Family,
this week was a pretty busy week. filled with lots of exciting changes in the mission. We had 2 traning meetings and others preparations for the transfer that is coming next monday. The last 2 weeks of the transfer are usually filled with lots of meetings with President and other mission leaders. We are starting to establish a teaching pool in our area, we are really excited about all the people that we are meeting. We have a great group of people that we are teaching. This week we had a great activity here in the center of the city. We all put on santa hats and went and sung hymns, we had a table out with tons of flyers about the church. So while 4 of us sang, the other 4 were out writing down address's and talking with everyone. It was a great sucess. we got over 200 adress's! It is going to bring in alot of results for the center's area. It was alot of fun. It is really interesting the christmas season here in Brasil isn't nearly as strong as in the states. Very few families put up christmas trees, nobody knows christmas hynms. it is a different culture. In our ward there are alot of wealthly people, so they all have a "normal" american christmas. but it the poor neighboorhoods, it is very normal for people to work up until the 24th of december and then start working again on the 26th. It is defintely a very different christmas. It is raining alot here. I think it has rained everyday for 2 weeks straight! Let's just say i am wet all day.
The mission is amazing. It is so amazing to feel of the spirit of the Lord during this great time of the year, I love you all and hope that we can all find a way to show our graitude during this wonderful season.
Hurrah for Israel
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
13 Dec 2010
Hi Hansen and Olsen Family!
I just wanted to share a few pictures of your cute sons.
Yesterday we had our ward Christmas party with a huge bbq and I got a picture of all of us (my husband and I are the ones on the left closer to Elder Hansen) and today I brought my camera to church to snap a few shots.
They both are doing a great job and working really hard to teach and baptize. I know their old Mission President, Pres. Castro Deus (He is my Husband's brothers father-in-law) and I've heard good things about the new President. Both elder Hansen and Elder Olsen have really been having a lot of success in our area and everyone loves them!
The area they are in is a great area, the ward is awesome and everyone is super sweet and has strong testimonies of the church.
Thanks for sharing your boys with us!
Enjoy the pix and happy holidays!
Brooke
I just wanted to share a few pictures of your cute sons.
Yesterday we had our ward Christmas party with a huge bbq and I got a picture of all of us (my husband and I are the ones on the left closer to Elder Hansen) and today I brought my camera to church to snap a few shots.
They both are doing a great job and working really hard to teach and baptize. I know their old Mission President, Pres. Castro Deus (He is my Husband's brothers father-in-law) and I've heard good things about the new President. Both elder Hansen and Elder Olsen have really been having a lot of success in our area and everyone loves them!
The area they are in is a great area, the ward is awesome and everyone is super sweet and has strong testimonies of the church.
Thanks for sharing your boys with us!
Enjoy the pix and happy holidays!
Brooke
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
8 Dec 2010
Hello family!!!
This week was amazing!!! We saw alot of miracles in our area!! Adilson was baptized on saturday. It was a really great baptism. Now the entire family is baptized in the church. They are really excited. They are all really excited to enter into the temple here in a year. They are a really good family. I really love them. We had 8 investagators at church. They all should progess until baptism!! We are really excited about a few investagators in special. William and Iago should both be baptized this month, and we also marked a wedding for a lady named liliam, she will be baptized on the last week in december. we are really trying to work really well with the members of the church, so that we can really edify the church here in this ward. I am loving the mission. we are going to have alot of sucess if the Lord continues to bless us like he has. Yesterday and monday i was in another state, minis gerais, it is the last zone in our mission, it was really cool to go there, it is a really different place then here in campinas. I am really excited about this month, the Lord has prepared alot of people for us here in the area.
I love you all, thanks for all the love and support.
Hurrah for Israel
Elder Olsen
This week was amazing!!! We saw alot of miracles in our area!! Adilson was baptized on saturday. It was a really great baptism. Now the entire family is baptized in the church. They are really excited. They are all really excited to enter into the temple here in a year. They are a really good family. I really love them. We had 8 investagators at church. They all should progess until baptism!! We are really excited about a few investagators in special. William and Iago should both be baptized this month, and we also marked a wedding for a lady named liliam, she will be baptized on the last week in december. we are really trying to work really well with the members of the church, so that we can really edify the church here in this ward. I am loving the mission. we are going to have alot of sucess if the Lord continues to bless us like he has. Yesterday and monday i was in another state, minis gerais, it is the last zone in our mission, it was really cool to go there, it is a really different place then here in campinas. I am really excited about this month, the Lord has prepared alot of people for us here in the area.
