Transfers

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, thanks for the wonderful Skype session last night fam! Y'all are the best and Happy Mother's Day again to y'all!

This past week has been fantastic! I love Seminole, I love the people here, and I love my new companion Elder Tureson :) Seminole is about the same size as Clinton, maybe slightly bigger. The ward is about the same size though. It's so much fun to be in a small town again, there's lots of people to talk to. It's going to be a great transfer and the Lord is already blessing us beyond measure!

My last P-day in Yukon, the members who live across the street did what they call "giant sandwich day". So for lunch I did the giant sandwich challenge and ate a ginormous sandwich that only like 15 missionaries over the past 10 years have been able to eat #Legend So that was fun :) In the evening we said goodbye to the Apetors, the Edwards family, and the George family. It was hard to say goodbye, I'm going to miss them so much.

Tuesday was spent cleaning, packing, organizing, paperwork updating, notetaking, and saying some more goodbyes. Long crazy fun day :)

Wednesday was transfers in Edmond and it was a blast as always to see old friends and companions :) Elder Tureson just got done being trained and his trainer went home so I'm breaking a new missionary for the 5th time. We drove to Seminole which took about an hour and a half, did a little unpacking, biked around in the rain and met lots of people, and had an FHE with a family in the evening. Great first day in Seminole :)

Thursday we did our weekly planning in the morning and in the afternoon we biked around and met some more people. We taught one of our investigators, Chelsey, and picked up her Mom as a new investigator #Miracle We get to go teach them again tomorrow :) Before dinner we had a lesson with another investigator, Jacquilin. She's super cool! We read the first half of 3 Nephi 11 and she really enjoyed it. After dinner we visited a family that is returning to activity. Solid day :)

Friday morning I got to meet Bishop Choate. He's a really great guy and I'm excited to work with him and the rest of the ward :) Before lunch we tried some to visit some people and in the afternoon we did some finding. After dinner we visited some less-actives which was good :)

Saturday we had district meeting (some of the missionaries couldn't make it on Friday so we did it on Saturday instead) which was lots of fun :) After that we drove out to a neighboring town called Wewoka (it's nicknamed little Chicago). We ended up walking around all afternoon since Elder Tureson forgot his bike helmet but it worked out and we made good contact with a part-member family :) We had dinner with a member family who lives there and then drove back to Seminole and tried a potential named Mack. We had a great conversation with him and he's a new investigator now :)

Sunday we didn't have any investigators make it to church but we're hoping to change that this next week. We fasted for new investigators and we found a solid potential while we were out finding in the afternoon #Miracle Skyped and got fed dinner in the evening. Wonderful Mother's day :)

We recently had Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the seventy come visit our mission. He gave the leadership a training on Agency, Responsibility, and Accountability and we got to discuss and learn from it at district meeting this last week.

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32

"We are free not because we can choose, but because we have chosen well." - David Hart

When we are able to take full responsibility for our actions and not make excuses, we increase in agency and freedom. It's easy sometimes to be lazy or to blame others or to ignore or to have self-pity but excuses do not equal results and do not correct mistakes. These things are a form of self-deception and take away from our freedom to choose. There are numerous examples in the scriptures of those who take responsibility and those who don't. Jacob and Joseph are great examples of taking full responsibility.

"And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day." - Jacob 1:19

Let us not make excuses but rather be honest and take full responsibility for our actions so that we might follow Christ and become free :)

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support, I wouldn't be where I am today without your love and your examples. Keep up the great work and have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 38:22

1. Clinton District at Transfers

2. First half of the sandwich

3. Second half of the sandwich

4. Victory!!

5. The Page's

6. The Edwards family

7. The George family

8. Elder Tureson and I

Off to Seminole

Dear Family and Friends,

We got transfer calls last night and to my greatest surprise/shock I'm leaving Yukon and going to my 7th area, Seminole, Oklahoma. Elder May is going to Tulsa and we're getting replaced by 2 Elders that both came out on the same airplane as me. I'm excited to go to Seminole :) but my heart breaks at the thought of leaving Yukon. I love the people here so much. But the Lord always has a plan and it brings me peace that passeth all undestanding.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." - Proberbs 3:5-6

Highlights from the week:

We did some yard work for Ms Murphy and gave her a giant Book of Mormon :)

We had a temple walk that we invited 30+ people to and no one ended up showing up.

