6 months

Dear Family and Friends,

I've been in Norman for 6 months now and I'm still continuing to love it! I feel so lucky and blessed to have had the opportunity to serve here for so long.

Monday evening we were biking around and a member in the ward texted us saying she needed help moving a couch. So we went and helped her with it and one of her co-workers was there too. The co-worker was just absolutely thrilled with how quickly we showed up and with how we serve people for 2 years as missionaries. She lives in a neighboring town so we gave her the number for the missionaries there and she was really appreciative. So that was pretty cool :) After that we had a recent convert lesson with the Smith family.

Tuesday I had a leadership training meeting in the city which was a blast! I got to see a lot of my missionary friends and President Mansell announced some more exciting changes to the mission. President and Sister Mansell are simply the best! When I got back to Norman, we had dinner with Danny and his family which was super fun, they're such a great family. After dinner Danny came teaching with us and everything we had planned fell through. But we did have a lesson with a less-active at 8 so that was good.

Wednesday morning we went down to the south part of the area and tried to visit some more members. While we were talking to one less-active, another less-active (who we thought was moved) walked up and started talking with us. We were able to get his new address and phone number so that was a cool miracle :) We did a combined lunch/dinner in the afternoon since we had appointments scheduled from 3:30 to the rest of the evening. And they all went through! At 3:30 we did our usual service at the assisted living center. At 5 we had a good visit with an active/less-active family that we want to help get sealed in the temple. At 6 we had a great plan of salvation lesson with Martin, Marelyn, and their son Zadrin. At 7 we had a fantastic lesson with Carrie about families and the temple. And at 8 we had a lesson with our less-active recent converts. Such a fun day full of teaching!

Thursday afternoon we had a full restoration lesson with Marvin and he loved it! He even remembered the date we set for his baptism. So excited to teach him and watch the gospel help him change for the better :) In the evening we had dinner/coordination with our ward mission leader.

Friday afternoon our appointments at 3 and 4 fell through but our lesson at 5 with Sister Brock and her granddaughter Lela went really well.

Saturday morning we had a member come with us to go teach one of the new investigators we found last week but she wasn't there. So we decided to give one of our referrals one last try and she was home! She invited us in and we were able to teach a solid restoration lesson and she committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon #Miracles In the afternoon during the OU football game we biked around the west part of our area and tried to visit some people without much success. Around 3 we started exchanges with the zone leaders and I got to stay in my area. We first went with Danny to teach Marvin and Danny was absolutely perfect fellowship for Marvin. They have a lot in common and Danny was in similar situation as Marvin's 4 months ago. It was so cool to see Danny bear down in pure testimony and share his conversion story. Very powerful lesson! After dinner we biked around and talked to some people.

Sunday we were still on exchanges at church so that was kind of unusual. I'll bet some of the members in the ward probably thought that Elder Neil and I got in a fight or something and he got emergency transferred. But Martin came to church again, this time with Marelyn and Zadrin as well. It was so awesome and they really enjoyed church! Marvin also came for the first time and really enjoyed it as well. After we exchanged back we did some finding and had a dessert night with some members and their non-member friends which was really cool :)

Carrie was out of town this past weekend so hopefully we'll be able to have a lesson with her this coming week and discuss her thoughts on the temple and eternal families. She still says she knows the Book of Mormon is true so hopefully soon she'll make a decision about which church to join. Marvin is on date for Novemeber 19th and we hope to be able to set a date with Martin and Marelyn this coming week. The lord has blessed us with so many awesome investigators!

One of my favorite talks from General Conference was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "O How Great the Plan of Our God!" I love the analogy he uses at the beginning; comparing using technology to living the gospel. 

"The more adept I get at technology, the more I take it for granted... It seems to be human nature: as we become more familiar with something, even something miraculous and awe-inspiring, we lose our sense of awe and treat it as commonplace. Taking for granted our modern technologies and conveniences may be a relatively small matter. But, sadly, we sometimes take a similar attitude toward the eternal and soul-expanding doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Church of Jesus Christ, we have been given so much. We are surrounded by such an astonishing wealth of light and truth that I wonder if we truly appreciate what we have."

One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon is Alma 5:26.

