Spring is here!

Dear Family and Friends,

Spring and summer are upon us and I couldn't be more excited! I can now say I've survived 2 winters here in Oklahoma :) It's supposed to be 92 degrees today. Crazy!

Monday evening we did some tracting before dinner and had a cool miracle! So there's this really old guy in our ward who lives at an assisted living home and when we visited him a few week ago he told us about how one of the nurses who comes and cares for him has a wife who is a member of the church. He also told us that they were thinking about having their daughter blessed at the church. So we encouraged him to keep talking with him about the church and see if he's interested. Well Monday evening we were out knocking on doors and we talked to this guy who let us in and agreed to have us say a prayer for him and his family. After we said the prayer we talked with them for a while and he eventually mentioned how one of his patients is really old and a member of our church. At that moment I made the connection that this was the family that the old member was talking about. So tracting into them was certainly a miracle, I don't know how else we would've figured out where they live. Not sure how interested they are but we'll probably stop back by in a few weeks and see if we can read the Book of Mormon with them. After that we had dinner with Tim (his wife and kids were all gone for spring break) and tried to get him to let us help him quit smoking.

Tuesday we ended up doing some tracting. We also stopped by Tim's and he basically decided that he was going to stop smoking without our help. So that was slightly frustrating since he failed to quit on his own again. Hopefully in a couple of weeks he'll be willing to accept our help.

Wednesday we had Greenie graduation for Elder May. It was really fun and we all got some good advice on how we can become better teachers. After dinner we had an eternitgator who was supposed to come out teaching with us but he cancelled so we ended up tracting. The 2nd house we knocked on this lady named Gail invited us in #miracle We started talking with her and found out that her husband died back in August. We then got to teach the plan of salvation and bear testimony of eternal families and temples. It was a super cool lesson and afterwards she said that we answered some questions that she had had for a long time. We're really excited to hopefully start teaching her :)

Thursday we did weekly planning, did a little service, went out teaching with one of the youth in the ward, and went out teaching with the eternigator after dinner.

Friday we had interviews with President Mansell. While we were waiting to be interviewed we got to practice door approaches and also responding to people's concerns about polygamy and our potential to become like God. It was fun :) In the afternoon we had some lessons with some less-actives and then we got to have dinner with a cool part-member family. 

Saturday morning we had correlation and then right afterwards we went out teaching with a member to visit a potential. She wasn't home so we called her and she hung up on us so that was unfortunate... #Dropped But we had some success with our backups so that was awesome! In the afternoon we were biking around when a car pulled up and some high school kids got out and walked over to us and asked, "Hey, are y'all Mormons?" Apparently, someone gave them a Book of Mormon as a gift and they were wanting to know more about it and what makes us different from all the other churches in Oklahoma. Talk about a perfect opportunity to teach a simple, powerful restoration lesson. It was so cool! Hopefully they end up reading it and having more questions for us. After dinner we had a "temple tour" at the church/temple. A member of the bishopric was there to teach a little about the temple and to walk around the grounds and answer questions. We and the Sisters in El Reno invited all our investigators and less-actives to attend. The Sisters had a couple investigators who came and we had our recent convert family who showed up. It was a cool experience :)

Sunday was good. Nothing too exciting at church. Our lunch/teaching appointment in the afternoon with the part-member family we tracted into 2 weeks ago fell through... But we got to go to a stake general priesthood meeting in the evening which was awesome! :)

Serving here in Yukon has reminded me just how important member missionary work is. We're having a hard time finding solid investigators through our own finding efforts so we're shifting our focus over to the members of the ward. There's an excellent Ensign article by Clayton M. Christensen in the February 2005 volume titled, "Seven Lessons on Sharing the Gospel". I would encourage all of y'all to read through it and see what you can do to better share the gospel with those around you. We can all succeed as missionaries if we'll simply just invite those around us to come closer to Christ :)

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support! Hope you have a wonderful week and happy spring!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 24:12

Families are the Gospel

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 137:10

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has totally flown by, I feel like I emailed y'all a couple of days ago. It's craziness but it's great and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

Monday after we emailed, we helped some members move a fridge and then went and got ice cream so that was fun :) We had dinner with Bishop and then one of our potential investigators dropped us but it was still a great day.

