was Helen's baptism. It was beyond awesome to see her, my old companion, and others from my old area. Helen is such a sweet woman and words can't describe how joyful it was to see her follow her Savior down into the waters of baptism. She wasn't planning on bearing her testimony but Bishop asked her to and she bore a beautiful, simple testimony. The spirit was so strong. I'm so excited and happy for her :) Being able to witness her baptism was truly a tender mercy from the Lord. I feel so lucky and blessed to be a part of her conversion and to be an instrument in the hands of God in bringing her to Christ.

Sunday the part-member families made it to Church! They all had a great time and they said they were going to come again this week! We had a lesson with them this past week about the Law of Chastity and the importance of marriage and family, and they have their sights set on temple sealing so we're going to do all we can to help them get there :)

Last night we got transfer doctrine and Elder Quinones and I are staying in Clinton together for another transfer! So excited! Definitely going to baptize some people this next transfer ;) (If it's God's will, of course)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and thanks again for the birthday/Christmas gifts! Mom, you definitely outdid yourself with that tree ;) 

Love, Elder Larsen

John 3:16-17

Helen's getting baptized!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, Helen Finnley from the 7th ward is getting baptized this Saturday!!! #MIRACLE I got word a couple of weeks ago that she committed to baptism but I got to talk with my old trainer, Elder Holbrook this week, and he informed me that's she committed to the date and her husband is fine with it! SO EXCITED!! I'll be able to borrow the Weatherford sister missionaries van to drive to the city this weekend and support her! Can't wait to go to my first convert baptism!! :D Helen is the super sweet older lady that me and Elder Holbrook found through a finding miracle a couple of weeks into my mission. I'm so excited for her!

Second off, thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes, cards, and packages! It means so much to me to know that I have so many family and friends who love and support me. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I can't thank you all enough. Thanks again for everything you do for me! So far I'm having a wonderful birthday :)

This past week has been a blast! Even with Thanksgiving and a meeting in the City we still were able to get lots of work done.

Monday night we stopped by some of our Spanish investigators to drop off some El Libro de Mormons and they were doing their nightly recited prayers to their Holy Mary shrine. That was an interesting experience to say the least. Afterwards, my companion told me that they called me a "Guero" or "White Boy". LOL Sometimes I wonder why the Lord called me as an English speaking missionary and then sent me to an area where about 1/4 of the people only speak Spanish or speak very little English. I can usually understand what people are saying but I'm not able to say very much to them which can be frustrating at times. But we've started doing some language study which has helped out a lot.

Tuesday we found a random member who has been less-active for about 40 or 50 years but really wants to come back to Church so that's cool :)

Wednesday the Food Truck came to the church to fill food orders. That was my first first-hand experience with Church Welfare so that was interesting. We taught people about Daily Bread and Gratitude while they waited for their food so that was good.

Thanksgiving was a blast! Our ward had a Turkey bowl in the morning and it was so much fun to run around and play some good ol football for the first time in a while. I'm still sore from it so that shows you how out of shape I am right now ;) The rest of the morning and afternoon we did studies and weekly planning. We spent the evening with some members in Weatherford and got fed a simply delicious meal. Awesome day! :)

Friday we had a zone training meeting in the city for the new Christmas Initiative "A Savior is Born". If you haven't already check out christmas.mormon.org and watch the videos, they're so good. Christmas time is a GREAT time to share the gospel and help people "Discover Why" we need a savior. Get some pass-along cards and give them to your friends. The missionaries will greatly appreciate the referrals and hopefully we can get some referrals from it as well. So excited for this Christmas season!

Saturday was a LONG, literally freezing, day. Everything was covered in ice. Not fluffy snow, ice. The roads were pretty bad so we got to walk around all day and try not to freeze to death. We were able to teach some good lessons though so it was all worth it :) I was on exchanges with Elder Sanchez at the time and he also doesn't speak Spanish. Ironically, I can understand and speak more than he can so the Spanish people we tried to talk to and invite to church kept poking fun at him because his last name is "Sanchez" and he's brown. #WhiteBoySwag

Sunday we had no investigators at church (I'm hoping it was mostly due to the weather, not laziness). We went to go pick one of them up before church but we're pretty sure she sent her Grandson to lie to us and tell us that she's "out of town" even though we met with her literally the night before. I unexpectedly played piano again so I guess I'm the ward Pianist now ;) Bishop cancelled church after we had sacrament meeting in the primary room (the heater in the chapel wasn't working so it was like 60 degrees in there. So we all squeezed in the primary room.) It was a bummer we only got a little over an hour of church.  