I love you all, thanks for all the love and support.
Hurrah for Israel
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
1 Dec 2010
Here are the pics from the 5 baptisms this week! Love ya lots!!
Aniley and her mom and brother
jose and aladia and the members that help work with them
rosangela and leticia together with wesley her son who is already a member.
love ya lots!!
enjoy
elder olsen
1 Dec 2010
Family,
This week was fantastic. I am loving my new area, and me and my companion are doing great together. This week was an extremely cool, we had 5 baptisms in our area. The Lord has truly blessed us. We saw 2 families enter into the church. Jose and Aladia are like my grandparents now, they call us their grandchildren, they`re 77 and 75. It was by far one of the coolest baptisms on my mission, since she has cancer and a broken back, it presented certain problem to baptize her, we had to overfill the font, and then really heat up the water, it was the temp of the temple fonts, it was cool. Then she was baptized by 2 people, to make sure she didnt get injured. They are awesome, Jose is a really sucessful businessman. He owns a lot of tire companies here in brasil, he lived in england and the us for a while, she has a MD.. he is REALLY weathly, i was nervous when we taught thithing, but he accepted easily. He says that as a retired man he still earns over 1 million a year, haha. He is awesome. Rosangela and her daugther leticia were baptized as well. she has a son that is already a member, which really helped the process, the dad Adilson wasnt baptized on saturday with them because he works every other sunday, so he couldnt be confirmed on sunday, but he will be baptized this week and confirmed this sunday. They are a great family as well! and then anily was baptized as well. she is a members sister, she is 15. She is really a great young woman. Her mom and step dad just need to get married to be baptized.. but the process is really slow here in brasil, so it may take awhile.
This week we have 2 more baptisms. Adilson (rosangela`s husband) and william. a members brother. We also are being really blessed with a lot of elects. We have a ton of people to teach and baptize. We are really working hard. I love my area, and I love the mission. Yesterday president told me that I will be staying with my current calling on my last transfer. I am happy to serve with whatever calling, but i kinda wanted to train again, but it is the Lord`s will not mine. Pray for me so that we can continue having success here in our area.
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
This week was fantastic. I am loving my new area, and me and my companion are doing great together. This week was an extremely cool, we had 5 baptisms in our area. The Lord has truly blessed us. We saw 2 families enter into the church. Jose and Aladia are like my grandparents now, they call us their grandchildren, they`re 77 and 75. It was by far one of the coolest baptisms on my mission, since she has cancer and a broken back, it presented certain problem to baptize her, we had to overfill the font, and then really heat up the water, it was the temp of the temple fonts, it was cool. Then she was baptized by 2 people, to make sure she didnt get injured. They are awesome, Jose is a really sucessful businessman. He owns a lot of tire companies here in brasil, he lived in england and the us for a while, she has a MD.. he is REALLY weathly, i was nervous when we taught thithing, but he accepted easily. He says that as a retired man he still earns over 1 million a year, haha. He is awesome. Rosangela and her daugther leticia were baptized as well. she has a son that is already a member, which really helped the process, the dad Adilson wasnt baptized on saturday with them because he works every other sunday, so he couldnt be confirmed on sunday, but he will be baptized this week and confirmed this sunday. They are a great family as well! and then anily was baptized as well. she is a members sister, she is 15. She is really a great young woman. Her mom and step dad just need to get married to be baptized.. but the process is really slow here in brasil, so it may take awhile.
This week we have 2 more baptisms. Adilson (rosangela`s husband) and william. a members brother. We also are being really blessed with a lot of elects. We have a ton of people to teach and baptize. We are really working hard. I love my area, and I love the mission. Yesterday president told me that I will be staying with my current calling on my last transfer. I am happy to serve with whatever calling, but i kinda wanted to train again, but it is the Lord`s will not mine. Pray for me so that we can continue having success here in our area.
