Norman Oklahoma

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been another awesome one, time is flying by!

Monday evening we had dinner with the stake president and his family which was cool :) We spent the rest of the evening visiting with crazy less-actives...

Tuesday was a super solid day of work. Handed out lots of BoMs and got some new potentials.We had interviews with President Walkenhorst in the middle of the afternoon so we biked to the stake center in 90 degree heat in suits so that was sweaty. We visited with some of our investigators, Tiffany and JD, and found out that they randomly decided to quit smoking. Definitely a miracle seeing as we've only taught them the restoration so far :) Later in the afternoon, Elder Vincent's bike tire popped. So we walked for the rest of the day. But it was good, we got to talk to lots of people. In the evening we had a priest come out teaching with us. Our appointments fell through but luckily we were able to briefly teach one of our solid potentials and get a return appointment.

Wednesday was a pretty slow day. When we left the apartment at 10 in the morning we thought we had Elder Vincent's bike fixed. Nope. We ended up having to take it to the bike shop and turns out the axle cracked as well. So we did lots of walking and tried to stay as productive as possible without bikes. We did get to do some service in the evening for a lady in our ward though so that was lots of fun :)

Thursday we had the car so we were able to get more stuff done. Found a new investigator and set some new baptismal dates with JD and Tiffany!

Friday we had exchanges with the set of Elders in our district. I stayed in the 2nd ward with Elder Norman. It was my first time leading out in the area so I was a little nervous but we didn't get lost so that was good. We also saw a really cool miracle! :) In the afternoon I was trying really hard to follow the spirit and find someone who would be receptive to our message. At first, nothing happened. But then one of the doors I felt prompted to knock on turned out to be a pretty interested lady. She received a BoM from the missionaries years ago but never read any of it until just recently. She said we could come back and that she has some questions about what she has read! Hopefully we will be able to meet with her and her family tonight :)

Saturday morning we did some more service and had a member come out teaching with us. The appointments we had fell through but we were able to go home teaching with the member and randomly got fed lunch so that was cool. In the afternoon we visited an older lady who got baptized back in February. She is really nice and is doing well. 

Sunday we had 0 investigators at church again which was sad. After church we biked out the richer west part of our area to try some less-actives who we have never met. The ones who we were able to meet weren't receptive though. But on our way back to the apartment for dinner, we saw some people moving stuff and offered to help. They were grateful for our help and it turns out one of them is a less-active member who is not on our roster. He said we could come back and practice teaching him the discussions so that was a cool service miracle :)

I've been studying a lot about recognizing and following the spirit recently. For me, the biggest challenge is knowing whether or not the promptings are from the spirit or whether it's just the thoughts in my head. But the ultimate way to judge is given in Moroni 7:15-16.

"15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."

If the prompting or thought we receive is good, then follow it. We don't need to know in the moment if it is the spirit. As long as we are trying our best to follow Christ and do the right thing, we will be led by his spirit.

Anyways, things are going absolutely fantastic in the Norman 2nd ward and I love being able to serve and love God's children here! Thanks for all y'alls support and love; have a wonderful week and don't forget to follow the spirit!

Love, Elder Larsen

3 Nephi 9:19-20

Baptism of Halle and Kayley

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely amazing and filled with miracles! It's always a good week when children of God get baptized :)

Monday was zone p-day and standard training meeting which was a blast! Our zone leaders taught us a lot about CPR (Church, Prayer, Read) and how to help our investigators better develop faith through receiving revelation.

Tuesday we handed out 7 Book of Mormons and got tons of potentials! We also found a new investigator named Marilyn. #Miracles She's so awesome and receptive! We found her through tracting in a part of our area that hasn't been worked in a while. We were able to teach her the Restoration and the spirit was so strong. When we asked her to say the closing prayer, she protested because she was afraid she might start crying. But she said it anyways and it was a beautiful prayer :) The spirit was definitely there. She's been meeting with the JW's but she says that their teachings don't all make sense to her. She agreed to baptism and hopefully we can get her to church this coming week. 

