Wow, this week was really awesome. I am really loving my new area, and really loving being a missionary. I am learning alot being a zone leader, and at times it can be a little rough emotional, but it is alot of fun. Our zone is progressing really well, but we are having some problems with one of our areas... they are REALLY trunkie. So we are working on this.. Our zone is huge, it has 8 areas, so it is really big.
Well our baptism didnt go right, he backed out on the last minute, and wanted to wait 1 more week... so I have now been without a baptism for 4 weeks and I am DYING!!!! but this week it will all stop, we are going to baptize 4 people!
We had A LOT of miracles on Sunday, we have 14 investagators at church, and it was extremely spiritual, all the members LOVED it, they all had to do there part to make the investagators feel at home. So we were really blessed with that.
The Bishop of our ward is new, he only has 2 months being bishop here in the ward, and he really doesnt like our Mission President, so we had some rough patches with him, but after serving ALOT and work REALLY hard we finally won him over, he was WAY excited Sunday. We had 238 people in sacrament meeting. It was amazing, normally there is only 130... so the ward is going to spilt here in 2 weeks!!!
It is amazing how much we are blessed by the Lord. Elder Nunes and I are loving working together... it is a shame that he is going home at the end of the transfer, because I know that I will get a new companion.
We are trying to break the record in our zone and our mission for most baptisms in one week, so please pray for us ALOT!!!! We are really needed alot of prayers and alot of help here... I am loving serving a mission. It seems like everyday I learn something new about our Savior because of my mission. I am Totally dedicated to this work. It sounds like everyone at home is way good.... it is weird that tomorrow is thanksgiving... haha here in Brasil thanksgiving doesnt exisit... so tomorrow will be a normal day for me... weird.. haha. But oh well.
PRAY FOR ME!!
Love you all,
Sempre firme na fé!
Elder Olsen
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
18 November 2009
Well I dont have much time today, we have a meeting today with all the Zone Leaders. Ha it was amazing. Our mission President is truly an inspired man of God. It is amazing the things that he recieves that are exactly what the mission needs to do to have more success.. That is one thing that I am so grateful to know, is that we have the right to recieve revalation in our own lives.. or in our areas, or our zones, or wards, or stakes... when God calls us to do something, he provides the way for it to be done!
This week was awesome! We are truly seeing the Lords hand in our worK! We are continuing working really hard to find 1 family everysingle day. And it is getting complicated in the good way... haha. our teaching group is HUGE!!! we had over 20 new investagators each week in the past 2 weeks.... so we are teaching ALOT of people. The hardest thing is that we are depending alot on the members.. we are going on spilts everyday.. I hardly ever see my companion... our goal this week is we have 2 baptisms... I am going to do the interview of one of them hahaha.. I am going to baptize somebody that I have never taught!! It is really awesome. We are really starting to see the Lords hand in our work.... The thing we are realizing is how much we depend on the Lord in this work... If we arent worthly to recieve his help, we are going to baptize NOBODY... if we have the Lords help, and we are worthly to recieve it... EVERYONE can be baptized.. WOW, haha I am really excited to be a missionary.
Well I must say that being a Zone Leader has its perks... I have a washing machine. haha. every zone leader has a washing machine, because on pdays we have a meeting with President, so they gave all the Zone leaders washing machines, it is really nice. But, at the same time, it has a lot more responsibilities.. yesterday we had to go to a district meeting.. and our zone is huge.. not geographically, but because of the way the buses work here, we spent 6 hours on the bus yesterday, 2 hours in a meeting, and we didnt have time to do anything in our area.. so being a zone leader also has some sacrifices..
Elder Nunes and I are getting along great. He is a huge example to me. and I am learning alot with him. I am really thankful for the opportunity that I have to work with him...
This week was awesome! We are truly seeing the Lords hand in our worK! We are continuing working really hard to find 1 family everysingle day. And it is getting complicated in the good way... haha. our teaching group is HUGE!!! we had over 20 new investagators each week in the past 2 weeks.... so we are teaching ALOT of people. The hardest thing is that we are depending alot on the members.. we are going on spilts everyday.. I hardly ever see my companion... our goal this week is we have 2 baptisms... I am going to do the interview of one of them hahaha.. I am going to baptize somebody that I have never taught!! It is really awesome. We are really starting to see the Lords hand in our work.... The thing we are realizing is how much we depend on the Lord in this work... If we arent worthly to recieve his help, we are going to baptize NOBODY... if we have the Lords help, and we are worthly to recieve it... EVERYONE can be baptized.. WOW, haha I am really excited to be a missionary.