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
24 Nov 2010
Hello family,
wow this week was incredible!! I am so lucky to be a missionary. I will not lie, i love being out of the office alot, as a leader i feel i can accomplish alot more being a good example, instead of preparing a training or something like that, so i am really happy. This area is amazing. I love the members already and the investagators that we have, the lord is really blessing us alot. This week we saw one of the best baptisms on our mission. Brother Wesley and his whole family were baptized on saturday, what a special family!!!! the have the cutest kids in the whole world, the have baby twins, that are 1, and also have a daugther that is 8. WOW! the baptism was amazing. President Martins (a man in our ward, he is AMAZING!! ex mission president, fantastic member of the church) he baptized the dad, i baptized the mom and my companion baptized the daughter. it was awesome. The dad wesley went to his baptism in a suit and tie, he was just really prepared to be baptized. They were confirmed members on sunday, it was awesome. We are working A LOT, i cant remember ever working so hard in all of my mission, but the Lord sure is blessing us. We had 13 investagators at church on sunday!!! 2 full families, and a lot more people as well. This week we are really blessed, we will have 6 baptisms this saturday. Jose and Aladia are amazing. they are a older couple, the oldest i will ever baptize. they are 77 and 75. they have been going to church for ALONG time, but nobody seemed to be able to mark their baptism. Well they really liked us, so the first time we went to their house they accepted baptism for this saturday, they are awesome, they gave us lunch today, the wife has cancer, and she is going through kemo threapy right now, but she is strong enough to be baptized. We also have Adilson, Rosangela and Leticia. They are another family, their son was baptized about 6 months ago, but the parents didnt want to at the time. Well we have really been blessed to touch the hearts of alot of people in these 3 weeks here, all 3 accepted baptism for this saturday as well. We also have a Anielly, she is a young women, a member's sister, she is going to be baptized as well. We are really excited and really happy. The ward members are excited to see so many families entering into the ward, so we are planning on recieving a lot of referals from the members. I am so thankful for this great opportunity to serve the Lord. I want to baptize alot more people before my mission ends. I have to reach my goal. The Lord will bless me. I am so thankful to be here, I couldnt imagine doing a more important thing than working in the Lord vinyard. I love this work, I love this gospel, i love helping these people.
Have a great thanksgiving!!!!
Elder OLSEN!!!!
wow this week was incredible!! I am so lucky to be a missionary. I will not lie, i love being out of the office alot, as a leader i feel i can accomplish alot more being a good example, instead of preparing a training or something like that, so i am really happy. This area is amazing. I love the members already and the investagators that we have, the lord is really blessing us alot. This week we saw one of the best baptisms on our mission. Brother Wesley and his whole family were baptized on saturday, what a special family!!!! the have the cutest kids in the whole world, the have baby twins, that are 1, and also have a daugther that is 8. WOW! the baptism was amazing. President Martins (a man in our ward, he is AMAZING!! ex mission president, fantastic member of the church) he baptized the dad, i baptized the mom and my companion baptized the daughter. it was awesome. The dad wesley went to his baptism in a suit and tie, he was just really prepared to be baptized. They were confirmed members on sunday, it was awesome. We are working A LOT, i cant remember ever working so hard in all of my mission, but the Lord sure is blessing us. We had 13 investagators at church on sunday!!! 2 full families, and a lot more people as well. This week we are really blessed, we will have 6 baptisms this saturday. Jose and Aladia are amazing. they are a older couple, the oldest i will ever baptize. they are 77 and 75. they have been going to church for ALONG time, but nobody seemed to be able to mark their baptism. Well they really liked us, so the first time we went to their house they accepted baptism for this saturday, they are awesome, they gave us lunch today, the wife has cancer, and she is going through kemo threapy right now, but she is strong enough to be baptized. We also have Adilson, Rosangela and Leticia. They are another family, their son was baptized about 6 months ago, but the parents didnt want to at the time. Well we have really been blessed to touch the hearts of alot of people in these 3 weeks here, all 3 accepted baptism for this saturday as well. We also have a Anielly, she is a young women, a member's sister, she is going to be baptized as well. We are really excited and really happy. The ward members are excited to see so many families entering into the ward, so we are planning on recieving a lot of referals from the members. I am so thankful for this great opportunity to serve the Lord. I want to baptize alot more people before my mission ends. I have to reach my goal. The Lord will bless me. I am so thankful to be here, I couldnt imagine doing a more important thing than working in the Lord vinyard. I love this work, I love this gospel, i love helping these people.