Lots of appointments fell through. Haha what else is new? :)

It was a lot warmer this week and we got to do a ton of biking :)

Miracle:

We fasted for new investigators yesterday. After church we ended up doing a lot of tracting. Elder May's bike got a flat tire so we got stranded for a while. But we tracted into a girl named Madison and she is so awesome! We told her about our missions and the Book of Mormon and she was blown away by it. She wants us to come back and teach her more :) #AnswerToPrayer #FastingWorks

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Isaiah 55:8-9

1. Walking the bikes #FlatTire

2. Recent convert Huerta family. They're so awesome!

3. Service for Ms Murphy with one of the priests in the ward

4-6. Temple pics!

Winter Returns

Dear Family and Friends,

Another awesome week has flown by here in Yukon! Fun fact about Oklahoma: The weather is straight nuts. It was summer on Tuesday, winter on Wednesday, Spring on Thursday and Friday, and back to Winter on Saturday and Sunday. It changes so fast!

Monday for P-day we went to downtown OKC which was fun :) I took a ton of pictures so Happy Birthday Mom! :) In the evening we did a lot of tracting.

Tuesday was a longer day. We tracted for hour after hour after hour. Got a couple of potentials. Had dinner with the Edwards family which was slightly chaotic as usual, this time because their drains were backed up and house smelled a little like sewage. Got to love it :)

Wednesday morning we went with a member to go meet a non-member who's receiving some financial help from the church. Bishop sent us because he felt like it might be a good missionary opportunity and it was. She seems pretty open and hopefully we'll be able to go back and teach her sometime soon :) In the afternoon, our appointment with Justin fell through so we went to the library and talked to them about doing a presentation on family history for the community. They seem to like the idea so we're excited to get that ball rolling. Hopefully family history will be a better finding tool than tracting :) After that we taught a quick restoration to Jeff and Emily and they are new investigators now! #Miracle Then we had dinner and watched meet the mormons with some of the sisters investigators in El Reno :)

Thursday morning we went to go teach Joseph but he wasn't there. Again. So he's dropped as an investigator for now. But as a backup we went and saw Ms Murphy and taught her the rest of the plan of salvation and she accepted it really well :) In the afternoon we did our weekly planning and stopped by a couple of peeps before dinner. After dinner we went with a member and had a great lesson with Gayle. We read 2 Nephi 32 and recommitted her to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We also invited her to the pancake breakfast on Saturday morning and she said she just might surprise us and show up.

Friday we had district meeting. In the afternoon we tried some people and ended up tracting before dinner. After dinner we tried more potentials, did some more tracting, and talked with Freddie briefly (he has 2 jobs now and so he doesn't have much time unfortunately).

Saturday morning we had a pancake breakfast fundraiser for the youth at the church. Gayle showed up for it which surprised us since it stormed all night and the weather was still pretty bad. She got to meet some people and she said the temple was beautiful. So that was awesome! #Miracle After that we did coordination meeting with our amazing ward mission leader. Then we went home, had lunch, did some planning, tracted, had dinner and a lesson with the Edwards, and then our 8:00 appointment fell through. Cold rainy day :)

Sunday was good. It felt like winter outside and it was super windy so that made tracting really fun :) But we were able to have a lesson with a less-active family and visit our recent converts so that was a tender mercy.

One of my favorite stories from conference was this one from Elder Sabin's talk:

"Many years ago, I took the Scouts on a campout in the desert. The boys slept by a large fire they had made, and like every good Scout leader, I slept in the back of my truck. In the morning when I sat up and looked at the campsite, I saw one Scout, whom I will call Paul, who looked particularly rough around the edges. I asked how he had slept, and he replied, “Not very well.”
When I asked why, he said, “I was cold; the fire went out.”I answered, “Well, fires do that. Wasn’t your sleeping bag warm enough?”
No answer.
Then one of the other Scouts loudly volunteered, “He didn’t use his sleeping bag.”
I asked in disbelief, “Why not, Paul?”
Silence—then finally the sheepish reply: “Well, I thought if I didn’t unroll my sleeping bag, I wouldn’t have to roll it up again.”
True story: he froze for hours because he was trying to save five minutes of work. We may think, “How foolish! Who would ever do that?” Well, we do it all the time in much more dangerous ways. We are, in effect, refusing to unroll our spiritual sleeping bags when we don’t take the time to sincerely pray, study, and earnestly live the gospel each day; not only will the fire go out, but we will be unprotected and grow spiritually cold.
When we are complacent with our covenants, we are complicit with the consequences. The Lord has counseled us “to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life.” And He further declared, “My blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not.”
In reality, it is much easier to be “all in” than partially in. When we are partially in or not in at all, there is, in the Star Wars vernacular, “a disturbance in the force.” We are out of sync with God’s will and therefore out of sync with the nature of happiness."

I love this story because it illustrates how important it is to be all in and to put God first in our lives. It may be hard at first but in the end, it's really the easiest and the happiest way to live :)

Thank y'all for your love and support! Transfers are coming up on May 10th so if you're sending me something, the safe place to send it is

1967 W 33rd Street
Ste. 100
Edmond OK 73013

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 130:18-19

P.S. Just wanted to make a shoutout to my cousin Sarah who had been called to serve a mission and assigned to labor in the new hampshire maine mission! Congrats cousin, I'm so excited for you!

Tender Mercies :)

Dear Family and Friends,

It has truly been a miraculous week full of tender mercies and I can't wait to tell y'all about it!

Monday evening we had dinner/lesson with the Edwards family. They aren't really progressing right now so we probably won't be able to spend as much time with them anymore unfortunately...

Tuesday morning we had a lesson with a returning less-active. She's super sweet and the spirit was strong :) After lunch we did some service for Ms. Murphy picking up fallen branches in her yard which was good. We ended up doing a lot of tracting before dinner. After dinner we went out teaching with a member and we stopped by try and teach Vince. We caught him in his garage and he talked to us for like 45 minutes telling us some random stories. Then his wife walked outside and I thought, "Oh great, she's going to tell us again that she's not really interested again" but instead she invited us to come inside and sit down. We had a good discussion with them and Vince is still really interested in reading the Book of Mormon and learning more. During part of the lesson we were explaining baptisms for the dead to Vince's wife, Sylvia. She tried to explain what her church believes about those who aren't able to learn about Christ during this life and she couldn't really do it. So hopefully we got her thinking a little bit :)

Wednesday morning we tried talking to people at Walmart again by offering to put their carts away. But this time we tried offering free genealogical services. And still no one was really interested. Not sure what else to try with these people... In the afternoon we redid our whiteboards and had a quick but solid lesson with Danny before dinner. He said he really wants to find more peace in his life :) After our dinner appointment, we went with the sister missionaries to El Reno to bless their apartment. Then we got to go and give a blessing to one of their investigators. It was an awesome experience :)

Thursday we got to go out to lunch with the elderly less-active couple in the ward, the Page's. They're super nice people and we got to read parts of 1 Nephi 8 with them and they really enjoyed it :) After that we did our weekly planning and then ended up tracting before dinner. After dinner we went to an apartment complex to try and visit Justin and Freddie. We locked up our bikes and walked by a lady planting flowers. After we walked by her, I decided to go back and talk to her but before we got to her, another lady was walking towards us and flagging us down. She said, "Hey is there any way I can get one of y'all's books?". We asked if she was talking about the Book of Mormon and she said she was and that she had always wanted to read it for herself. We gladly gave her a copy and shared our testimony of it. She doesn't want to talk with us at the moment but she has our phone number and hopefully we'll see her around the apartment complex. She was very thankful for the book and for the service we render. Her curiosity was sparked by simply seeing missionaries walking around a lot in the past. So cool so see how the Lord is able to nurture the seeds that we plant :)

Friday morning there was a huge thunderstorm with hail. It was intense :) We got to go with the sister missionaries to Yukon hospital before district meeting to give a new born baby a blessing. It was a neat and humbling experience. Also kind of interesting because the baby didn't have a name yet... After district meeting we went on splits with the Clinton elders. We had a lesson with Ms Murphy and got to teach parts of the plan of salvation which was awesome. Our appointment with Danny fell through so we ended up tracting before dinner.

