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

Temples are the best!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been a pretty crazy one with lots of meetings and such but I received a lot of revelation so it was good :)

Monday evening we tried to visit a lot of people without much luck.

Tuesday we woke up at 5 and drove to OKC for our temple trip and interviews with President Mansell. It was such a neat experience and I learned SO much. The temple is simply the best! :) We got back to Tahlequah around 8:15.

Wednesday we woke up at 4:40 and drove to Henryetta so we could catch a ride to Edmond for Greenie Graduation. Elder Hanks did great and it was a fun meeting :) We got back to Tahlequah at 5:15, ate dinner, had an awesome lesson with a less-acive/part-member family, and our 8:00 appointment fell through.

Thursday morning we drove 30 miles to Wagoner to start exchanges with the Elders there. They don't have a car and so I got to bike around all day :) It was a blast and we saw some neat miracles!

Friday morning we exchanged back, watched the first half of the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast, ate lunch with some members, helped some other members move some heavy furniture, drove to Muskogee to do a baptismal interview, got back to Tahlequah just in time for our 7:00 appointment with a less-active family, and got to have a good lesson with them :)

Saturday morning we finished watching the missionary broadcast and then did our weekly planning session. After that we had a lesson with Erik and committed him to come to church but he didn't make it unfortunately. After dinner we drove out to the middle of nowhere to try this investigator the previous missionaries were teaching who we have been unable to make contact with. We were able to find his trailer and teach a pretty good restoration lesson. He seems pretty open and interested, the biggest problem will just be the fact that he doesn't have a phone and therefore can't confirm or set up appointments with us. So we'll see how it turns out. Our appointment at 8 cancelled but we were able to track down a less-active who the ward has been looking for so that was cool :)

Sunday was good. Kaylin came to church with her husband again which was a cool miracle :) They didn't stay for Sunday school but we called Kaylin earlier this morning to set up an appointment and she said that her husband has some questions for us so that's really exciting :) She met with our Bishop this last week and got some of her questions about the temple answered so that was good. After church we went on splits with the Bishopic. After dinner we had a sweet lesson with Jerron on the Plan of Salvation. He's still progressing pretty well, he had a rough/busy week but hopefully this next week he'll be able to make it to church.

You might have heard about some changes to the missionary schedule. Basically, we have a lot more flexibility now and we get to do planning in the morning instead of the evening. So now when we get home at 9 we don't have to stayed dressed in proselyting clothes and plan for the next day. I love the new changes!

I came across a cool scripture this past week in D&C 19:20

"20 Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit." 

I think that the greatest blessing we receive from being obedient is the ability to have the spirit in our lives. Whenever we are disobedient, an immediate consequence is the withdrawal of the spirit. "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." Let us choose to be obedient so that we can have the power, peace, and guidance that comes from the Holy Ghost.

Thank y'all for all you do for me. I love my mission and I know that Christ lives!

Love, Elder Larsen

Helamen 6:35

1. Haha definitely not my best selfie ever...

2. Elder Hanks and I with President Mansell

"Ah Great, Mormon's" The Simpsons

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't believe it's already P-day again, this week has flown by!

Monday evening we got to go to the emergency room again to give someone a blessing. After dinner we went out teaching with a member and everything fell through.

Tuesday morning we decided to go to the college campus and do some street contacting. At first, we tried the quick survey approach and asked people:

1. What do you think of when you hear The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

2. What about when you hear "Mormons"?

3. What do you know about Mormons?

4. If you're Mormon you're not supposed to....?

5. Are you interested in learning more about Mormons?

That approach was pretty effective and we got some funny responses :)

"What do you think of when you hear Mormons?" "We ain't got any of those back home in Cali but there might be some in Utah."

"What do you know about Mormons?" "You're earning your way to heaven right? Like that's why you're out here in Oklahoma spreading the message."

"If you're Mormon you're not supposed to...?" "Be with girls."