Have a great thanksgiving!!!!
Elder OLSEN!!!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
17 Nov 2010
Family,
That is pretty cool that now justin has been to brasil as well, i know that he is jealous because brasil is the best country in the world(alright its still behind the big usa, but it is close.) this week was a fantastic week. i am really motivated to work as hard as i possibly can. me and my companion are getting along great and working really hard. we had ALOT of sucess this week. our new ward is amazing. everyone is amazingly excited that we are here. our president helped us out a little with a phone call to the bishop saying that he was sending his aps to the area, so now the whole ward knows we are the assistents, so on sunday we were recieved really well in the ward. we recieved over 20 member referals during the week, all of families, and we marked over 10 baptisms!!! we recieved a referal from a fantastic family, that has already been going to church.... their names are wesley and luciana. they have 3 children, a set of twins that are 1 and way cute, it is an amazing family. they have already been going to church, but the missionaries before had never taught them! we taught them, and they already know everything about the church. so they will be baptized this saturday! they are a special family!! their 8 yr old daughter will be baptized as well!!! it is going to be amazing. We are also teaching another part member family, where there are 3 non members in the house. the dad never wanted to accept the missionaries, but for some odd reason he met us and really liked us, he accepted to be baptized on the 27th. we are extremely excited. and we are ready to work like crazy!!! we have to baptized alot this transfer, the lord wants us to!! I LOVE this work, it is amazing!!!
Please pray for me.
Hurrah for Israel!!
That is pretty cool that now justin has been to brasil as well, i know that he is jealous because brasil is the best country in the world(alright its still behind the big usa, but it is close.) this week was a fantastic week. i am really motivated to work as hard as i possibly can. me and my companion are getting along great and working really hard. we had ALOT of sucess this week. our new ward is amazing. everyone is amazingly excited that we are here. our president helped us out a little with a phone call to the bishop saying that he was sending his aps to the area, so now the whole ward knows we are the assistents, so on sunday we were recieved really well in the ward. we recieved over 20 member referals during the week, all of families, and we marked over 10 baptisms!!! we recieved a referal from a fantastic family, that has already been going to church.... their names are wesley and luciana. they have 3 children, a set of twins that are 1 and way cute, it is an amazing family. they have already been going to church, but the missionaries before had never taught them! we taught them, and they already know everything about the church. so they will be baptized this saturday! they are a special family!! their 8 yr old daughter will be baptized as well!!! it is going to be amazing. We are also teaching another part member family, where there are 3 non members in the house. the dad never wanted to accept the missionaries, but for some odd reason he met us and really liked us, he accepted to be baptized on the 27th. we are extremely excited. and we are ready to work like crazy!!! we have to baptized alot this transfer, the lord wants us to!! I LOVE this work, it is amazing!!!
Please pray for me.