Wednesday we had a zone leadership meeting in the morning. In the afternoon we ended up doing some tracting. The very last house we tried someone finally answered the door and was willing to talk with us so that was a cool miracle :) In the evening we visited Halle and Kayley so we could teach them the rest of the lessons they needed in order to be baptized.

Thursday we visited the recent convert family, the Smiths. They are so solid and I love them so much! We had a good lesson with them and they are doing awesome! The dad and the cousin were able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday and we are making plans to take them to the temple soon to do some baptisms for their family members. Before dinner we visited Halle and Kayley in order to go over the baptismal interview questions with them so they would be ready for the interviews on Friday. After dinner we had a member come out with us because we had a lesson set up with a media referral we received a while back. The appointment fell through so we tried a bunch of other people with no luck. But an hour later, the media referral called us and apologized for missing the appointment. We asked if we could come over right now and he said sure. So we were able to go and teach him the restoration. He is a really good guy and has lots of good questions. Not sure how interested he is in joining the church but he definitely wants to learn more and plans on reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.

Friday I got to go on exchanges with one of our zone leaders in their area. I had a blast and learned lots from him. We had a pretty funny experience too while we were walking around trying to talk to people. We talked to this lady and she turned out to be pretty interested. We gave her a BoM and got her phone number. We then called the phone number so that she would have our number as well. Haha bad idea. Her boyfriend answered the phone (apparently they share the phone) and he demanded to speak with her. Turns out they had just gotten into a fight and she had run away. So we gave her the phone and it was just super awkward from that time forward. But hey, God led us to her for a reason so hopefully she is able to learn more about the restored gospel :)

Saturday Elder Vincent wasn't feeling too great so we were only able to teach one lesson in the afternoon. But in the evening Halle and Kayley were able to be baptized! Everything went well and they had lots of family and friends who showed up to support them. It was awesome!

Sunday was fantastic! Elder Vincent and I got to confirm Halle and Kayley. We didn't have any investigators come to church though so that was a bummer. After church we had a lesson with Marilyn. We were able to read the BoM with her and answer some more of her questions :) Then we had lunch/dinner/correlation with our ward mission leader and skyped home so that was super fun :) Best Mothers Day Ever!!

In Honor of Mothers Day, I'd to share some of my favorite motherly verses from the Book of Mormon.

"46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

Alma 56:46-48

"19 But behold, my little band of two thousand and sixty fought most desperately; yea, they were firm before the Lamanites, and did administer death unto all those who opposed them.
 20 And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and sixty were firm and undaunted.
 21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them."

Alma 57:19-21

I'm so grateful for mothers, especially for my mother. She has taught me so many things throughout my life and has helped me to strengthen my testimony through her valiant example. The older I get, the more I appreciate all that mothers do. Thanks for all you do Mom, I love you! Happy Mothers Day everyone!

Love, Elder Larsen

Mosiah 4:11-12

Tornado Season

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been very long and crazy to say the least. But we are still working hard and seeing so many miracles :)

Last Monday I got to play basketball on a 10 ft hoop for the first time in forever so that was really fun :) Not too much happened in the evening, we did lots of biking and trying to talk to people.

Tuesday was the first big storm of this year's tornado season. There was a lot of hype about it so we were pretty excited but it turned out to be really boring. Apparently the day before in Texas there were 27 mission vehicles that got put out of commission from hail or something so we were ordered to find shelter for our car. So when it got close to time for the storm, we parked our car in a member's garage who was out of town and then went to one of our tornado shelters for the rest of night. The members were really nice and fed us dinner so that was fun. But all it did was rain. No tornados or anything. And we had appointments that night that we had to cancel because of it :(

Wednesday morning we got to do service for some guy who was moving into our apartment complex. We were more than happy to help and to show his appreciation, he took us out to dinner at a Japenese steak house where you get to watch the chef cook the food with lots of fire and fancy knife tricks so that was a blast! We also were able to teach 3 solid lessons throughout the day which basically made it the best day ever!

Thursday afternoon we did lots of biking and talking to people so that was fun :) In the evening we had the car (and lots of miles to burn) so were able to visit and teach lots of people!