"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"

It's so easy to go through the motions when living the gospel. But something that has helped me to remember and feel the awe and power of the gospel is something simple: Focusing on others. The Character of Christ, the ability to turn outward and help others is a key to not taking the gospel for granted. When we're motivated by Charity, living the gospel is so refreshing and so much fun. Let us all from time to time ask ourselves "Can we feel so now?" and ponder about how we can remember "How Great the Plan of Our God!"

Well, I hope y'all have another fantastic week! The gospel is true and the fruit thereof is sweet. Y'all are the best and I miss y'all so much!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 5:7

"Hey, I want to get baptized. What do I have to do?"

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another amazing miracle-filled week here in Norman! The weather is finally cooling off and it's bringing back flashbacks of last winter in Clinton when I thought I would freeze to death everyday. PTSD is the best ;)

Monday I took a nap because my throat was really sore and I just overall didn't feel well. Haha then at dinner we got fed a salad that I thought had some pecans in it. Nope, they were walnuts (which I'm slightly allergic to), just what my throat really wanted :) Our appointment we had in the evening fell though because our investigator, Tana, got sick so that was unfortunate.

Tuesday morning we went out and did some finding which was good. In the afternoon I cleaned up and organized some of the apartment while Elder Kilmer finished packing his things. We found a new investigator before dinner so that was a cool miracle :) After dinner, Danny came out teaching with us but our appointment and backups fell through. But Elder Kilmer was able to say goodbye to Carrie and then the less active we tried at 8:30 had a friend over who wanted to learn more about the gospel so that was pretty sweet!

Wednesday was transfers and I got my new companion Elder Neil who hails from the great state of New Mexico. So far on my mission, all of my companions have been from different states or countries so that's kind of cool :) In the afternoon we had a handoff lesson with the sister missionaries who used to be in the ward with us. They gave us their investigator, Huang Xi, and she is super cool! Her English is pretty good but it still requires us to teach really simply. It's also unique because she doesn't have the typical Oklahoma christian background to build off of. After that we did service and after dinner we had a great lesson with Martin. We taught him the plan of salvation and he really enjoyed it. After that we visited the Smiths and then had a lesson with Sister Rink. Really busy but really awesome day!

Thursday morning we had 3 lessons set up, 1 of which actually went through. We taught Matthew for the second time and were able to answer his questions and concerns about the godhead and our potential to become like God. After that we had a media referral named Stephen who was kind enough to take us out for lunch. We met him at a restaurant, ate some food, and taught him the restoration. He liked the message and is really excited to read the book of mormon. And he wants to take us out to lunch again this next week and hopefully this time his girlfriend will be there too. So that was an awesome miracle! In the evening we started visiting some of the members down in the south part of the ward that we've never worked in before. So the first house we went to we walked up and knocked on the door but no one answered. As we turned to leave, we saw a lady walking up to the house with a toddler in a stroller and her son walking behind her. We started talking to her and she was the person we were looking for. As we talked, I glanced at the kid in the stroller and it looked a lot like Carrie's son, Zion, but I couldn't tell for sure because it was pretty dark outside. We kept talking and the closer I looked, the more and more it looked like Zion. Finally I pointed at the stroller and asked, "Is that Zion?" She said that it was and that she's best friends with Carrie. So that was a miracle that we were able to find out that she's friends with Carrie. And it definitely helps explain a lot since she's less-active and has probably been feeding Carrie a bunch of garbage about the church.

Friday was good. After district meeting we did lots of biking around and talking with people. Lots of stuff fell through but it was still an awesome day!

Saturday morning we drove our bikes down to the south part of the ward and visited a lot of members down there. After we did that for a while, we felt like we should go try and find a referral named Marvin that we got from some of the OU Elders. The missionaries who talked to him said that the first words out of his mouth were, "Hey, I want to get baptized. What do I have to do?". We tried to find him on Thursday but we weren't sure if we had the right apartment since we were told building C and all the buildings in the complex were numbered. So this time we discovered that we had tried the wrong apartment 16 and so we decided to try all of the apartment 16s in the complex until we found him. Luckily, we ran into some lady who works there and she was able to point us in the right direction. Marvin answered the door and let us right in. We didn't have a lot of time because of another lesson we had scheduled in the afternoon but we gave him a Book of Mormon, taught a brief restoration lesson, and committed him to baptism on November 19th! He seems really sincere and has a strong desire to change and follow Christ. He told us that every time in his life when he's gone through something hard, the missionaries have appeared seemingly out of nowhere. So beyond excited for him! In the evening we had a lesson with the Williams family and then dinner and a lesson with the Smith family. It was a blast!