A majority of the people we talked to didn't really know anything about Mormons which was pretty surprising. After we got done street contacting, we tried visiting some less-actives while tracting. After dinner we went with a member to go contact a referral we received from a less-active member. She was home and she invited us in. Teresa is an older lady and she wants to be baptized :) She met with missionaries in Arkansas a while ago, quit smoking, and was almost baptized but then got involved in a nasty divorce. She's going through a lot right now but she seems super promising :) #Miracle

Wednesday we went to NSU campus again and tried talking with people again. It's really hard in between class periods because there's so many people and everyone seems to be late for class. But we got some good advice from some other missionaries who have worked on college campuses and so we're super excited for this next week. At 12 we had lunch/institute at the college and it was amazing! A guy that we talked to on Tuesday, Greg, showed up to institute and seemed to really enjoy it! #Miracle The lesson was on Prophets and the Family Proclamation. He said he would come again next week and learn more :) After institute we had a lesson with Kaylin and her member friend Sister Short. We spent most of the lesson trying to answer her questions about the temple. She's stilling progressing pretty well and will hopefully be baptized soon. After that we taught the restoration to a college student we tracted into. A good way to describe him would be kind and curious. But we did spark his curiosity so we'll see if it ends up going anywhere. After dinner we went and had a spanish lesson with Salvador (I wish my spanish was still up to par but it's not :/).

Thursday we did weekly planning and then we started exchanges with the zone leaders in Tulsa. I stayed in Tahlequah with Elder Jensen, a spanish missionary who also served in the promise land of Clinton, Oklahoma :) We did a lot of trying to contact members and we got some good information. 2 of our appointments fell through but 1 didn't and so we got to have a good lesson with a less-active family who wants to start coming to church again. 

Friday we had district meeting in Wagoner with the zone leaders and the traveling AP showed up as well so that was fun :) After that we started exchanges with the missionaries in Pryor and I got to go to Pryor with Elder Hatch. We had such a fun exchange! The Lord placed so many prepared people in our path and we taught one of the most powerful restoration lessons on my mission. We also shot some hoops with some people in a park. 4 new investigators! #Miracle

Saturday we exchanged back. In the afternoon we tried a bunch of less-actives and made contact with a few. Funny story: We drive up to this house and get out of our car and the kids and dog playing in the yard come up to us. The oldest kid says, "Don't let the dog jump up on you, he just got into our septic tank and has crap on him." So what does the giant black dog do? Jump up on us. We had to get back into the car because I almost got into a fight with the dog. Everything is Awesome! After dinner we visited one of our recent-converts and had a lesson with her. Then we got to go teach Jerron again. Last time we left him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, and he read through the Gospel of Jesus Christ one twice and had some great questions for us. We answered his questions and he told us about how he's felt a difference since he started meeting with us and how there's always a positive energy whenever we come over. We helped him realize that it's the spirit and that what we're sharing is the truth. He's excited to come to church this next week and to study the plan of salvation pamphlet. I love the power of the spirit :)

Sunday was great :) We had a really good turnout out at church. Kaylin and Sister Short were there with their husbands (who supposedly aren't interested) so that was a cool miracle :) After church we had coordination with our ward mission leader and then went out on splits with the Bishopric. It was fun :) In the evening we got to have dinner with Bishop and discuss plans for member missionary work in the ward.

Recently I've been studying about FEAR

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

I love reading D&C 3

"1 The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.
 2 For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.
 3 Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men;...
 7 For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—
 8 Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble."

When we truly remember God and have faith and trust in his reality and power, then we will have no reason to fear. He is always there if we will but turn to and remember him.

Well thank y'all for reading this email and for being so supportive and loving. I love and miss you all so much!

Love, Elder Larsen

Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear Family and Friends,

I know I say this a lot, but missionary work is simply the best! The Lord is blessing us with so many miracles and I couldn't be happier :)

Monday after dinner we went to go try our Spanish speaking referral named Salvador and he was home! I've lost a lot of my spanish vocab and teaching skills but hopefully he understood a little of what we taught him. His Mom lives in Mexico and she converted to the church and referred him to us. Pretty cool. After that we went with a member in the ward to teach a lady named Shawna and we had a pretty sweet lesson. We asked what she was looking for and she said she wants to center her home more on Christ. So we taught and bore testimony about the power of daily family scripture study and prayer and family home evening. We're going back again tonight to do a family home evening with her and her daughters. So exciting!

Tuesday was great! In the morning we helped a part-member family haul some firewood since the dad is in California and their oldest child is sick. They live out in the booneys so we tried to visit some other members while we were out there. In the afternoon we finished organizing our member area book and it feels great to be totally organized again :) After dinner with the Elders Quorum president we went out on true splits for the first time on my mission! It was a cool experience and we made contact with a less-active family. 