Friday the weather forecast was rain in the afternoon and evening. So we didn't really think too much of it. But when we were about to go out in the afternoon, our weather radio sounded the alarm and said that we were under a tornado watch til 10 that night. We didn't think too much of it since we had a tornado watch basically all day on Tuesday and nothing happened, so we hopped on our bikes and started proselyting. We even had some guy yell at us on the street to find shelter because of the storm that was coming. Around 4:00 we learned from our zone leaders that a tornado had touched down in Chickasha (which is just southwest of Norman) and that it was headed our way. We had a member pick us up at 4:00 to go teach a lesson but then the tornado sirens went off so we had him take us to our shelter. It was definitely more exciting than Tuesday since the sirens actually went off and people started going crazy but the small tornado that did go through Norman wasn't anywhere close to us and the hail wasn't very big either. But we survived so I guess I can't complain too much ;)

Saturday we spent the first half of the day helping a member move out of the ward. In the evening, we had the opportunity to drive back to Clinton for the baptism of Bradley and Shyanne! It was so much fun and the spirit was so strong at the baptism. It was good to see everyone again. Definitely the highlight of the week! :)

Sunday was good. We only had 1 investigator at sacrament meeting so that was disappointing. The afternoon was slow, all of our appointment and investigators fell through. But we were able to teach a lesson to Hally and Kayley who are getting baptized this Saturday. Their Grandpa is a less-active member and the missionaries before me have already taught them almost everything. So hopefully everything goes as planned and they are able to get baptized this Saturday!

With all the appointments that fell through this week it's been hard to stay positive and optimistic. But I really like a scripture I read this morning in Moroni 7:35, 37. "...has the day of miracles ceased? ... Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." When we are exercising faith and expecting miracles everyday, they will come. They only stop because we are lacking in faith or because we stop looking for them. Let us all exercise greater faith and look for the daily miracles in our lives :)

Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful week! Stay safe and have fun. Summer is upon us, wahooo! Also, a quick shout out to my amazing mother who had her birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 4

1-3. Tuesday night storm pics

4. Friday evening storm picture

5. Baptism of Bradley and Shyanne!

Transfers

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been long but very exciting as well! Norman is a great area and I can already tell it's going to be a blast serving here. My new companion, Elder Vincent, is from Hawaii and he is a boss missionary!

Monday night we visited Laura and Ruby and I said goodbye to Bradley and Shyanne. I found out last night that they are getting married TODAY! And they are planning on being baptized this coming Saturday! Couldn't be more excited for them!! :)

Tuesday I got all my stuff packed up and said goodbye to Carl, Bessie, Laura, Ruby, Bishop, and others.

Wednesday we had transfers which was a blast as always :) It didn't take very long to get to my new area, Norman is like 20 minutes south of Mission HQ. The Norman 2nd Ward where I am serving is one of the geographically smallest wards in the mission. And it's split into two areas, the north area (where I serve) and the south area (which has a set of sister missionaries). We have a car that we share with the sisters but we don't have too many miles so we do a lot of biking. My first day we biked around a lot and were able to talk to a bunch of people which was awesome!

Thursday we did a lot of planning and organizing in the morning. In the afternoon we were able to teach a lesson to one of the investigators here. His name is J.D. and he is pretty cool. The struggle will be getting him to church because he works on Sundays. In the evening we visited a family who just got baptized last Saturday. They are so cool and I'm excited to be able to work with them :)

Friday was my 9 month mark which was really weird. Time flies when you're having fun :) Since the Norman zone is one of the smallest in the mission, all the missionaries in the zone go do sports every Friday morning at 6 at the church. So I'm pretty stoked for that :) District meeting was good and we found lots of potentials in the afternoon. At 5 we had a member come out with us so we decided to go visit a media referral we received early that day on the far side of our area. When we showed up to deliver the requested items, the guy said that he told the missionaries on temple square to send missionaries to him Friday at 5. We were shocked because we had no idea that he requested a specific time, the referral we received didn't say anything about it. So that was a pretty cool miracle even though he was just leaving with his daughters to go to softball practice. We're excited to be able to meet with them this next week :) 