Sunday we had Lela who came to church again, this time the Williams family brought her with them. Martin also came to church for the first time and he loved it! Everything went well and the members made him feel really welcome. In the afternoon we did some driving/biking and were able to get a lot of stuff done :)

As for our investigators, Carrie really enjoyed general conference and is still reading the Book of Mormon. She's been pretty busy recently but we hopeful that we'll be able to have an actual lesson with her this next week. She's getting closer to baptism and we're so excited for her!

One of my favorite talks from conference was the one by Elder M. Russell Ballard titled, "To Whom Shall We Go?" As I listened to it, I was reminded of a devotional by Tad R. Callister titled, "The Blueprint of Christ's Church" in which he says, 

"If one were to match the blueprint of Christ’s original Church against every church in the world today, he would find that point for point, organization for organization, teaching for teaching, ordinance for ordinance, fruit for fruit, and revelation for revelation, it will only match one—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
If one rejects this Church after studying the blueprint, then it will likely ruin him for any other church because he knows too much. He will be like Peter, who was asked by the Savior, “Will ye also go away?” (John 6:67). Peter responded with an answer that should be engraved in every heart and enshrined in every home: “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
If someone turns from the Church, where will he go to learn about the restored truths concerning the nature of God as revealed in the Sacred Grove, the preaching of the gospel to the dead, the three degrees of glory, and eternal families? Where will he go to get the ordinances that can save and exalt him? Where will he go to have his wife and children sealed to him for eternity? Where will he go when he wants a priesthood blessing of comfort or healing for a family member? Where will he go to find a prophet of God? He will look in vain for those doctrines and those ordinances and those powers and those prophets, as they are unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

Suffice it to say, I can live with some human imperfections, even among prophets of God—that is to be expected in mortal beings. I can live with some alleged scientific findings contrary to the Book of Mormon; time will correct those. And I can live with some seeming historical anomalies; they are minor in the total landscape of truth. But I cannot live without the doctrinal truths and ordinances restored by Joseph Smith, I cannot live without the priesthood of God to bless my family, and I cannot live without knowing my wife and children are sealed to me for eternity. That is the choice we face—a few unanswered questions on one hand versus a host of doctrinal certainties and the power of God on the other. And for me, and I hope for you, the choice is an easy one and a rational one."

I wish I had time to tell yall about all the other miracles we saw this week. Thank y'all for your love and support and for your amazing examples of faith and love. Keep up the good work and I hope y'all have a simply wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 130:18-19

Operation Bike Week

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, we got transfer doctrine last night and to my much surprise, I'm staying in Norman for another transfer! :) Even though I've already been here for 6 months I didn't really want to or feel ready to leave and so I'm stoked to get to stay here a little longer. My new companion will be Elder Neil and Elder Kilmer is going back to serve with the Marshallese people again so I'm really excited for him.

Monday was the best P-Day ever because we had our own car and didn't have to catch a ride with anyone. And thus we became agents unto ourselves, to act and not to be acted upon ;) After dinner we had a lesson with Jim and ended up dropping him because he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon :(

Tuesday the zone leaders grounded all the mission vehicles in the zone which was a frustrating setback. President Mansell changed the mission's miles policy half way through the month and so we ended up not having as many miles left as we thought we did. But it all worked out and we ended up biking about 55 miles over the course of 4 days :) Anyways, the highlight of Tuesday was when we had our first sit down lesson with Jared, one of the new investigators we found last week. Jared is super chill and really nice. We got to know his religious background a little better and we're excited to go teach him again tomorrow evening :)

Wednesday we had an extra missionary tagging along for the day so that was fun :) Tried some potentials in the morning, did some family history and service in the afternoon, and taught one of our recent converts about patriarchal blessings before dinner. After dinner one of our teaching appointments cancelled but the other didn't and it was a really awesome lesson :)