Tuesday we had an appointment at 10 in the morning but it fell through so we tracted until our return appointment with Danny at 11. He was there and we had an amazing restoration lesson with him. The spirit was really strong and he seems really committed to reading the Book of Mormon. The only issue is that his wife doesn't seem too happy with us because she probably has some misconceptions. So hopefully we'll be able to to meet her this next week and clear some of those up. After lunch we tried to visit some people and ended up tracting before dinner. After dinner we had a lesson with the Edwards family and we ended up sharing D&C 122 with them since they're going through a lot of stuff right now.

Funny story from tracting in the morning: We knock on this door and this older lady comes out and starts telling us about all her health problems. In the mind I was thinking "What is she talking about? Why is she telling us all this?" Then she said something about her blood pressure and asked us to check it for her. I said, "We're just missionaries from our church." and then she said, "Oh, I thought y'all were EMTs, sorry about that. Man, I always make a fool of myself in front of cute guys." Haha #Awkward It was pretty funny :)

Wednesday we did weekly planning because of exchanges on Thursday and Friday. After lunch we did some service at a community center. After that we met up with Brandon at a park and we realized that we probably needed to drop him since he's still struggling with a lot of stuff that might end him up back in jail... Hopefully we planted a seed though. After dinner we did some tracting and then when it got dark we went to Walmart and tried to talk to people there which was interesting.

Thursday we did exchanges with the Elders in the 7th ward and I was in Yukon with Elder Norton. This was our 3rd or 4th time on exchanges together so we had a pretty fun time :) All of our appointments fell through but we did have a lesson with one of our investigators in the afternoon named Tina. Also, cool tracting miracle: We met this lady named Sarah. She has a son and a daughter. We asked her if she had a church family that she belongs to and she said, "We've been to life church (the crazy church I went to in my first area that resembles chuckie cheeses) a few times but I don't like how it's all about the rock wall and the slides. I want my kids to learn more about Jesus." We then told her about our church services and she said that it's sounds great and she wants to come try it out sometime. We're going to go back and teach her more tomorrow so we're pretty excited about that :)

Friday we had district meeting and afterwards we did exchanges with the zone leaders. I got to go with Elder Yamane and we had a blast! It's been over a year since we've been on exchanges together so it was cool to see how we've both changed over the course of our missions. We ended up doing a lot of tracting and we found a couple of good potentials.

Saturday morning we had our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader which was fun :) In the afternoon we biked out to the far reaches of our area and tried some less-actives. We actually found one who wants us to come back so that's pretty cool :) We also did some tracting in an apartment complex and a lot of people must of ignored us because no almost one answered but there were plenty of cars in the parking lot. But truth goeth onward! We had dinner with the Edwards family and they're doing a lot better so that's good.

Sunday was good. We had the usual investigators at church, no one new. After church we got to go deliver the sacrament to this super nice old couple that lives in El Reno. Before dinner we tried a less-active and then did some tracting and ran into a less-active part-member family who's not on the roster and wants us to come back for a meal and lesson! #miracle All in all, it was a simply fantastic week :)

As I was studying step 6 of the Addiction Recovery Program this last week, I came across a scripture that I really like. It's Ezekiel 36:26-27, 31

"26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations."

I especially love verse 31 because it gives us the key as to how we can know if we've truly experienced a mighty change of heart like it talks about in the scriptures. If we remember back to how we used to be, and we've truly experienced a change of heart, we will, to a certain extent, lothe our old selves. We will think something along the lines of, "Wow, I can't believe I used to be like that. I was kind of a fool back then." When I look back at who I was before serving a mission, I wasn't a bad person. But I do despise my old self to a certain extent because of how my mind has been enlightened and how my perspective has changed since then. And I'm sure that someday in the future I'll look back at who I am right now and think the same things. But improving, changing, and becoming better is where the true fulfillment and accomplishment in life comes. A change of heart is a gift from God and I'm so thankful for the joy it brings to me :)

Anyways, I hope y'all have a simply wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 5:7

What's your level of Grit?

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another amazing week here in Yukon and I can't wait to tell y'all all about it!