Saturday we did about 7 miles of biking in the heat of the afternoon which was tiring but also fun! In the morning we were riding through a neighborhood and we accidentally missed a lady sitting in her front yard smoking because we saw her too late and were riding too fast. As we were heading back the other way after trying some other people, I felt prompted to ride back the same way we came in case the lady was still in her yard. She was and we were able to have a really good conversation with her and she accepted a Book of Mormon! #Miracle In the evening we had a lesson with an investigator named Rome. He came to church on Sunday and is looking for help with his smoking and drinking problems. Later we fixed a flat on one of the sisters bikes. After that we visited a single sister who just had her daughter baptized. We were able to dedicate her apartment and give her a blessing which was cool.

Sunday we had ward council at 7:30 and church at 9 so it was an early morning. It was weird being back in a regular church building with a regular ward. There were so many people I didn't know so I've got lots of names to learn. In the afternoon and evening we had members come out with us but we weren't able to teach any lessons unfortunately. Although we were able to help a member bury their dead cat which was older than I was so that was interesting ;)

The past couple of days have been absolutely exhausting with all the things I've had to do and with all of the changes and adjusting but when we rely upon the Lord, he blesses us with the strength we need. One of my all-time favorite quotes is by President Eyring. He says,

"We are to learn our duty from the Lord, and then we are to act in all diligence, never being lazy or slothful. The pattern is simple but not easy to follow. We are so easily distracted. Studying the daily news can appear more interesting than the priesthood lesson manual. Sitting down to rest can be more attractive than making appointments to visit those who need our priesthood service.
When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: “Remember Him.” The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes before us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring others with us."

Let us all fulfill our callings and act in all diligence. With regards to home and visiting teaching, being a missionary has taught me how important it is. I see firsthand almost every day what happens when people don't do their home and visiting teaching. When we serve those around us we are able to experience the joy that comes from following the example of Jesus Christ.

Anyways, I hope yall have a wonderful week! 

Love, Elder Larsen

Helamen 5:30

P.S. My new address is

1850 W. Robinson Apt. C

Norman, OK 73069

1. Elder Vincent and I at transfers

2. Sister Leavitt and I at transfers

3. The golf course right next to our apartment

4. View from our balcony

Laura and Ruby get Baptized!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been absolutely fantastic! We got transfer doctrine last night and I am being transferred to the Norman 2nd Ward! I'm super sad to leave Clinton though, I love this little town and it will always have a special place in my heart.

Monday night we had dinner and a lesson with Bradley and Shyanne. We talked with them about all the blessings that come from baptism and reminded them of the revelation they received to get married on April 18th. They said they were praying about it a lot and they were still not quite sure when they were going to be married. But when we visited them again later in the week they said they were probably going to get married this Friday and then do the baptism on Saturday! So excited for them!

Tuesday my bike got a flat tire (Only 2 flats in 6 months!). We visited Bessie again. She totally knows that the gospel is true but is still resisting baptism which is really frustrating and sad. Hopefully someday she'll come around. In the evening we went with Bishop to help Laura's friend Maria with some of her tree trimming which was fun :) Afterwards we tried some of our potentials. The very last one we tried told us that they were busy and we could come back later. So we started walking away but when we were almost around the corner they opened the door and told us they would give us a few minutes. So we were able to share a quick video and talk a lot about the Book of Mormon which was awesome!

Wednesday we were able to have a lesson with a new investigator we found a little while back. She is the sister in law of a less-active Spanish member. We also had a lesson with Maria, Laura, and Ruby and went to the church to do some family history with Carl :)

Thursday we went and visited one of our newer investigators. We taught her the plan of salvation and she is a lot more committed to her baptism now :) We also found lots of solid potential investigators and finalized the programs and stuff for Laura and Ruby's baptism.