Thursday, after we did our planning, we had a handoff lesson with the Spanish missionaries. They started teaching this guy named Matthew and he's super cool. He's a devout Roman Catholic but he has a ton of real intent and is willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to go back and teach him again this coming week! In the evening we had an awesome lesson with the Williams family and got them pumped for general conference. Thursday was also the day I fell off my bike for the first time on my mission. We were riding back to our apartment and I was riding behind Elder Kilmer. There's a narrow fenced in sidewalk with overgrown plants and vines that acts as a shortcut for us so we don't have to bike all the way around to the front of the apartment complex. Haha riding through it at night reminds me of the maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ;) Anyways, Elder Kilmer was in front of me and I was following a little too closely. He pushed a big overhanging vine out of his way and it swung back and hit me as I was riding towards it. I attempted to push it out of the way but instead it somehow got tangled in my bike and turned my front wheel into the side of fence launching me over the handle bars and onto the concrete. I landed on my hands and knees and so my hands got a little scratched up and one of my knees started bleeding a little bit. But oh, how the fall hurt my pride! I thought I could go my whole mission without a bike wreck and I was pretty proud of going 14 months without a single incident. So I got humbled this week ;)

Friday we got to cancel district meeting because of general conference on Saturday and Sunday so that was good. Instead, we got to go help someone move! In the afternoon, we had a lesson with Lela and Sister Brock. Sister Brock is a member and Lela is her 14 year old granddaughter. It was by the far the best lesson we've had with them yet! Lela was able to go to young women's on Wednesday and she had a blast. She now wants to try going to early morning seminary which is way cool and surprising! We also had a lesson with Barry and ended up dropping him because he unfortunately isn't ready for the restored gospel yet :(

General Conference on Saturday and Sunday was simply the best! Conference is basically the equivalent of Christmas for missionaries. I learned so much and I'm so grateful to have living prophets and apostles who continue to guide us in these last days. One of my favorite talks was the one by President Russell M. Nelson in the Sunday Morning Session about having Joy in any circumstances. It reminded me of the talk by President Uchtdorf titled, "Grateful in any Circumstances" I love how he pointed out that our Joy is dependent upon our focus, not our circumstances. Having Joy is a choice because although we can't always change our circumstances, we can always change our focus. Let us all evaluate what our current focus is and strive to focus more intently and directly upon Jesus Christ, for he is the light of the world.

Well I hope y'all had a wonderful conference weekend and I hope y'all have another wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 6:36

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are pretty crazy right now here in Norman, some of the missionaries in our zone got emergency transferred last night and so the sisters that we share the Norman 2nd ward with got transferred out to fill the vacancy. So we now have the whole ward to ourselves which means the area we cover just doubled in size. So this next week will be crazy busy as we get things sorted out and meet the investigators that the sisters have been teaching. Should make for an exciting week! :)

Transfers are next Wednesday on October 5th and so next Monday I will know whether I'm staying in Norman or going elsewhere. So if you're planning on sending me something it would probably be best to send it to the mission office. As far as I know that address is still

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

But no guarantees, rumor has it that the mission office is moving to Edmond, OK 

Monday evening we had our zone STM (Standard Training Meeting) so that was fun.

Tuesday was a great day! We got to do lots of biking and sweating and talking to people. And at 8 we had a super short really good lesson with our investigator, Tana. She read some chapters in the Book of Mormon and had some really good questions. Excited to go teach her again!

Wednesday I got to go to the Norman 4th ward on exchanges with Elder Kurr and it was one of the best exchanges of my mission! Basically, we had one somewhat set appointment at 7 in the evening (which ended up falling through) and nothing else planned. So in the morning, we prayed over a map of their area and came up with about 5 streets that we wanted to try finding some new investigators on throughout the day. We also had some less-active members that Elder Kurr had never met planned as backups. We set a goal for 1 new investigator and were determined to do whatever it took to find them. So we spent the whole day walking around, trying to talk to people, knocking on doors, and trying to visit less-actives (none of which were home). So by 8 in the evening, we had exhausted all of our plans and it was pretty dark outside. We prayed for help and felt like we should go to 1 of the 2 streets that we had left to try. We started walking around and no one would give us the time of day. But we soon spotted a teenage girl sitting outside smoking and we were able to start talking to her. Among other things, she said she wanted to quit smoking and so we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and bear testimony to her. She agreed to have us come back next week and teach her more. It was nothing short of a miracle! But it gets better. We kept on walking down the street and saw some guy who just got done cleaning out his garage. We started talking to him about random stuff like where he's from, what he does for work, etc. After a while he brought up how crazy things are in the world right now and how it can be kind of scary. So that gave us the opportunity to bear testimony about peace and how we can feel secure when we make Christ the center of our lives. He also agreed to let us come back this next week. Yay for another new investigator! Through the Lord's help, we were able to not only achieve but to exceed our goal. Miracles always follow faith. It wasn't until we had spent an entire day out working and getting rejected that we were able to realize our goal. It was so cool!