Hurrah for Israel!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
10 Nov 2010
Family,
I am so excited!!!!! Today is my first full day out of the office. And I am loving it. I have really missed serving full time, but at the same time I am very thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve in the office, I learned alot. But now I feel like we will be able to be more effective APs being in the field full time. During our visit that the area presidency made he had told us the importance of the aps being examples in the work, that we need to be baptizing the most on the mission, and so it was hard to really establish a teaching pool while only working limited hours, now working basically full time we will be able to have alot more success. I am really excited. Elder Castleton my old companion went home on monday, it was hard to say goodbye.. we worked for 3 months together and he really became one of my good friends. I gave him our address and he is going to stop by this month and get to know the family. Elder Hansen is my new companion. He is awesome!!! He is a little nervous to be ap, but he will do great. He has about 1 yr and 5 months on the mission. I cant believe i only have 2 more transfers. it is crazy. I get a little sad sometimes thinking about how fast time goes by. but i am really excited to be here. This area is called Costa e Silva. It is a really good area. It hasnt had alot of success. Only 3-5 baptisms in 8 months, but last night we got here for the first time and we talked with the bishop(he served a mission in the states speaks english) and the ward mission leader and they are both really excited. We are going to baptize alot of people. Our goal is at least 20 people this transfer!! 4 families!! we know that is possible. I really want to end my mission just going all out, working as hard as i can. I am really excited. We got here and we had to break into our house, and then there was nothing inside of it, so we had to sleep on top of matresses on the ground. It was awesome. well i loved to read justins letter. I laughed alot.. i love him so much. It was weird i started crying reading justin's email.. I just couldnt help but feel like alma in the book of mormon. I felt such joy hearing my little brother tearing it up in the mission field. I felt so much peace, i just started crying. I love this work, i love serving the Lord with all my heart, to just be here working and serving the Lord. I love you all, i love this people here in brasil!!! I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
I am so excited!!!!! Today is my first full day out of the office. And I am loving it. I have really missed serving full time, but at the same time I am very thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve in the office, I learned alot. But now I feel like we will be able to be more effective APs being in the field full time. During our visit that the area presidency made he had told us the importance of the aps being examples in the work, that we need to be baptizing the most on the mission, and so it was hard to really establish a teaching pool while only working limited hours, now working basically full time we will be able to have alot more success. I am really excited. Elder Castleton my old companion went home on monday, it was hard to say goodbye.. we worked for 3 months together and he really became one of my good friends. I gave him our address and he is going to stop by this month and get to know the family. Elder Hansen is my new companion. He is awesome!!! He is a little nervous to be ap, but he will do great. He has about 1 yr and 5 months on the mission. I cant believe i only have 2 more transfers. it is crazy. I get a little sad sometimes thinking about how fast time goes by. but i am really excited to be here. This area is called Costa e Silva. It is a really good area. It hasnt had alot of success. Only 3-5 baptisms in 8 months, but last night we got here for the first time and we talked with the bishop(he served a mission in the states speaks english) and the ward mission leader and they are both really excited. We are going to baptize alot of people. Our goal is at least 20 people this transfer!! 4 families!! we know that is possible. I really want to end my mission just going all out, working as hard as i can. I am really excited. We got here and we had to break into our house, and then there was nothing inside of it, so we had to sleep on top of matresses on the ground. It was awesome. well i loved to read justins letter. I laughed alot.. i love him so much. It was weird i started crying reading justin's email.. I just couldnt help but feel like alma in the book of mormon. I felt such joy hearing my little brother tearing it up in the mission field. I felt so much peace, i just started crying. I love this work, i love serving the Lord with all my heart, to just be here working and serving the Lord. I love you all, i love this people here in brasil!!! I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
3 Nov 2010
This week was great. We have been working really hard with the transfers coming up. My companion Elder Castleton is going home next monday. So my new companion is going to be Elder Hansen, he is a good young missionary. He has about 1 yr and 5 months. It is going to be fun. I have really enjoyed my time working with Elder Castleton, he has become one of my greatest friends on the mission, we have had a lot of great experiences together, i am going to miss him alot. I have given him my home address and he said he is going to go visit the family, he lives in sandy. I am really excited to be working this next transfer, I have the greatest blessing. After our visit from Elder Soares from the 70, he told us that the assistents should NOT work in the office, he said that they should not be office elders, but should be working and training elders. So starting next transfer I will not longer be working in the office as assistent. Instead we are going to work in a nearby area called Costa e Silva, this way we will no longer lose time doing office work, but we will just focus on training the missionaries on how to work and baptize. I am so excited about this, because it has been real hard working in the office, it is sometimes really boring work, so it will be alot of fun to be working all day everyday again. We will still have to have meetings, and trainings and stuff like that, but we will no longer live in the office. So please pray for me and my new companion so that we can work really hard and so that we can baptize. I really want to have the greatest last 2 transfer ever. I cant believe that i ONLY have 2 more transfers, it can be really sad to face that fact. so please pray for me family, i still want to accomplish all my goals that i set at the beginning of my mission, and the Lord has blessed me with amazing miralces throughout my mission, I have seen his hand in this work, and I know that if everyone continue praying for me, it will help me become a bigger instrument in the Lords hand. I love this work, it has changed my life. I know that they are many people waiting for this message!!