Well I must say that being a Zone Leader has its perks... I have a washing machine. haha. every zone leader has a washing machine, because on pdays we have a meeting with President, so they gave all the Zone leaders washing machines, it is really nice. But, at the same time, it has a lot more responsibilities.. yesterday we had to go to a district meeting.. and our zone is huge.. not geographically, but because of the way the buses work here, we spent 6 hours on the bus yesterday, 2 hours in a meeting, and we didnt have time to do anything in our area.. so being a zone leader also has some sacrifices..
Elder Nunes and I are getting along great. He is a huge example to me. and I am learning alot with him. I am really thankful for the opportunity that I have to work with him...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
11 November 2009
I hope that all is going amazing for yall. Things here are amazing!!!
I am loving my new area, my new companion and my new calling, I LOVE
THIS WORK.
This week was extremely eventful, and we are working like crazy! Elder
Nunes and I are trying to work at every single moment with all we
have! We made a plan of action with the Lord, and we are really trying
our hardest to find the people that we know the Lord has already
prepared for us. We found a alot of new families this week, and it was
awesome to see the gospel in their lives. We have made a plan with the
Lord, that if we work our hardest that every single day we will find
at least 1 family that is ready to hear the gospel and be baptized!!
It was a really awesome goal, and for the first 3 days the Lord has
fulfilled his part, we found 3 new families, 9 people in total that
were already to hear the gospel when we found them, and were so ready
to hear the gospel and accept baptism. In the last 2 days we have
marked 9 baptisms!! I know that as we contintue to do our part the
Lord will too!
Well on Sunday was my first day in the ward, and the Bishop asked me
to speak.. I gave a talk on sacrifice and service. And it was really
good, I think that the members really like it.
This ward is amazing. It is basically like we have 2 teaching
groups... because every single night we have spilts with the members.
Ha, it is awesome. So we have the goal that I will interview Elder
Nunes's baptisms and he will interview my baptisms. Haha we have alot
of investagators that I dont even know, because Elder Nunes teaches
them every day, and I will interview. IT IS AMAZING!
So when I was transfered I went from a really poor area, to the
RICHEST area on the mission.... every body here is WAY rich. haha. It
was funny on Sunday in my talk, I said that I am from a city that
probably nobody knows Lindon, after the sacrament meeting like 4
people came upo too me.. "Lindon, what are you talking about???
everybody know lindon... next to orem, af, alpine..." haha. We have 3
ex mission presidents in our ward, and like everybody speaks english.
Alot of the members have already been to the US, and studyed at BYU,
or go skiing every winter in PC. So it is a home away from home....
The parking lot of the church on sunday was loaded with alot of nice
cars, that you would never see in Brasil on the streets everyday. So
it is a really blessed ward. I am excited to be working here. Elder
Nunes is awesome. I am learning alot from him.. He was AP for 10
months, and almost his whole mission he has been a leader... this is
his last transfer.... so he will be going home soon.. But he still
works hard than any other missionary.
Thanks for all that you do for me, and love you all so much!! I am so
grateful for all the blessings that I am seeing in my life because of
the mission... I am loving life!!!
Pray for me!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
I am loving my new area, my new companion and my new calling, I LOVE
THIS WORK.
This week was extremely eventful, and we are working like crazy! Elder
Nunes and I are trying to work at every single moment with all we
have! We made a plan of action with the Lord, and we are really trying
our hardest to find the people that we know the Lord has already
prepared for us. We found a alot of new families this week, and it was
awesome to see the gospel in their lives. We have made a plan with the
Lord, that if we work our hardest that every single day we will find
at least 1 family that is ready to hear the gospel and be baptized!!
It was a really awesome goal, and for the first 3 days the Lord has
fulfilled his part, we found 3 new families, 9 people in total that
were already to hear the gospel when we found them, and were so ready
to hear the gospel and accept baptism. In the last 2 days we have
marked 9 baptisms!! I know that as we contintue to do our part the
Lord will too!
Well on Sunday was my first day in the ward, and the Bishop asked me
to speak.. I gave a talk on sacrifice and service. And it was really
good, I think that the members really like it.
This ward is amazing. It is basically like we have 2 teaching
groups... because every single night we have spilts with the members.
Ha, it is awesome. So we have the goal that I will interview Elder
Nunes's baptisms and he will interview my baptisms. Haha we have alot
of investagators that I dont even know, because Elder Nunes teaches
them every day, and I will interview. IT IS AMAZING!
So when I was transfered I went from a really poor area, to the
RICHEST area on the mission.... every body here is WAY rich. haha. It
was funny on Sunday in my talk, I said that I am from a city that
probably nobody knows Lindon, after the sacrament meeting like 4
people came upo too me.. "Lindon, what are you talking about???
everybody know lindon... next to orem, af, alpine..." haha. We have 3
ex mission presidents in our ward, and like everybody speaks english.