Funny moment: So almost every house in Oklahoma has a storm door of some sort. A lot of people (especially here in Yukon) don't bother to open the storm door when they tell us they aren't interested (a lot of times we can't hear what they're saying which makes things interesting). But anyways, this one lady answered the door "What do y'all want!?" "We're represenatives of Jesus Chr" (cuts us off) "I'm not interested" She then closed the door on us without realizing that her tiny dog had gotten between the door and the storm door. So the poor thing got squeezed in-between the 2 doors. It was sad but really funny at the same time.

After dinner we biked out to the outskirts of our area to try a potential but she "already has a home church". (Haha wish she would've told us that the first time...) But we were able to a have an active member visit before the night was over so that was good :)

Saturday morning we tracted Utah Ave. and found some sweet potential investigators! We also tracted into some good friends of some members in our ward and they were really nice to us :) In the afternoon we had a lesson with the Pastor of good 'ol Grit Church. He's actually one of the nicest and most respectful preachers I've ever met. He didn't throw any anti at us and we can understand each other a lot better now. It was good :) Before dinner we tracted and after dinner we visited some members.

Sunday we had one of the coolest miracles of my mission! 30 minutes before our church started we got a random text from someone named Tyler asking for Elders Thomas and Burrows (missionaries that were here in Yukon over 6 months ago). We'd never seen a teaching record or anything for him since he was just a potential investigator. We replied that we were the missionaries in Yukon and he wanted to know if we had services today. So we invited him to come and join us and he did! He made it for half of sacrament meeting and all of gospel principles. He really enjoyed it and asked for materials to study so we gave him a pamphlet, Book of Mormon, and articles of faith card. He wasn't able to stay for priesthood but he texted us after church asking how priesthood meeting went and saying that he wants to stay for it next time. We're super excited to go and teach him this Wednesday. The Lord's hand is definitely in this work and I'm so grateful for the diligence and faith of the missionaries who came before us. I feel like the Jaredites in Ether 6:12 "They bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them."

As a mission we've been studying a talk from Elder Bednar titled, "Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary". One of the points he talks about is treasuring up the word of God. I love this quote:

"I invite you to “treasure up in your minds continually the words of life” (D&C 84:85). Treasuring up the words of eternal life is more than merely studying or memorizing, just as “feasting upon the word[s] of Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20; see also 2 Nephi 32:3) is more than simply sampling or snacking. Treasuring up suggests to me focusing and working, exploring and absorbing, pondering and praying, applying and learning, valuing and appreciating, and enjoying and relishing."

Daily scripture study is something that is easy for me to merely go through the motions of. But I've been able to notice how much more enjoyable and helpful my studies are when I'm truly treasuring up the word of God and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It makes such a big difference :)

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Larsen

Judges 9:50-55

P.S. Just FYI I return home on August 3rd and my homecoming will be on August 13th. Crazy to think about....

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another amazing week here in Yukon! Progress is a little slow but it's better than no progress at all :)

Monday evening we got to do a little family night with the recent convert family in our area and they had one of their friends over which was super cool! She was pretty shy but she said she enjoyed it. Then we had dinner with the Edwards family and visited another recent convert.

Tuesday we got fed lunch by a really nice older couple in the ward :) After that we went to go help someone lift a fridge into a dumpster but they ended up not needing our help. Our appointment with Danny didn't work out because he was preoccupied so we did some tracting. We ran into an Okie talker and by the end of it I'm pretty sure I was sleeping while standing up with my eyes open. In the evening we got to go out teaching with one of the youth in the ward and we ended up having an awesome lesson with Gayle. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and recommitted her to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. She doesn't feel comfortable coming to church yet but she is open to do a church/temple tour this next week. We also watched the Prince of Peace video with her and she liked it so much she posted it on facebook. It was fantastic!