As far as our investigators go, the part-member families are struggling. We're going to have to consider dropping a lot of our investigators since they won't come to church. Coming to church consistently is a great indicator of people's commitment level so apparently the people we're teaching aren't very committed. Hopefully this next week will go better with church attendance.

Anyways, I'm still doing great and I'm staying warm for the most part :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season filled with the Love of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the "Reason for the Season".

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 24:12

Christmas/Birthday package

This is the package I sent Tyler for Christmas decorating and for his birthday.  

Come to church!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a harder one but things are still going good and I'm so excited for this coming week!

Monday night we met with the part-member families and had an awesome lesson about the doctrine of Christ. We committed them to baptism and it was really cool :)

Tuesday we got a solid new investigator named Ladonna. We taught her the restoration and committed her to CPR (Church, Prayer, Reading) and set a baptismal date with her. We also tried talking to an old lady out picking up Pecans. She wasn't very nice and basically told us we were going to hell. She kept on trying to tell us what we believe and she wouldn't listen to us. People like that make me so mad. I said goodbye and walked away to stop myself from bashing and yelling at her. 

Wednesday we met with a less-active and got in a discussion about daily scripture study. He kept on trying to tell me that reading the scriptures everyday is not a commandment from God. I know that it's a commandment and God knows that I know that it's a commandment so I can't deny it. Resisting the urge to bash is so hard but it's the right thing to do. Haha we ran into another lady out picking Pecans and she told us that our church is wrong. Moral of the story is: Watch out for the old ladies out picking up Pecans. Unless you're a missionary and you're obligated to talk to everyone even if you don't want to ;) 

Thursday we biked out to the Indian Independent Living Center and committed a less-active to come to church.

Friday we had interviews with President Walkenhorst which was awesome! My bike also got a flat tire which was obnoxious. We stopped by the part-member family and committed them to come to church on Sunday. We had a super spiritual lesson with one of our more solid investigators named Cesar which was cool. 

Saturday we went around and committed as many people as we could to go to church. We even got Carl to commit to church which was a miracle because when we first got there he told us he wasn't going to come #PowerOfTheSpirit 

Sunday was a struggle. The guy who usually plays piano in sacrament meeting hurt his back and called me on Saturday to ask if I could play piano in sacrament meeting. So I spent an hour Saturday night practicing piano. At church I played piano in sacrament meeting (and I messed up a lot which was frustrating) and in Primary and in Priesthood. I'm more than happy to use my talents it's just kind of stressful at times but whatever :) We had 1 investigator at church which was devastating. It's a lot harder to enjoy church when you're sad because your friends won't use their agency and come to church. But as the natural question of "What did we do wrong?" entered my mind, the spirit assured me that I had done all that I could to help them come to church. I'm so grateful for the spirit. That's the ultimate measure of how pleased God is with us. Whenever I feel like a failure as a missionary because people aren't progressing and keeping commitments, the spirit reassures me and gives me the peace I need. We succeed when we invite and follow the spirit. Submitting our will to God's is not easy but we have to do it. We can't control others and this is God's work, not ours. Just have to keep on working hard and staying positive; motivated by the hope of a single conversion that may or may not come. God's will not mine be done.

Hopefully this next week will be better :) I'm so excited for Thanksgiving and I hope you all have a wonderful week! If I had to pick one thing I'm most grateful for it would definitely by my testimony. Without my testimony and conversion I would be so lost. My greatest desire is to endure to the end and never lose my faith. The gospel is so true and I don't know what I would do without my Savior's love. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Nephi 19:9

He thinks of Grandma and Grandpa Jensen every time he eats. 

Exchanges in Elk City

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a long. Between Zone P-day and Exchanges it's been hard to accomplish everything we want to but we're trying our best.

Tuesday we taught a lady named Inez the Restoration. We committed her to come to church and she didn't accept or turn down the baptismal invitation. She seemed pretty interested so we set up a lesson for Friday but when we went there on Friday she ignored us. Later in the afternoon we went out with a member and all of our plans fell through so we visited an investigator, Carl,  we hadn't planned on seeing. Apparently, the Lord wanted us to go there because the member and Carl connected and hopefully Carl will be more comfortable coming to church now. That night we had a lesson with Cesar about marriage and Word of Wisdom. He was progressing pretty good but he's been having some commitment issues recently.

Wednesday we biked out to the VA to visit a less-active member and wish him a happy veterans day but he wasn't there. That evening we went with a member out to Butler and picked up some new investigators. But we got word yesterday that they're moving to Missouri in a couple of weeks so that won't work out anymore.