I love you all,
ELDER OLSEN
I love you all,
ELDER OLSEN
Thursday, October 28, 2010
27 Oct 2010
This week was a great week. We had alot of great experiences. We are preparing for a new transfer, which is going to bring in alot of changes here on the mission. I will recieve a new companion and a new area... I am really excited. This week we saw the miracle of Brother Henrique being baptized. He was baptized by his good friend a member of the church, it was fantastic. I am so grateful to be a missionary. Things are really busy and great here on the mission. I love being here in the field. Things are going great. Please pray for me, I want to do excellent things here during this short time I have left. I love you all so much.
Love,
Elder Olsen
Love,
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
20 Oct 2010
the first of our temple trip with luis and aline
then a pic of the baptism, the two ladies are aline's mom and sister (our next baptism :)
then just a pic of them
a pic of their wedding. the couple with them is the couple that introduced the church to them.
and then elder soares and his wife.
20 Oct 2010
Family,
this week was increible! It was defintely one of the best weeks in my mission. It was just great. Last wenesday we had a special visit from Elder Soares, the area president, and also a member of the first quorom of the seventy. He came here in the office and visited with us, it was really awesome! He asked alot of questions about our mission culture (the type of work we do) and also about our mission design, or how we work. I learned alot with him, he knows alot about missionary work. He served a mission and was a mission president in Portugal. so he knows alot about the work. On thursday we had a zone conference with him with half of the zone on the mission. It was fantastic. He really motivated the elders and sisters to work. He is a powerful man. We also had another zone conference yesterday with him and his wife with the other half of the mission. They are incredible people and really love the missionaries. I learned alot with him about missionary work and how to lead. We had special leadership meetings and he really did teach us alot.
Also this week we had the amazing blessing of Luis and Aline's wedding and baptism!!!! It was the best i have ever had on the mission. It really was just great. They are so happy and they so happy to have the gospel in their lives. Their wedding unfontunetly we didnt get to watch. we had a meeting with Elder Soares, but we sent the secertareis who took alot of pics for us. On saturday, we went to the temple with them during the afternoon! It was really special, we had their baptismal interviews at the temple, and we talked about sealing and eternal families, they loved it alot, and are really excited to enter into the temple here in one year. Later that day on saturday was their baptism. It was awesome. they were really happy and aline's mom and sister watched too!! I am certain that here in a little they will be baptized too! On sunday when they were confirmed Aline cried alot, they are just so special.
This week we are really blessed to have 2 baptism again! Henrique who we have been teaching for a while is really ready for his baptism. and we also had a huge miracle. A young woman called me on friday. I answered my phone and didnt know who she was. She said hello my name is Rieza, i was being taught by the missionaries, and now i want to be baptized! haha. It was increbile! She is a member's girlfriend (the member lives in another city) and she has been going to church for a year with him, but never wanted to be baptized. Now she wants to. We didnt even really need to teach for anything, she had already been taught by the missionaries for 8 months, and has been going to church every sunday for a year, and all of the institue classes too. So she is super ready for her baptism. It is what we like to call a miracle!! I love being a missionary, the blessings are so amazing. I have never seen so many day-to-day miracles in my entire life. It seems like everyday something just happens, that i never thought could happen before. Somehow some way the Lord just blesses us with miracles. I love this job!! haha.
Thanks for all the prayers and support that everyone gives me. It makes the difference. Everyone please pray for Henrique and Rieza. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
ELDER OLSEN
this week was increible! It was defintely one of the best weeks in my mission. It was just great. Last wenesday we had a special visit from Elder Soares, the area president, and also a member of the first quorom of the seventy. He came here in the office and visited with us, it was really awesome! He asked alot of questions about our mission culture (the type of work we do) and also about our mission design, or how we work. I learned alot with him, he knows alot about missionary work. He served a mission and was a mission president in Portugal. so he knows alot about the work. On thursday we had a zone conference with him with half of the zone on the mission. It was fantastic. He really motivated the elders and sisters to work. He is a powerful man. We also had another zone conference yesterday with him and his wife with the other half of the mission. They are incredible people and really love the missionaries. I learned alot with him about missionary work and how to lead. We had special leadership meetings and he really did teach us alot.