Monday evening we were supposed to have dinner and a lesson with a family that has a 9 year old unbaptized daughter but some things happened and it didn't end up working out :( But we were able to talk to a random person on the street named Andrea and we said a prayer with her :)

Tuesday was a long and exhausting full of biking and tracting, and one of our appointments fell through but we were able to have dinner and a lesson with the Edwards family. We also found a new investigator while tracting named Brad. #Miracle We were finishing up the same street where we found Brandon a couple weeks ago. Brad answered the door and said he was having a bad day. We discovered that his dad had just died and he'd gotten into some fights. We got to say a prayer with him and give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We wasn't there for the return appointment on Thursday but hopefully we'll be able to teach him this next week :)

Wednesday morning and early afternoon we had zone conference in the city. It started at 8 (an hour earlier than usual) and got done around 2:00 making it the shortest zone conference of my mission. We got some awesome trainings on the addiction recovery program, our potential to become like God, and grace. So cool how those 3 topics fit together so well :) After zone conference I had a 42 minute phone call with one of our investigators. It was mostly just me listening to her talk and she ended up dropping us but she said she would still read the Book of Mormon. When we got back to Yukon we had a sweet Plan of Salvation lesson with Brandon. He seemed to really enjoy it and he committed to coming to church on Sunday until he remembered that he has to go spend some time in jail the next 2 weekends. But hopefully he'll keep on progressing and making some positive changes in his life. After the lesson with Brandon, we biked past this guy who was under the hood of his car and started talking to him. His name is Mike and he accepted a restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and said he wants to come try out our church sometime. He said we could stop by whenever so hopefully we'll be able to have a lesson with him this next week. Towards the end of the conversation we asked him if he knew anyone in the area who was going through a rough time and could use a prayer and he said, "You know, I think you found the right place. I've been going through a transitional time in my life and I think God led you to me for a reason" #Miracle I love missionary work :) 

Thursday we did weekly planning and then in the afternoon/evening we tried some LAs and did some tracting. Haha we tracted into this guy who started bashing us and telling us that we were trying to earn our way into heaven and that we didn't believe in grace. I thought it was pretty funny since we had a whole training on grace the day before at zone conference. But this guy wasn't an honest seeker of truth so we didn't waste much time with him. But if I wasn't a missionary, I would've totally confounded the guy ;)

Friday we didn't have district meeting because of zone conference so we had a full day of trying LAs and tracting :) We did get to do some service in the afternoon and after dinner we went to El Reno to give someone a blessing. Fun and exhausting day :)

Saturday morning we had correlation with our amazing ward mission leader, Brother George. In the afternoon we started tracting a street that we had prayed about and talked to a guy named Danny who was working on his car. He talked about how he was wanting to get back into church because of some recent life events and because he wants his 4 year old son to be in church as well. We invited him to come to our church and also talked a little bit about the temple since that's usually how people know where our building is at (next to the big white building with the statue on top). It was super cool though and we're going to go back and teach him more tomorrow :) #Miracle Before dinner we stopped by one of our investigators named Candy (it was my first time meeting her). While we were talking to her, she said that her friend, Andrea, was walking down main street earlier in the week and 2 guys dressed in black stopped and talked to her and said a prayer with her. She said it was a little weird but that it really helped her out a lot. So that was kind of cool to hear and it strengthened my testimony that no effort is wasted and that it's equally important to sew as it is to reap :)

Sunday was good. The Edwards family came to church which was great :) President Mansell showed up for our sacrament meeting which was really random but cool :) After church we went and gave someone a blessing and after dinner we met with a active/less-active family and a couple of families with recent converts. Awesome day :)

So the Edwards family. The Mom, Zericka, is a convert of 3 years. The dad, Tim, is not a member but has decided to be baptized. He has some things he needs to do before he can get baptized (such as getting married in July) but he's making some good progress. They have 3 sons all together, the youngest 2 are Zericka's and the one who is over 8 years old is baptized. Their oldest son, Justin, is Tim's and he is working towards baptism as well. They're such a fun family and they feed us at least once, usually twice a week.

Learning more about grace has been really enlightening. I feel like a lot of us in the church don't fully understand grace simply because it takes both grace and effort (or works) on our part to qualify for celestial glory. But the key difference is the purpose behind the works. We don't keep the commandments to repay Christ or to fill gaps or to earn our way to heaven. We follow Christ's example in order to show appreciation for his gift and to use his gift for it's intended to purpose: helping us progress towards exaltation and godhood. Brad Wilcox's talk titled, "His Grace is Sufficient" is so good at explaining how it all works. I especially enjoy the analogy he uses with learning to play the piano. At one point he poses the question, "Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?" Understanding grace is so vital for true repentance and change. And with that comes true peace and happiness.