Friday we had a bunch of appointments set up but they all fell through. In the evening we went to Cordell for dinner and a lesson with Karie and Beth which was super awesome :)

Saturday was the baptism of Laura and Ruby!! Me and Elder Quinones street contacted Laura back in December and it's been so cool to see how the gospel has changed their lives. The baptism went smoothly and lots of people showed up. I was able to baptize Laura in Spanish which was really cool, I've never done an ordinance in another language before :) A simply wonderful day :)

Sunday Laura and Ruby were confirmed by the Spanish group leader and Bishop. They were definitely the most spiritual confirmations I've ever been apart of. One of the coolest experiences I've had on my mission thus far :) After lunch we went on splits in Clinton. We were able to teach a few people and found some potentials in the rain which was good.

Serving in Clinton, Oklahoma has been an amazing experience. At times it was definitely a refiners fire but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I love the people here so much and I will be forever grateful for the tender mercies and baptisms I've been able to experience :) I feel just like Ammon in Alma 26:11-12, 

"But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

Anyways, I hope y'all have a wonderful week. Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Love, Elder Larsen

Helamen 3:35

1. Me and Bessie

2. Us at the baptism

3. Me and my new haircut (Do you like it Emily? ;))

Baptism of Beth!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was absolutely fantastic! I love being a missionary and being able to witness the miracle of people changing their lives to follow Jesus Christ!

Tuesday we went over the baptismal interview questions with Laura and Ruby which went well. We read the Book of Mormon with an investigator and visited Bradley and Shyanne in the evening.

Wednesday morning we visited Carl and found out that he got some pills from his doctor so that he doesn't think he has to drink coffee anymore. It's a really weird dilemma because he thinks that he has to drink coffee in order to be healthy. But he's not drinking it anymore so that's good. Hopefully he can receive the Priesthood next Sunday since he's living the Word of Wisdom now. In the afternoon we found a new investigator named Jose while tracting which was awesome! We had the baptismal interviews for Laura, Ruby, and Beth, and they all went well :)

Thursday we helped a less-active fix the brakes on his bike. We visited Bessie and retaught her the Restoration which was really helpful. We think her understanding gap is in the fact that she probably thinks she can get to the celestial kingdom without joining Christ's church. So we'll see if we can get that point across somehow. 

Friday we were planning on going to Cordell for a lesson and a dinner with Beth and Karie but they had to cancel on us because they had to go to the city for the day. But the member who was giving us a ride to Cordell offered to take us to dinner and go teaching which was awesome!

Saturday morning we had the baptism of Beth. Everything went really smoothly and Beth said she had a really good spiritual time :) It was my first time actually baptizing someone but I wasn't that nervous because of all the baptisms for the dead I did before I came out on my mission.

Sunday Elder Knight confirmed Beth and we had a really cool fast and testimony meeting :) In the afternoon we ended up doing some tracting. One guy came to the door and said, "Can't talk right now, I'm watching the Masters." I had no idea it was the Masters and would've preferred to have gone the whole day without knowing because it definitely distracted my thoughts for the rest of the day. Anyways, we started walking to the next house and this guy walks outside with a bucket of golf balls and a golf club. He sets them down on the grass, sees us, and walks back inside. I started laughing because it made me really miss playing golf ;) In the evening we had a Stake General Priesthood Meeting that was broadcast to our Church building in Clinton which was really good :)

Laura and Ruby will be baptized this Saturday! We had to push it back a week because the hispanic family in Weatherford was out of town this past weekend. So we're pretty excited for that :) Bradley and Shyanne are still doing really well but they're thinking of pushing their baptism/marriage back to May so hopefully that doesn't end up happening. 

This week I've been studying a lot about prayer and I really love the Bible Dictionary entry on prayer. It says, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." Prayer is one of the most basic acts of faith but yet it is one of the most powerful. Through diligent thoughtful prayer we can be sure that we are on the right path. We can continuously develop a stronger relationship with our father in Heaven and remember our divine identity. One of my favorite quotes from this last conference in by Elder Hallstrom. "When difficult things occur in our lives, what is our immediate response? Is it confusion or doubt or spiritual withdrawal? Is it a blow to our faith? Do we blame God or others for our circumstances? Or is our first response to remember who we are—that we are children of a loving God? Is that coupled with an absolute trust that He allows some earthly suffering because He knows it will bless us, like a refiner’s fire, to become like Him and to gain our eternal inheritance?" 