Wednesday morning we went out teaching with a member. First we tried a former investigator, Joseph, that we've been trying to pick back up. He was busy when we stopped by but he told us to come back in 30 minutes. So in the meantime we tried a potential investigator named Ms. Murphy that we found through tracting. She's an elderly lady, she invited us in and we watched the Prince of Peace video with her. She enjoyed it and told us to come back on Friday :) Then we went back over to Joseph and had a good lesson with him on faith. He's been going through a lot but seems to be doing better so hopefully we can start teaching him on a regular basis. After lunch we did some tracting and then we had a lesson with some new investigators we found last week, Justin and Freddie. They're super chill and Freddie especially has some good questions and seems pretty interested. After that we went out with a member teaching. We had an appointment with our miracle from last week, Jennifer, but she dropped us over text which was really sad :(

Thursday we had zone conference in the city and it was amazing as always! We talked about becoming preach my gospel missionaries, prayer, and the trinity vs. the Godhead. My favorite part of zone conference (besides free lunch of course ;)) was that in attempting to explain what the Trinity is, the APs shared this quote from Wikipedia:

"Scripture contains neither the word Trinity,[13] nor an expressly formulated doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, according to the Christian theology, it "bears witness to" the activity of a God who can only be understood in Trinitarian terms.[14] The doctrine did not take its definitive shape until late in the fourth century.[15] During the intervening period, various tentative solutions, some more and some less satisfactory, were proposed.[16] Trinitarianism contrasts with nontrinitarian positions which include Binitarianism (one deity in two persons, or two deities), Unitarianism (one deity in one person, analogous to Jewish interpretation of the Shema and Muslim belief in Tawhid), Oneness Pentecostalism or Modalism (one deity manifested in three separate aspects). Additionally, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate deities, two of which possess separate bodies of flesh and bones, while the Holy Ghost has only a body of spirit; and that their unity is not physical, but in purpose. [17]"

The doctrine of the Godhead is so simple, pure, and easy to understand. It just makes sense! In the evening we biked around in the rain, visited some members, and got soaked :)

Friday we did our weekly planning in the morning and in the afternoon we ended up tracting. Before dinner we went with a member to visit Ms. Murphy and we had a great get to know you lesson. She said she wanted to come to church and hear our Bishop speak but she didn't show up yesterday unfortunately. But we're going to go back and do some service for her this next week so that's exciting :) After dinner we visited a less-active and got to give someone a priesthood blessing on our way home.

Saturday morning we had an experience that was really sad. We showed up to our coordination meeting with our ward mission leader and he presented the brilliant idea of going with him and his family to a community Easter egg hunt at the high school sponsored by a local church. We figured it would be a great opportunity to meet some people in the community. So we went and took some #PRINCEofPEACE cards with us to spread the Easter cheer. First, we ran into a crazy former investigator that we dropped a couple months ago. Second, after being there for only a couple minutes, we were approached by a guy who was walking really fast and didn't seem too happy. He came up close to us and told us he was the head pastor for the church and he then told us to leave in a very disrespectful manner. We responded that we were just there with a family but he said he didn't care and that he would call the cops if we didn't leave. It was a community event on public land and so they couldn't actually make us leave. But rather than cause contention, we left. I was a little angry at what he said to us but mostly just sad that people misunderstand us so much. Anyways, after our coordination meeting we tried to meet up with Tray in the park to play some ball and do a little bible study but he didn't show up. The rest of the afternoon we biked around, knocked on some doors, and helped some members break into their house because they locked their keys and baby inside the house. So grateful that God placed us in the right place at the right time to help them out. After dinner we tried a potential named Jackie and we met her husband named Grant and he seems pretty interested. He asked us if we have a new-member orientation program or something at our church and we told him that we were that program :)

Easter Sunday was great! We missionaries got asked to participate in a special musical number last minute so we sang "I Believe in Christ" with about 5 other members. After church, we visited an elderly member of the ward. We were asked by our mission president not to go tracting or stop by on members so it was hard to find stuff to do. Our lesson with Justin and Freddie fell through. But we had dinner and a lesson with an active part-member family from Ghana. It was awesome! They prepared a feast with some delicious African food. It was a fun Easter :)

Last week someone in Gospel principles shared something about the atonement that really stuck with me. They referenced one of the phrases said by the Savior while he was hanging on the cross.