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support, I feel so blessed to have such awesome friends and family :)

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 78:7; 88:22

1. The Famous Yukon Flour Mill

2. Nothing like hot chocolate after freezing all day :)

3-6. Buffalos at the park

7-8. Found this flyer for Grit.Church. Thought it was pretty cool ;)

ARP

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another awesome week here in the great state of Oklahoma and biking all around Yukon every day is a blast!

Monday we got to go to the stake center and play basketball with the other missionaries which was really fun. In the evening we did some tracting before dinner and got soaked. It was great :)

Tuesday I had a Missionary Leadership Council meeting in Edmond which was fun :)

Wednesday all of our appointments fell through and we did a lot of tracting that didn't yield much fruit. But we got to do some service in the afternoon and we had a good lesson with an investigator named Neil who was about to drop us.

Thursday we did weekly planning in the morning and then in the afternoon we had a lesson with an investigator named Tina. We ended up dropping her because she doesn't let us talk very much and she can't get over Joseph Smith. After that we had a lesson with a less-active and it went pretty well. He doesn't have desire to come back to church but he said he would start reading and praying again. Before dinner we met a less-active who talked our ear off and gave us a random history lesson on the civil war. After dinner we tried some less-actives and potential investigators for the rest of the night without much success.

Friday after district meeting I got to go the OKC 7th ward (My very first area on the mission) on exchanges. It was so much fun :) I got to see a couple of members which was great and it was cool to be back where I started my mission. In the afternoon we helped this non-member family move into their new home. They're such nice people and they invited to come back in the evening for a cookout in their new home. Hopefully they'll be able to go back and teach them this next week. We also did some tracting and it reminded me why my trainer was always so against it ;) Not too many humble people in the 7th ward...

Saturday morning we exchanged back and in the afternoon we did a lot of biking and tracting. No one was very interested but it was a beautiful day :)

Sunday we had ward conference and it was great! The stake president did a cool meeting before sacrament meeting with new, returning, and non yet members. The Edwards family came and seemed to really enjoy it. Tim (the dad) has decided to get baptized and hopefully we'll be able to set a date with him this next week :) After lunch we biked out, tried some less-actives, our appointment at 4 fell through, and so we tracted until dinner. After dinner we had a doorstep lesson with the investigator, Brandon, that we miraculously found last Sunday. He said that the prayer we said with him last week really helped him out a lot and that he's been loving the scriptures we've been texting him each day. He has a really strong desire to change his life for the better and to stop doing bad things. We discussed a little bit of the plan of salvation with him and shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon that really spoke to him and answered a question that he had. It was a neat lesson, I'm so grateful for the guidance and power of the spirit :) After that we had a good lesson on the priesthood with a recent convert family, the Huerta's. Amazing Sunday :)

Last week President Mansell ordered 210 copies of the church's Addiction recovery program so that we can study it as a mission. He relabeled it as "The guide to changing your nature". So I've been going through the 12 step process with the goal of overcoming my addiction to pride and it has been so amazing. One of every missionaries greatest fears is going home the same person they were when they left. The 12 step process really does help with changing nature and not just behavior. Even if you aren't struggling with major addictions like drugs it's still a great way to overcome weakness and character flaws. It is such an inspired program and I'm pumped to study it throughout this next transfer :)

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Alma 5:13

Yukon's best

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been amazing! I'm loving my new area and the Lord is blessing us with so many miracles and tender mercies. Serving is Yukon is going to be such a blast :)

Monday I had a fun last P-day in Tahlequah. We ate dinner with our ward mission leader and then went out teaching and had a good lesson with a part-member family. It was great!

Tuesday morning I got all my stuff packed and after lunch we biked out to try a potential and found a new investigator on the way #Miracle The potential we visited dropped us so we started knocking on some doors and ran into a guy named Todd who was on his way work. We walked with him to the smoke shop down the street where he works and had a good conversation with him while he was working. It was kind of interesting teaching about the Book of Mormon in a smoke shop but hey, one of the ladies who was there heard our conversation and told us that her daughter has some questions about religion. So then we followed her to her daughters house and had a cool lesson with them. Her daughter started talking about some crazy theories that she has (something about how God and Satan are the some person because there's so much evil in the world) and so we taught the first half of the plan of salvation and they were both like, "Wow, this actually makes a lot of sense. I've never heard anything like this before." It was a super cool lesson and I hope they made it to church this last week. After that we went back to the barn, grabbed the car, and went out teaching with a returned missionary who actually served in Tahlequah a year ago and fell in love with one of his converts and is now living in Tahlequah and dating her. We had a good restoration lesson with a family and after dinner we got to go out on splits with the Elder Quorum. Most of the stuff we had planned fell through but it was still a fun evening :)