Thursday during planning, we realized that we were one new investigator shy of our goal of 3 for that week (our weeks now go from Friday to Thursday). So after planning, we modified our plans for the rest of the day and stuck to the resolution we made last week to strive relentlessly after our goal of 3 new investigators. Long story short, the Lord led us to a certain street and as we were walking by one of the last houses on the street, we spotted someone working on something in their garage. He came out just enough for us to say hi and offer to help. At first, he didn't seem too interested but we were able to talk with him about his family and how we've seen the gospel change the lives of the recently baptized Williams family. He agreed to let us come back this next week and we're stoked to go teach him more! So that was definitely a miracle that we were able to find 3 new investigators :)

Friday was amazing! We were able to teach quite a few lessons including one with Carrie. We read Helamen 5 with her and the member who came teaching with us did a great job of fellow shipping her. She basically committed herself to reading 1 chapter of the Book of Mormon everyday and it was awesome!

Saturday morning we helped one of our potential investigators clean out his shed and afterwards got to teach him a lesson and turn him into an investigator. Wahoo! In the afternoon we had some recent convert lessons with the Williams and Smith families, and they are doing great! In the evening we went out to the west part of our area.

Sunday was good. We had a part member family come to church for the first time and they had a great time so that was really exciting! :) After dinner and ward choir practice, we tried one of our potentials named Elizabeth and ended up doing some service for her and listening to her talk to us for a while. She needs some serious help in her life right now so hopefully with the help of the ward we can help her out this next week.

Are y'all totally stoked and pumped for general conference this weekend? I know I certainly am, it's going to be awesome!! :) At LTM last week, President Mansell gave us quick training on the D.I.P. principle. He says that in every talk by an apostle they talk about:

1. Doctrine

2. Invitation

3. Promise

D&C 1:38 states that, "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." Let us all pay close attention to the doctrine, invitations, and especially the promises that are made to us by authorized servants of the Lord this weekend. Let us lay hold of the powerful promises made to us as we obey and follow the counsel of the living prophets and apostles. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise" - D&C 82:10 

Hope y'all have an amazing conference weekend, I love and miss you all so much!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 68:4

"Elder, that's Stupid!"

Dear Family and Friends,

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

I Love to See the Temple

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another crazy and exciting week here in Norman, OK! Summer seems to be over :( and winter is approaching :(:( But the next couple of months will be perfect weather so that's good! :)

Monday we went out teaching with a member and everything fell through. So we biked around and ended up visiting the recent-convert Smith family :)

Tuesday morning we biked out and tried to visit some people. We contacted a super awesome referral that we got from the sister missionaries in the ward. Her name is Rachelle and she has some foster kids she takes care of and one of them is a 5 year old Marshallese girl. Elder Kilmer is a Marshallese missionary so he's pretty excited about that ;) In the afternoon we did some family history and talked to a guy who was very well informed about what we believe and has had lots of positive experiences with Mormons in the past but isn't willing to simply read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Right before dinner we had a quick lesson with Greg and shared 2 Nephi 2:27. We discussed agency and he seemed to really like it a lot. After dinner we had a lesson with Danny and family and finished teaching the Plan of Salvation. One of my favorite things about being a missionary is having the opportunity to bear testimony of the reality of eternal families so often!

Wednesday we did exchanges with the missionaries in the Norman 4th ward and it was awesome! We were able to have some awesome lessons with the part-member family we helped move last week, with Carrie, and with Sister Rink (the less-active we've been visiting every Wednesday for a while now). Long, somewhat stressful day, but it was a blast and the Lord helped us out so much!