"It is finished." - John 19:30

No matter what trial, heartache, affliction, or trouble we are facing, it is finished. The price has been paid, the battle has been won by Christ. If we turn to Christ in our moments of need, he will always give us the victory. Because it is finished. The infinite atonement was completed.

"Father, it is finished, thy will is done." - Matthew 27:50 JST

I hope y'all had a fun Easter weekend and that this next week is good as well!

Love, Elder Larsen

Moses 4:2

Happy Easter!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been totally awesome and I can't wait to tell y'all about it!

Monday we had dinner with our ward mission leader and his family which was fun :) After that we did some tracting and ran into a crazy lady. We also talked with another lady who was really nice and gave us some banana bread :)

Tuesday we did a lot of biking and little bit of tracting. We had an appointment with a less-active in the afternoon but we got there and she wasn't there. So we called her and she let us know she was running 30 minutes late. We walked around the apartment complex and ran into a guy named Justin. He's a cool guy and first person who let us watch the Prince of Peace video with him. #Miracle After we watched that and discussed it with him, he showed us part of this other video about some "sleeping prophet" from the 1900s which was slightly creepy and weird. But we got his phone number and he said we could come back whenever. After dinner, we visited some members and watched the Easter video with them and gave them pass-along cards to give to their friends.

Wednesday I had a sore throat which made biking in the wind and talking with people a challenge but the Lord helped me out so much. In the morning we went to the walmart parking lot for a little bit and offered to serve people by taking their shopping carts and putting them away for them. Most of those we helped accepted a card for the Prince of Peace video so that was cool :) After lunch, we dropped some pass-along cards off with some members, tried to visit some potential investigators, and got to watch the Easter video with a couple of them which was really neat. We also found a LA/PM family that's not on the records so #Miracle After dinner we went out teaching with a member and the first person we tried either wasn't home or they ignored us. So we decided to try a potential who lived down the street one last time. Her name is Jennifer and when she answered the door she said, "Hey guys, do you want to come in?" and we were like, "Yes please!". So we went in and sat down and started talking with her. She opened up about how she's hit rock bottom and that she's trying to get right with God again. Apparently she saw us a couple weeks ago riding our bikes in the middle of nowhere and said to herself, "The next time those guys come by I'm going to let them in." It was such an awesome and spiritual lesson! The member connected well with her and bore testimony about his own conversion and mission experience. It was probably the best lesson I've had so far here in Yukon, definitely a tender mercy :)

Thursday we did our planning and in the afternoon we did a lot of biking and giving #PRINCEofPEACE cards to members. We talked to quite a few people, knocked on some doors, and picked up some potentials. Solid Thursday!

Friday we had district meeting which was fun. President Mansell showed up randomly :) (I'm not a district leader anymore and it's been nice to not have as much stress :)) After that we went on splits in Yukon with Elders Fulmer and Burton who are serving out in Clinton. It was so much fun! Lots of stuff fell through for me and Elder Burton but Elder May and Fulmer found some new investigators so that was awesome :)

Saturday morning we finished splits, tried some potentials in the afternoon and did some service for Tim. After service, we went to the park in Yukon to try and talk to some people. There were some teenagers playing basketball so we went up to them and asked if we could play with them and were happy to let us join. Cool miracle: When we first walked up, they were all walking around looking at the ground trying to find a mini gold cross that fell off one of their necklaces. The guy who lost the cross is named Tray. We talked with him a little bit and I felt impressed to offer to say a prayer to help find the cross (at this point they were about to give up looking since it fell in the grass by the court). Tray is super chill and so he was happy to pray with us. A couple minutes after the prayer, Tray spotted his cross in the grass #Miracle It was a really cool experience :) Never underestimate the power of prayer! So we balled it up with them, I scored the winning 3 point shot ;), and Tray gave us his phone number so we could meet up with him again. After dinner our 7:00 fell through but at 8 we visited a PM couple which was good :)

Sunday was good, we had our usual eternigators at church. Some members fed us lunch after church and then we went to go meet with Justin and his brother, Freddie, but they weren't there :( So we tracted and found a sweet potential! After dinner we had a couple recent convert lessons. Fun Sunday :)

My favorite Easter scripture in the Book of Mormon about the resurrection is Mosiah 16:7-9

"7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."