Wednesday morning we woke up a 3:45 AM #NewMissionRecord, got ready for the day, loaded up my stuff in the car, drove to Muskogee to pick up some things and borrow their van, drove to Pryor to carpool with the Elders there, and drove to the church building in Edmond by 8:30 so one of the Elders could be there in time for trainers meeting. It was crazy! Transfers was fun, we don't have a car in Yukon so a member drove us home and fed us lunch on the way. Also, I talked to one of the Sisters in Ardmore and it sounds like Justin and Kadie are getting baptized! So excited for them, they're so cool! After lunch we got some things organized, grabbed a few things at Walmart, and did some tracting before dinner. In the evening we ended up visiting a less-active family.

Thursday morning we did weekly planning and the rest of the day we did a ton of biking around and trying to visit people without much luck. I did get lots of the apartment cleaned up though so that was good :)

Friday morning we had district meeting. It's kind of cool to be leading the same district that my trainer was leading when I first got to Oklahoma. Our district consists of us, the Sisters in El Reno who share the OKC 5th ward with us, and the Elders in the OKC 7th ward. After district meeting it was super windy but we biked around and did a lot of tracting. We found a couple of new investigators though so that was awesome! As we were biking around before dinner and I got into my second bike crash on my mission. It was pretty epic. Just like last time, the thing that got injured the most was my pride. I also got a cut on my right hand and right foot on the pole I flew into. Wish I had it on video. I was going around a curve in the sidewalk a little too fast and lost my balance. I was headed straight for a pole so slammed on the brakes and went over the handlebars and hit the pole with my arm and leg (and possibly my head. I was wearing a helmet so I'm not sure). Thankfully I landed on grass and my bike was fine since it came to stop when I put on the brakes. And the less-active we visited afterward gave me a bandaid for my hand so I'm fine :) We had dinner with a part-member family the Edwards. The Dad, Tim, and his son, Justin, are getting pretty close to baptism so we're excited for them :)

Saturday morning we had correlation/breakfast with our ward mission leader, Brother George. He's awesome! After lunch we visited a less-active recent convert couple and had a good lesson with them. It was like 85 degrees, perfect weather so we went to a park and had a good conversation with a couple of people sitting on a bench. We were going to tract a little before dinner but then one of our potentials called us and said she needed help with her garage door so we went and helped her and she wants to meet with us this next week. After dinner we biked around and tried to visit some less-actives.

Sunday was great! Our ward meets at 11 and the 7th ward meets at 9 so I saw some members from my first area which was cool. I even saw the legend Brother Judd! (update on the 116 lost manuscript pages: He's going with a member of the ward to California to get them out of a vault or something like that. I'll keep y'all posted ;)) Anyways, Tim came to church and said he's planning on getting baptized so that's great :) After lunch we visited an investigator named Tina and had an interesting lesson with her. She likes to bring up random stuff like polygamy and Jospeh Smith but she claims to be open and she accepted a Book of Mormon so we'll see what ends up happening with her. Before dinner we did some tracting and found a new investgator #Miracle After dinner we both prayed about where we should go to tract and we both felt impressed to go tract Asbil Street. On one of last doors we knocked on a guy named Brandon answered the door and instead of saying the typical, "Now's not a good time guys" he said something like, "Now is a good time guys, I need some help." We talked to him briefly, gave him a Book of Mormon, and set up a good time to visit him this next week. It was such an amazing miracle! The rest of night we visited a couple recent converts and had good visits with them.

I came across a scripture in the Book of Mormon this week that stuck out to me.

"And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them." - Mosiah 3:13

I like this scripture because it associates receiving a remission of sins, repentance, and change with rejoicing with exceedingly great joy. It was simple reminder to me that repentance can be a positive, daily, and refreshing experience. There is so much joy in repenting daily and continuing to grow and progress.

Well, thank y'all so much for your love and support, I really do appreciate it. My new address is 

1006 Summerton Pl
Yukon, OK 73099

Have a wonderful week and Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 128:15

1. Me with our ward mission leader in Tahlequah's airplane

2. Elder May and I after my epic bike wreck :)

3. ???