Anyways, things are going great in Clinton and I couldn't be happier! Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 57:21

1. Elder Knight, Beth, Magdelyn (Her granddaughter), and Me before the baptism

2. Elder Whetten, Elder Knight, Karie, Beth, Me, and Elder Burt

3. The awesome taco truck trailer thing we went to for lunch!

General Conference!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was pretty busy with Zone Conference and General Conference, and we're pumped for this coming week!

Monday night we had a lesson with Laura and Ruby. Ruby told us that she is excited for baptism now which is super exciting! We taught them about obeying and honoring the law of the land which was interesting because Laura strongly dislikes the government and our english to spanish translation was creating some confusion as well. But towards the end we were finally able to clearly communicate the principle which was good :)

Tuesday we had zone conference in the city for most of the day which was fun and very instructive. In the evening we ended up going to the church to help set up for a funeral and then afterwards we visited Carl. He's doing a lot better and the only thing holding him back from receiving the priesthood is coffee but he's meeting with his doctor today in order to find an alternative :)

Wednesday was pretty slow. We went to a funeral in the afternoon for a less-active member who lived out by Elk City. I knew him pretty well because we helped him move his daughter to her new home my first week in Clinton. I also visited him in his house a couple of times on exchanges. It was sad to see him go but he lived in a lot of pain and is now at rest. After the funeral we had our last official lesson with Bessie. She has decided not to be baptized. But it was still a really cool and spiritual lesson, one of the best I've had on my mission. Many tears were shed on both sides and I hope and pray that someday she will come to the waters of baptism so that she can receive the full blessings of the gospel and priesthood into her life. In the evening we visited Laura and Ruby and planned out their baptismal service.

Thursday was awesome! We taught one of our new investigators the plan of salvation and set a baptismal date with her! After that we had another lesson with Laura's friend Maria. We read 1 Nephi 1 and she is now a lot more committed and interested in reading and praying more about the Book of Mormon. In the evening we had a member come out teaching with us. Earlier in the day when we were doing weekly planning we felt prompted to change our nightly plans and go visit one of our media referrals who we have had a hard time contacting. So we went there with the member and they invited us in. We were able to teach the whole family the restoration and they seem pretty interested and open :) They were asking some really good questions and so we will see what ends up happening with them.

Friday afternoon was pretty slow. In the evening we visited Bradley and Shyanne and taught them more about the priesthood. After the lesson, Bradley gave us a ride down to Cordell so we could teach Beth. We had a 2 hour lesson in which we covered most of lesson 4, went over the baptismal interview questions, and planned out the baptismal service. Bradley was a super solid member present even though he's not technically a member yet :)

Saturday we were at the church all day watching conference with the other missionaries. The one family who did come to the church made us lunch in between the morning and afternoon sessions which was really nice of them :) Before the priesthood session we had a chili dinner with all the men in the ward, which included a Jalepeno eating contest. So much fun!

Sunday evening we visited Carl and made the programs for Laura, Ruby, and Beth's baptisms :)

Yesterday we went to the city for a zone pday and standard training meeting which was a blast as usual! :) (Hence why I'm finishing emailing on a Tuesday)

So if everything goes as planned, Beth, Laura, and Ruby will all be baptized this Saturday!! So excited for them :)

General Conference was super awesome (as always) and one of my favorite talks was the one by Bonnie L. Oscarson. As missionaries, it's pretty easy to know the gospel. We spend hours studying and teaching it every day. But when we face opposition we're forced to ask ourselves, "I know it but do I really believe it?" Strengthening our conviction, conversion, faith, and testimony is a daily process. We are never safe from opposition until our trial here on Earth is complete. We must choose everyday to believe the gospel and to draw nearer to Christ because if we aren't drawing nearer, we falling farther and farther away (2 Nephi 28:30). This gospel is so true and I don't know what I would do without the fruits of it in my life :)

Well I've got to get going now but I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

2 Nephi 31:19-20

P.S. We have transfers on April 20 (and I'll probably be leaving Clinton) so if you're going to send me mail, make sure it gets here before that date. The mission office address is

416 SW 79th St Ste 210
Oklahoma City, OK 73139