Alot of the members have already been to the US, and studyed at BYU,
or go skiing every winter in PC. So it is a home away from home....
The parking lot of the church on sunday was loaded with alot of nice
cars, that you would never see in Brasil on the streets everyday. So
it is a really blessed ward. I am excited to be working here. Elder
Nunes is awesome. I am learning alot from him.. He was AP for 10
months, and almost his whole mission he has been a leader... this is
his last transfer.... so he will be going home soon.. But he still
works hard than any other missionary.
Thanks for all that you do for me, and love you all so much!! I am so
grateful for all the blessings that I am seeing in my life because of
the mission... I am loving life!!!
Pray for me!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
4 Nov 2009
Well this week was really exciting for me, and ALOT happened.
On thursday Elder Jensen came to our mission. We had a 3 hour meeting with him, and it was way awesome! I really learned alot about things that I need to change in my life and my mission. It was really awesome to see that he is just really calm and talks really slow and always thinks about what he will say before he says it.
This weekend was really busy for me, I had alot of interviews in my district and so I did alot of traveling.
Well Sunday I had a great present!!!!! On sunday Elisangela and Andreia.. two people that I baptized, were called to the presidency of the relief society!!!! WOW!! It was way cool. Elisangela 1st con. and Andreia 2nd. It was a huge going away present for me. I am so thankful that I got to stay in my first area for 8 months. Because I got to see the change that happens after baptism too! It was really cool.
Well too no surprise I was transfered...
I left Anhanguera. And I was called to Novo Vinheado. It is a great area.. I was called to be Zone Leader with Elder Nunes!!
Elder Nunes is brasilian from Sao Paulo city. He is an amazing missionary. I am going to learn ALOT from him. he was AP on the mission for 10 months, and he is probably the best missionary on the mission. Our President loves him, and he is defintely going to be a great companion for me.
I am really excited about this transfer! Our mission has the goal to break the record for baptisms in 1 month! So we are going to work really hard!
I hope that everything at home is going great! Halloween here is way lame! Nobody dresses up or anything, they dont even celebrate the holiday, I talked to alot of kids on the street and nobody even knows what halloween is.. So that was a little bit different.
Things are going great mom, I am not needing anything, everything is fine, I still havent bought new shoes, the only real place where there are shoes that are good is in Campinas city.. but I dont go there alot, so I am going to wait until I go there next until i buy new shoes.
I had a ingrown toenail which was pretty ugly, but I bought some pillers and ripped off my toe nail. haha, I made a video, it was pretty awesome. Well I love you all, and I hope that everyone is doing great.
Please pray for me ALOT!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen.
On thursday Elder Jensen came to our mission. We had a 3 hour meeting with him, and it was way awesome! I really learned alot about things that I need to change in my life and my mission. It was really awesome to see that he is just really calm and talks really slow and always thinks about what he will say before he says it.
This weekend was really busy for me, I had alot of interviews in my district and so I did alot of traveling.
Well Sunday I had a great present!!!!! On sunday Elisangela and Andreia.. two people that I baptized, were called to the presidency of the relief society!!!! WOW!! It was way cool. Elisangela 1st con. and Andreia 2nd. It was a huge going away present for me. I am so thankful that I got to stay in my first area for 8 months. Because I got to see the change that happens after baptism too! It was really cool.
Well too no surprise I was transfered...
I left Anhanguera. And I was called to Novo Vinheado. It is a great area.. I was called to be Zone Leader with Elder Nunes!!
Elder Nunes is brasilian from Sao Paulo city. He is an amazing missionary. I am going to learn ALOT from him. he was AP on the mission for 10 months, and he is probably the best missionary on the mission. Our President loves him, and he is defintely going to be a great companion for me.
I am really excited about this transfer! Our mission has the goal to break the record for baptisms in 1 month! So we are going to work really hard!
I hope that everything at home is going great! Halloween here is way lame! Nobody dresses up or anything, they dont even celebrate the holiday, I talked to alot of kids on the street and nobody even knows what halloween is.. So that was a little bit different.
Things are going great mom, I am not needing anything, everything is fine, I still havent bought new shoes, the only real place where there are shoes that are good is in Campinas city.. but I dont go there alot, so I am going to wait until I go there next until i buy new shoes.
I had a ingrown toenail which was pretty ugly, but I bought some pillers and ripped off my toe nail. haha, I made a video, it was pretty awesome. Well I love you all, and I hope that everyone is doing great.
Please pray for me ALOT!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen.
28 Oct 2009
Wow, this week was really great! We are really seeing alot of miracles here in the area! It is week 6, and well, I am starting to get really nervous that I might be transfered. After 7 and a half months, i think that I might be ready for a change.
Elder Aragao my son, is doing really great. He is starting to get into the hang of missionary work, and is starting to really like it. There are alot of teaching moments that I find with him, and alot of opportunties to learn.