Thursday we visited a lady named Michelle. She's been taught by the missionaries for months now but she can't seem to stop smoking. We've started teaching her mother in law and we're trying to get the rest of her family involved too. Family support is vital when people are trying to overcome addictions.

After district meeting on Friday we went on exchanges. I went to Elk City with Elder Santamaria. On our way to Elk City we stopped in Burns Flatt and tried to visit some people. As we were walking around we saw two ladies talking in their driveway. We started talking to them and one of them had never even heard of our church. She hadn't even heard the term "Mormons" before and she's in her 30's. She was super interested and agreed to listen to our message. So we sat down on her driveway and taught her the Restoration. After we had set up a return appointment and said goodbye, a random member walked up and started bearing his testimony and sharing his conversion story. It was such an awesome miracle! #tendermercies 

Saturday we spent all day in Elk City building a porch for a less-active member which was fun but probably not the most effective thing in the world.

Sunday no one came to church. At least none of our investigators. We talked to Cesar on the phone literally 20 minutes before church started and he said he was coming. But then he never showed up. The part-member families we were working with kept rescheduling this week so we were never able to meet with them but they said they would be at church. Elder Quinones and I spoke in sacrament meeting which was fun. It was really depressing that no one came to church though. The rest of the day was really hard. Supposedly, Sunday evenings are prime proselyting time but no one would let us in. One of my favorite quotes is by Elder Holland. "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.  Salvation never was easy.  We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our great eternal head.  How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that life isn't supposed to be easy. We have to suffer as a part of the plan. But Christ has suffered more than we ever will. "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:8) If we rely on the Savior we will always be able to have the strength to make it through challenges.

Anyways, I'm still doing fantastic and I'm so excited for this next week! :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Nephi 15:25

Clinton, Oklahoma

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow what a crazy week it's been. It's been long but we've gotten lots of work done!

My first P-day in Clinton was fun. Everything is lot more expensive than in the city so hopefully I don't starve to death ;) That night we did some service helping someone move and then had an awesome lesson with a part-member family. We were about to start the lesson when another part-member family showed up so we got some more potential baptisms! Most of them showed up to church on Sunday which was so awesome.

Tuesday we biked out to an Indian Independent living center to visit some investigators and less-actives. They weren't there but we ran into a less-active who isn't on the roster so that was good.  That night we visited a less-active who thought it was 11 instead of 7 so he opened the door and started yelling at us because he thought it was really late at night.

Wednesday morning we did service for one of our investigators (Bessie, an Okie talker like none other.) We visited lots of people and taught lots of lessons. In my old area, getting member-present lessons was hard because we didn't teach any lessons. This area is hard because we don't have hardly any members to take out with us. Interesting how that works.

Thursday was rough. I wasn't feeling too good and I feel asleep at a less-active's house because my comp and the less-active were speaking spanish.

Friday was party! We celebrated Hermana Hansen's birthday at district meeting. We tried visiting the Mother in law of one of our investigators who can't quit smoking and she actually listened to us and committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. Apparently in the past she has ran away from missionaries so it was a miracle that she was that receptive. Friday night we had a cool experience. We got back to the apartment at 8:55 so we started walking around the apartments across the street and ran into a lady who was not doing too well. She was leaving her family and trying to get to Kansas or something. We gave her a Book of Mormon and said a prayer with her. I didn't really know what to say to her but I tried talking anyways and the spirit gave me the words I needed to say. I've realized that the key to missionary work is relying on the spirit so I'm trying to get better at it.

Saturday was a pretty typical day. Taught some lessons and got to do a FHE with an investigator. During dinner some guy in the ward called me and asked me if I wanted to do a piano solo in church the next day so that was awesome :)

Sunday we had a regional broadcast and it was SO good. We had quite a few investigators and less-actives at church which was a 100% improvement from last week. 

Yesterday was Zone P-day so we drove to the city and went to the Zoo which was fun I guess.

This area has so much potential and things are going so good! The Lord is blessing us with so many miracles and we have 4 investigators with a baptismal date for the 28th. We've been slacking off with doing member missionary work because we don't have very many members but we're going to repent and do phase 3 on a daily basis! Things in my old area aren't going too well. Helen is struggling with her marriage, and the less-active and his girlfriend are struggling as well. On the bright side, the 3 foster kids apparently have a lawyer and they're pushing to get rid of their mom's parental rights which would mean baptism!

The weather is getting colder here and I'm starting to miss St. George more and more. The cold is no bueno! Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Veterans Day!

Love, Elder Larsen

Moroni 7:45-48