Thursday did weekly planning, biked around without much success, helped a less-active move furniture onto her porch, and tried to contact a referral. It was lots of fun :)

Friday we got to go to the temple and do baptisms with Danny, Elizabeth, and MaKayla and it was so awesome!! :) They said they had a great time and that they could definitely feel the special spirit and peace that comes from attending the temple. MaKayla was actually feeling quite sick when we got to the temple but by the end of it she was feeling a lot better so that was a cool miracle :) Going to the temple as a family is what it's all about and I couldn't be happier for Danny and his family, they are living proof of the happiness that comes from living the gospel and following the example of Jesus Christ :)

Saturday we did another exchange with the missionaries in the 4th ward so that was fun :) We did lots of biking and lots of stuff fell through but it was still a good day and we had a cool finding miracle!

Sunday we had one of our investigators, Courtney, make it to church for the first time! We started teaching her like 4 months ago and then lost contact till about a month ago when we started teaching her again. She had to cancel the appointment with us on Saturday because she had to emergency baby-sit her nephew but her nephew was actually a miracle because it helped her wake up on time to go to church. The Lord works in mysterious ways :) Before dinner we had a lesson with the Williams family and then another recent convert lesson with Halle, one of the girls who got baptized a couple weeks after I got to Norman. After dinner we tried some of the potentials we found on Saturday and had a really good conversation with one of them named Elizabeth. When we knocked on her door on Saturday, we thought that a member of the church had recently moved in there but it wasn't the case. She introduced herself and showed us a black widow bite on her arm and said she was running the ER so we said we would stop back by again sometime else. Sunday evening we were in the area so we felt like we should stop and by and see how she was doing. She told us about how she's hit rock bottom and how she's looking to find more hope and peace in her life. We did a lot of listening and testifying, it was amazing!

This upcoming week we have zone conference and President Mansell asked us to study about change. As I was pondering about repentance and change and the gospel, I was reminded of one of my favorite conference talks by President Uchtdorf, "It Works Wonderfully!" In it he talks about how simplifying our discipleship and starting where we are can help us have a positive experience in the gospel, help us feel like the gospel is working for us in our lives. Since "Bringing our lives in line with God’s will through repentance (change) is a central purpose of our lives," (PMG Chp. 3) it's important to make changing and progressing a positive, happy experience, not an overwhelming, discouraging process. President Uchtdorf says, 

"Brothers and sisters, living the gospel doesn’t need to be complicated.

It is really straightforward. It could be described like this:

• Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust His promises.
• The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for Him and for each other.
• Because of our love for God, we desire to follow Him and bring our actions in alignment with His word.
• Because we love God, we want to serve Him; we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and the needy.
• The more we walk in this path of discipleship, the more we desire to learn the word of God.

And so it goes, each step leading to the next and filling us with ever-increasing faith, hope, and charity.

It is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully.

Brothers and sisters, if you ever think that the gospel isn’t working so well for you, I invite you to step back, look at your life from a higher plane, and simplify your approach to discipleship. Focus on the basic doctrines, principles, and applications of the gospel. I promise that God will guide and bless you on your path to a fulfilling life, and the gospel will definitely work better for you...

My second suggestion is: start where you are.

Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not “more” of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve. God created us to grow and progress. But remember, our weaknesses can help us to be humble and turn us to Christ, who will “make weak things become strong.” Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying.

I learned in my life that we don’t need to be “more” of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become.

God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord."

Well thanks for bearing with me through another one of my emails ;) I hope yall have a wonderful week and that this wonderful gospel will work wonderfully in your life!

Love, Elder Larsen

Moroni 7:48

"If I become a Mormon and people make fun of me, I don't care!"