He really doesnt talk that much about home with me, but I can tell he really misses his family. I found out that his mom isnt a member of the church, nor his dad. So that defintely must be really challenging. He has an older brother, that is going to start his mission at the end of this year too, so that is cool.
We are working with ALOT of people right now in our area. Our teaching pool is huge!! We have a ton of people that we are teaching and alot of them are progressing really well. We are meeting alot of special people this week, and I am nervous that I wont get to see alot of them get baptized because of the transfers. I am trying not to think about the transfers, because I dont want Elder Aragao to think that we dont need to work this last week. I told this that we are not allowed to talk about the transfers until Sunday night after planning.. haha, so we dont talk about the transfers. Tomorrow we have a huge blessing here in the mission, Elder Jensen of the seventy is coming to our mission!!!! It is going to be amazing! I am hoping that it is a full day event, but they aps arent really saying too much about it. Training has been a huge new experence for me, I really did like it, but I am not sure if I want to do it again. I know that I want to continue working my hardest and putting my trust in the Lord.
This week we are going to help Isabel and her daughters be baptized! It is going to be awesome! We have 3 baptisms this week, and they are people really special, the Lord is blessing this area so much! In 3 weeks the ward is going to move to a new location, where is it going to be amazing!!!! It is a new warehouse, but it is huge!! It is going to be about twice the size of the warehouse we use right now. There were 93 people at sacrament meeting this past week!! The ward only need 7 more people to recieve a new chapel!!! It will be amazing here in the area when they have a chapel, the work will explode!!! When I started here 7 months ago only the ward only had 60 people that were active, they ward was lost. It is so amazing to see the ward so happy and ready to recieve the blessings from the Lord. This past Sunday we had a ward council meeting, The Bishop asked me to give a talk about the importance of missionary work and establishing a ward missionary plan. After about an half hour talk, we all talked about the strengths and weakness of the ward, and the ward decided to set some really amazing goals for the ward! The goal is at the next stake conference, recieve a chapel!! So the missionary have to baptize at least 4 people every month, and re active 2 families!!! It will be AWESOME!! The work here is going awesome! I love Anhanguera, this ward defintely is my family!
Please continue to pray for me and my companion, that this week we can finish our transfer strong and be blessed from the Lord!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Elder Aragao my son, is doing really great. He is starting to get into the hang of missionary work, and is starting to really like it. There are alot of teaching moments that I find with him, and alot of opportunties to learn.
He really doesnt talk that much about home with me, but I can tell he really misses his family. I found out that his mom isnt a member of the church, nor his dad. So that defintely must be really challenging. He has an older brother, that is going to start his mission at the end of this year too, so that is cool.
We are working with ALOT of people right now in our area. Our teaching pool is huge!! We have a ton of people that we are teaching and alot of them are progressing really well. We are meeting alot of special people this week, and I am nervous that I wont get to see alot of them get baptized because of the transfers. I am trying not to think about the transfers, because I dont want Elder Aragao to think that we dont need to work this last week. I told this that we are not allowed to talk about the transfers until Sunday night after planning.. haha, so we dont talk about the transfers. Tomorrow we have a huge blessing here in the mission, Elder Jensen of the seventy is coming to our mission!!!! It is going to be amazing! I am hoping that it is a full day event, but they aps arent really saying too much about it. Training has been a huge new experence for me, I really did like it, but I am not sure if I want to do it again. I know that I want to continue working my hardest and putting my trust in the Lord.
This week we are going to help Isabel and her daughters be baptized! It is going to be awesome! We have 3 baptisms this week, and they are people really special, the Lord is blessing this area so much! In 3 weeks the ward is going to move to a new location, where is it going to be amazing!!!! It is a new warehouse, but it is huge!! It is going to be about twice the size of the warehouse we use right now. There were 93 people at sacrament meeting this past week!! The ward only need 7 more people to recieve a new chapel!!! It will be amazing here in the area when they have a chapel, the work will explode!!! When I started here 7 months ago only the ward only had 60 people that were active, they ward was lost. It is so amazing to see the ward so happy and ready to recieve the blessings from the Lord. This past Sunday we had a ward council meeting, The Bishop asked me to give a talk about the importance of missionary work and establishing a ward missionary plan. After about an half hour talk, we all talked about the strengths and weakness of the ward, and the ward decided to set some really amazing goals for the ward! The goal is at the next stake conference, recieve a chapel!! So the missionary have to baptize at least 4 people every month, and re active 2 families!!! It will be AWESOME!! The work here is going awesome! I love Anhanguera, this ward defintely is my family!
Please continue to pray for me and my companion, that this week we can finish our transfer strong and be blessed from the Lord!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
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