Also this week we had the amazing blessing of Luis and Aline's wedding and baptism!!!! It was the best i have ever had on the mission. It really was just great. They are so happy and they so happy to have the gospel in their lives. Their wedding unfontunetly we didnt get to watch. we had a meeting with Elder Soares, but we sent the secertareis who took alot of pics for us. On saturday, we went to the temple with them during the afternoon! It was really special, we had their baptismal interviews at the temple, and we talked about sealing and eternal families, they loved it alot, and are really excited to enter into the temple here in one year. Later that day on saturday was their baptism. It was awesome. they were really happy and aline's mom and sister watched too!! I am certain that here in a little they will be baptized too! On sunday when they were confirmed Aline cried alot, they are just so special.
This week we are really blessed to have 2 baptism again! Henrique who we have been teaching for a while is really ready for his baptism. and we also had a huge miracle. A young woman called me on friday. I answered my phone and didnt know who she was. She said hello my name is Rieza, i was being taught by the missionaries, and now i want to be baptized! haha. It was increbile! She is a member's girlfriend (the member lives in another city) and she has been going to church for a year with him, but never wanted to be baptized. Now she wants to. We didnt even really need to teach for anything, she had already been taught by the missionaries for 8 months, and has been going to church every sunday for a year, and all of the institue classes too. So she is super ready for her baptism. It is what we like to call a miracle!! I love being a missionary, the blessings are so amazing. I have never seen so many day-to-day miracles in my entire life. It seems like everyday something just happens, that i never thought could happen before. Somehow some way the Lord just blesses us with miracles. I love this job!! haha.
Thanks for all the prayers and support that everyone gives me. It makes the difference. Everyone please pray for Henrique and Rieza. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
ELDER OLSEN
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
12 Oct 2010
Oi,
Hello family. I am so grateful to be a missionary! This week might possibly be the most busy week of my mission, but i am really excited for the upcoming events in the next 7 days. It is going to be amazing. It all starts tomorrow. The presidency of the Brasil area is coming to visit our mission. Elder Soares, who is the President, comes here tomorrow. We are going to have a long 4 hour staff training, and he is going to interview us! Yikes! But it will be incredible. Then we are going on a mission tour, on thursday we are going to have meetings with half of the mission, and then next tuesday with the other half. He hasnt given us or our President any details about what is going to happen during the meetings or training, so we are preparing for everything and anything. It should be a real blast. We have been working on cleaning up and organizing the office, and putting together mission stats and stuff like that. So we are having to prepare all this stuff for the meetings that will happen this next and early next week. But it is alot of fun.
This saturday we had pedros baptism!!! It was a really special service. Pedros dad is totally reactived in the church, and we are really happy to see him come back. He bore his testimony during the service and started crying alot, he has had a rough life, he lost his wife in an accident 5 yrs ago. They were a strong active family in the church, but he couldnt overcome the death of his wife. We have talked alot about eternal families, they are a special family. I really hope that Richardo (pedros dad) can find a new wife, and get sealed in the temple. He is a special man. He went to church in a full suit and everything on sunday for pedros confirmation. The bishop interviewed him to a new calling! We are really excited!