Dear Family and Friends,

The past week has been another amazing one! Everything is Awesome! ;)

Monday evening we had an appointment after dinner but it cancelled on us. The member who was coming out teaching with us didn't care so we went with him to try some potentials. The second person we tried was a lady named Tana. I think I've mentioned her a couple times before, we knocked on her door like 4 months ago but she wouldn't set an appointment. Tried her a couple times since and she set some appointments that didn't pan out. But this night she was home and she invited us in. We then had one of the best restoration lessons I've ever had. She seems really prepared and open to the message we shared. She had some really good questions and seems very sincere about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. She even accepted the invitation to be baptized! So excited for her! Definitely a miracle and an example of God leading and guiding us to where we need to be :)

Tuesday morning got to go out and do some biking. Our appointment with a part member family fell through but we were able to teach one of our potentials, Mr. James, the restoration. Mr. James is the maintenance worker at an apartment complex we visit a lot so we've known him for about 4 months now. When we first talked to him about the gospel he seemed pretty interested but he was always too busy to meet with us. This morning when we stopped by was the day after he quit his job and so he invited us in. He committed to baptism in October and wants to start coming to church! #Miracle Later we were able to watch the 1 hour version of the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie with Danny and family. They are still doing super well and are all set to go do baptisms at the temple this coming week. So excited for them! In the evening we went to go do a do or die lesson with Greg since we hadn't been able to contact him in a couple of weeks. He answered the door though and we had a cool lesson with him which was sweet!

Wednesday morning we biked out and saw some people moving some furniture so we offered to help and they accepted. Haha at first, the guys we were helping seemed skeptical about our moving skills but by the end, they gave us their business card and said we could probably get a job at their moving company. So yeah, we're basically professional movers now ;) As we were riding back to our apartment for lunch, I felt prompted to ride down a street we don't usually ride down. We rode down the street and started talking with an older lady named Tammy. She accepted our offer to pray with her since she had just found out that her husband might have cancer. After the prayer we talked with her for a little bit and she accepted a Book of Mormon. Hopefully we'll be able to go back and teach her more sometime soon. In the afternoon we did some family history with Danny and then some service at the assisted living center. After dinner we went with Bishop to go teach the less-active we've been visiting every Wednesday evening for the past 2 months. It was an awesome lesson and she's making progress :)

Thursday we had lots of planning and lots of service which made for a long, fun day :)

Friday we had exchanges with the zone leaders so I went to the first ward for the day. As usually happens on exchanges, everything fell through but we still had some fun :)

Saturday morning there was an earthquake and it was totally awesome! First real earthquake, wahooo!! Once I realized what was happening, I started to wonder whether I should try and get out of the apartment but it didn't end up lasting very long. We met with the ward mission leader and then biked out to the rich west part of our area. A member randomly offered to feed us dinner so that was much appreciated :) In the evening we helped a member put up a cabinet.

Sunday was good, none of our investigators showed up to church but one of the non members who came last week came again and got up and bore his testimony which was cool :) The highlight of the day was the lesson we had with Abraham. He says that he loves the Book of Mormon and he totally recognized the spirit as we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. He says that the scriptures we text him each day are helping him strengthen his relationship with Christ and he has utmost respect for the work we do as missionaries. He even said he was willing to give his life for us! We committed him to baptism and he said, "If I become a Mormon and people make fun of me, I don't care!" It was such a cool experience :)

Something cool I learned this week was in 1 Nephi 18:2-3.

2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.

 3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.

If we compare the ship to our lives, then we are either building our lives after the manner of men or after the manner of the Lord. Nephi was able to build and pattern the ship after the manner of the Lord because he "did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto [him] great things." That divine guidance and revelation in our lives is the key to patterning our lives after manner of the Lord. The Lord has a perfect plan or blueprint for our lives and as we seek revelation through CPR (church, praying, reading) and through going "into the mount oft" (temple), the Lord will be able to "[show] unto [us] great things." We cannot be passive about it or we will begin to slowly pattern our lives more and more after the manner of the world. One of my favorite quotes from the October 2015 general conference is, 

"You might ask, 'Why should I do this?' I would answer that we are living in a time of ever-spreading evil. We cannot just accept the status quo and be fed ugly words and sinful visuals almost everywhere we turn and do nothing in response. We must fight back. When our minds are filled with uplifting thoughts and images, when we 'always remember him,' there is no room left for filth and trash." - Devin G. Durrant

Let us all fight back and not just accept the status quo by actively striving to pattern our lives after our exemplar, Jesus Christ.

Well, I hope y'all are having a wonderful labor day weekend. Thank you for all your love and support, I couldn't do it without you!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Corinthians 2:5