Transfers

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, we got transfer doctrine last night and I am getting transferred to the Oklahoma City 5th Ward! Elder Hanks will be staying in Tahlequah. My new companion will be Elder May, he's only been out for 1 transfer so I'll be finishing his training and I'm still a district leader. I started off my mission in the OKC 7th ward so serving in the 5th ward will be a trip down memory lane. I'm so excited!

Monday evening we had dinner with a LA/PM family and had a fairly productive evening.

Tuesday morning we started exchanges with the Elders in Pryor and I was in Tahlequah with Elder Larson. It was so much fun to introduce ourselves. Everyone asked if we were Brothers or if we were related. Too funny! Anyways, all our appointments fell through so we ended up doing a lot of tracting.

Wednesday morning we exchanged back with Pryor and went to institute at the college when we got back to Tahlequah. Greg randomly showed up to institute again so that was a cool miracle :) After that we didn't get too much done for the rest of the day since Elder Hanks was really sick and needed rest.

Thursday Elder Hanks was feeling a little bit better so we went out and talked to lots of people who weren't interested in talking to us. One guy answered the door and said, "Do you have a pamphlet you can give me? Thanks. You should go bug my neighbor across the street." So we went over and talked to the neighbor and he said, "I'm not interested but yall are dressed really nice." So random, I love it :) We also had some investigators and potentials who dropped us. Rough day but we persevered and qualified ourselves to receive miracles :)

Friday we had district meeting in Muskogee. After district meeting I got to do a baptismal interview for one of the sister's investigators so that was a neat experience. After that we started exchanges with the Elders in Wagoner, Elder Russell and I were in Tahlequah. Before we left Muskogee though, we got to go on a special mission to retrieve the Tiwi unit (the little black box in all mission vehicles that yells at us when we don't drive correctly) from the sister's old car that got in a wreck. As we were yanking it out of the vehicle, it was yelling, "AGGRESSIVE DRIVING! AGGRESSIVE DRIVING! VEHICLE BATTERY MAY BE LOW! AGGRESSIVE DRIVING!" It was pretty funny :) When we got back to Tahlequah we had an awesome lesson with a LA YSA who had a strong desire to come back to church. We then had dinner with one of the older couples in the ward. They invited a couple of their friends over and we were able to teach them the Restoration after dinner which was pretty sweet :) After that everything else fell through so we ended up doing some tracting. 

Saturday morning we exchanged back with the Elders in Wagoner. We then biked around in the cold and the Lord blessed us with a new investigator! We also had a good lesson with some former investigators that some of the members in the ward knew about and wanted us to go teach. It was an interesting lesson but hopefully they enjoyed it. After dinner we went out with a member and everything fell through, including our lesson with Jerron :(

Sunday was fantastic! One of the LA/PM families we've been working with made it to church for the first time so that was a cool miracle :) After church we went around and tried to visit some people and talked to some people by the way who were pretty nice to us. After dinner we tried to visit an investigator who lives in a trailer park but he wasn't home. So we did some super bowl tracting and had one guy who saw us and said, "I'm watching the super bowl right now, take a hike!" Haha got to love die hard football fans ;) We then had a member come with us to deliver a bible to a media referral who lives out in the middle of nowhere. We found the house and she was miraculously there! She accepted a Book of Mormon and said tonight was the first night all week that she was actually home. She's going to read the Book of Mormon and then ask us questions about it next week so that's pretty radical. The rest of the night we did some tracting and ran into this cool native american former investigator named Jon. We talked to him about his career for a while and then asked him some questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Turns out he believes the Book of Mormon is true and so we helped him make the logical conclusion that Joseph Smith must be a prophet of God. He wants us to come back and he said he would come to church for the first time and see what it's like. Definitely a miracle!!

I've done a lot of study on Joseph Smith's first vision this last week and I realized just how much we can learn from this story.

"During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; ... so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong... In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know."

In the bible dictionary under revelation we learn:

"Divine revelation is one of the grandest concepts and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for without it, man could not know of the things of God and could not be saved with any degree of salvation in the eternities."

Because of divine revelation, we need not remain in darkness and confusion. We can know the truth directly from God. Asking for and receiving knowledge from God truly is one of the grandest concepts of the restored gospel and I'm so grateful for it. The gospel is so true!

Thank y'all so much for your love and support! Being a missionary is the best and time is flying by too fast!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 42:61