Easter is probably my favorite holiday :) Apostles have called it the most holy day of year. The hope, peace, and rejoicing that come from Christ's victory over death and sin is indescribable. I was thinking the other day though, "Why do I not celebrate the resurrection every day? Why not celebrate Easter every day of the year? It's the greatest victory that's ever been one and it changes my life in more ways than I can count" So I've decided to try and do a better job of remembering Christ and his resurrection every day. I know that as we look unto Christ in every thought, (D&C 6:36) however hard it may be, we can always have peace in our hearts. He truly is the Prince of Peace!

Thank y'all so much for your love and support! And thanks for the Easter package mom! Happy Easter!

Love, Elder Larsen

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

P.S. Our mission office has moved to Edmond and so here is the new address if you ever want to send me anything.

Oklahoma Oklahoma Mission office
1967 W 33rd Street #100
Edmond, Oklahoma 73013

My current address here in Yukon is:
1006 Summerton Place
Yukon, OK 73099

1. Selfie SWAG while biking :)

2. A wild turkey chilling on some guy's truck in the middle of Yukon

#LDSGenConf

Dear Family and Friends,

I had a wonderful general conference weekend here in Yukon and I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend as well receiving revelation from prophets, seers, and revelators! :)

Monday we got to do some service helping a member fix his power chair :)

Tuesday some less-actives took us out to lunch so that was awesome! Not too much happened in the afternoon, in the evening we had dinner with some members and got rebuked by the Dad for looking tired and not being excited enough so that was interesting...

Wednesday morning our lesson with Joseph fell through, we did some service in the afternoon at the community center, and we had an awesome miracle! So about a month and a half ago we tracted into this guy named Vince who said he had a cousin who's Mormon and that his cousin was going to come visit him soon and give him a Book of Mormon. He didn't seem too interested in meeting with us at the time but we wrote down his info with the intent to try him at some point in the future. Well Wednesday I felt prompted to go try him so we went to his house and he was there! He said we were lucky to catch him at home and that his cousin wasn't able to come visit. So we offered him a Book of Mormon and he accepted it and talked to us for a while. I'm excited to go back and teach him :) In the evening we visited a single lady who has been less-active for a couple years because she works on Sundays. But between the day we set up the appointment and the actual day of the appointment, she talked with her boss and got Sunday mornings off so she can come to church now. So cool!

Thursday morning we planned and in the afternoon we tracted. Our appointment with Danny fell through but we spotted some people who were moving out of their house so we walked over to them. As we approached, one of them said, "Unless you're hear to help, we're not interested". We replied, "Well that's why we're here, to help y'all out." And what did they say? "Oh, we don't need any help, we've got it under control." Some people... After dinner we went with the Elders Quorum President out to El Reno to give someone a blessing :)

Friday morning we had district meeting and discussed the church's Easter Initiative for this year, "Prince of Peace". If you haven't seen the video yet, you need to. It's amazing! www.mormon.org After district meeting we did a lot of biking, tracting, and giving pass-along cards to members :) We had to drop one of our investigators because he doesn't have much desire unfortunately. After dinner we visited the Edwards family and showed them the new Easter video :)

Saturday we spent basically the whole day at the stake center watching conference with some other missionaries. It was basically Christmas for me :)

Sunday morning we watched conference and ate lunch with a less-active family and then we watched the afternoon session with our neighbor members, the Baileys. Then we had dinner with the Edwards family and had a lesson with a recent convert family. It was an amazing day :)

One of the themes that really struck me during General Conference was the idea of viewing others through God's eyes. Having the ability to see others for their divine identity as children of God instead of for their sins or weaknesses. It's so easy to judge others and I all too frequently find myself making that mistake. God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (D&C 1:31) but he doesn't recoil from us because he's able to separate the sin from the sinner. He views us a spiritually sick and harmed and therefore in need of love and attention. Let us all behold others for who they are, and give them the love and the care that they need. Charity is truly the greatest of all :)

Thank y'all so much for all your love and support, have a great week!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 98:3

1. Oil rig

2. Conference cinamon rolls