Wednesday was perfect weather for biking and we hadn't had an opportunity to bike in Tahlequah so we were pretty pumped to bike around and talk to people. But then my bike had a deflated tire :( #SerenityNow But it still worked out and we got it pumped up later in the day :) For our lunch hour we got to go to institute at NSU (Northeastern State University) and it was a blast! I love institute and they feed us lunch each week too so it's definitely a win-win. After that we went with our ward mission leader to go teach our one progressing investigator, Kaylin. She has so many good questions and she is so much fun to teach. I'm pretty convinced that once she does some more studying she'll eventually get baptized. So excited for her! After we got back from that we went with one of the ward missionaries to teach another investigator named Erik. We committed him to come to church on Sunday since he believes in the Book of Mormon and says he has a strong desire to be baptized (Unfortunately he wasn't able to make it because he got sick). After dinner our appointment fell through and so we were on our way to try a less-active when the spirit reminded us of an investigator that we visited with the Arkansas Missionaries a couple of weeks ago. His name is Mark and we stopped by a had a good lesson with him. We did a lot of asking questions and listening and he seems to trust us a lot more now. Hopefully he'll be able to make it to church one of these weeks.

Thursday we had district meeting because there was supposed to be a huge ice storm on Friday. After that we had a lesson with a part-member family and had to drop them because of lack of desire. Then we had a lesson with a 12 year old boy who is slightly autistic and whose Mom and Grandma are members of the church. He came to church on Sunday and wants to get involved with Boy Scouts so we'll see how that goes, he might not need to get baptized if he's not accountable. In the evening we dropped another eternal investigator named Fred.

Friday we did weekly planning and then had a lesson with a less-active. Most of the lesson was just us trying to help this poor man figure out what he even believes about God. Then we had a good lesson with a less-active who came to church last Sunday wants to strengthen his faith so that was cool :) After that we went with a couple in the ward to visit an elderly lady and her granddaughter who got baptized a couple months ago and live out in the middle of nowhere. 

Saturday morning we had a coordination meeting with our ward mission leader and then he took us out to lunch afterwards :) In the afternoon we tried to visit a less-active part-member family and they invited us in. We got to know them and they said they were planning on coming to church in Tahlequah for the first time since moving here. They also offered to feed us dinner the next day #Miracle #TenderMercy Our return appointment with Salvador fell through but we were able to make some good contact with some other investigators. After dinner we tried to visit a lot of people and no one answered. At 7:50 we started tracting an apartment complex by our place and by 8 we had had no luck. But on our way back to the apartment to do 12 week, we remembered a potential investigator named Jerron who might be home. We knocked on his door and he invited us in. He said he read through the Restoration pamphlet and that it intrigued his curiosity. He's a Muslim who was born Christian but he's still open to truth. He then started asking us about the purpose of life, the afterlife, forgiveness, and some other questions of the soul. So we were able to give him some answers and he wants us to come back this week and teach him more. It's so cool how God leads us to people who have those questions. He said he started really pondering and thinking about that stuff about a week ago, right before we tracted into him. Definitely a miracle! :)

Sunday the part-member family, Chyna, John, and their son, Nile, came to church and fed us dinner! It was so cool and hopefully someday we'll be able to start teaching the non-member dad, John. After church we went on splits with the Bishop and one of his counselors and we were able to make some good visits. Bishop and I made contact with a less-active and did a stop by lesson with Salvador (Bishop served in Chile so he was able to speak a lot of spanish to him). Elder Hanks and Bro White had a lesson with a part-member family and ended up dropping them due to lack of desire. In the evening we visited some less-actives who weren't interested.

I was studying chapter 3 of the new Gordon B. Hinckley manual and came across this gem in D&C 19:38-39.

38 Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof.
39 Behold, canst thou read this without rejoicing and lifting up thy heart for gladness?

How can we have this glorious gospel in our lives and not rejoice?! I love Gordon B. Hinckley's example of optimism, joy, laughter, and fun. Let us all wake up every morning with a smile on our faces and an attitude of "Life is good. Today will be a great day!"

Thank y'all so much for your examples of faith and light. It makes me smile to think about how wonderful y'all are :) Happy MLK day!

Love, Elder Larsen

D&C 128:19-23

1. Driving to our lesson with Kaylin

2. Who knew Oklahoma could be so beautiful!? Eastern Oklahoma is so pretty :)