Also this week, we have Luis and Aline's wedding!!!! On thursday! I am so excited. It has been a long time since we started teaching them. Almost 2 full months. Here in the city of campinas marriage takes longer than in the surrounding cities, so we are very anixous to have their wedding. Unfortunetly we are not going to be able to watch the wedding. :( we are really sad about that, but it is marked exactly during the time of our meeting with Elder Soares.. but the ward member will be there to do the wedding, so it should turn out great. Also we will have their baptism on saturday!!!! we are so excited. It was so funny, on sunday at church they got up in sacrament meeting and asked everyone to go to their baptism. The members are really excited about this family, every member wants to go out with us and visit our teaching group because we are being blessed with alot of families right now, which is great. On friday we found a new family, which was incredible. Me and my companion established the goal with Heavenly Father that we would talk with everyone that crossed our path, but the Lord would bless us with a extremely special family. So on thursday night we were talking, and this young couple went by with a baby boy in a stoller, and my companion talked with them, and we felt that we should invite them to be baptized on the street. They got really happy and accepted!! They are a special family Araujo and Patricia. Like Luis and Aline they're not married.... which is a bummer.. but they are extremely excited to mark their wedding. We also have brother Henrique. He is great. He is just pure elect. He went to the baptismal service on saturday and loved it. He always talks with the members about his baptism on the 23rd. We are really excited about him, he has alot of potencial to be a future leader in the church. He just needs to get married. Which we are already working on finding him a wife :) haha.
The Lord is bless us more than i could imagine. We are teaching alot of people in just a short few hours. The Lord is blessing us alot with prepared people, that want to hear the restored gospel. Aline's mom and sister are progressing really well! They were going to get baptized together with Aline on saturday, but her mom(Neide) suffered a car accident on saturday and is in the hospital. But she is out, and is going to watch Aline's baptism this saturday, we are going to work with them both to be baptized on the 23rd.
I love being a missionary. I see miracles everyday. It is incredible! The Lord truly blesses his servents. We are seeing alot of progess in such a short time, I am so thankful for the Help the Lord gives to me. I know that He loves me. and that he wants me to succed as a missionary, and as a child of God. I know that all things are possible through faith and hard work. I love you all, your prayers and letters help me with encoragment and exciment for the work. I talk about my family everyday, people just love it. I can truly testify of the importance of the family and of unity in the family. I am so thankful for you all. the great love that you give to me. Continue praying, it REALLY does HELP, and ALOT!!!
I love you all!!!
Elder Olsen!!!!!!!!
Hello family. I am so grateful to be a missionary! This week might possibly be the most busy week of my mission, but i am really excited for the upcoming events in the next 7 days. It is going to be amazing. It all starts tomorrow. The presidency of the Brasil area is coming to visit our mission. Elder Soares, who is the President, comes here tomorrow. We are going to have a long 4 hour staff training, and he is going to interview us! Yikes! But it will be incredible. Then we are going on a mission tour, on thursday we are going to have meetings with half of the mission, and then next tuesday with the other half. He hasnt given us or our President any details about what is going to happen during the meetings or training, so we are preparing for everything and anything. It should be a real blast. We have been working on cleaning up and organizing the office, and putting together mission stats and stuff like that. So we are having to prepare all this stuff for the meetings that will happen this next and early next week. But it is alot of fun.
This saturday we had pedros baptism!!! It was a really special service. Pedros dad is totally reactived in the church, and we are really happy to see him come back. He bore his testimony during the service and started crying alot, he has had a rough life, he lost his wife in an accident 5 yrs ago. They were a strong active family in the church, but he couldnt overcome the death of his wife. We have talked alot about eternal families, they are a special family. I really hope that Richardo (pedros dad) can find a new wife, and get sealed in the temple. He is a special man. He went to church in a full suit and everything on sunday for pedros confirmation. The bishop interviewed him to a new calling! We are really excited!
Also this week, we have Luis and Aline's wedding!!!! On thursday! I am so excited. It has been a long time since we started teaching them. Almost 2 full months. Here in the city of campinas marriage takes longer than in the surrounding cities, so we are very anixous to have their wedding. Unfortunetly we are not going to be able to watch the wedding. :( we are really sad about that, but it is marked exactly during the time of our meeting with Elder Soares.. but the ward member will be there to do the wedding, so it should turn out great. Also we will have their baptism on saturday!!!! we are so excited. It was so funny, on sunday at church they got up in sacrament meeting and asked everyone to go to their baptism. The members are really excited about this family, every member wants to go out with us and visit our teaching group because we are being blessed with alot of families right now, which is great. On friday we found a new family, which was incredible. Me and my companion established the goal with Heavenly Father that we would talk with everyone that crossed our path, but the Lord would bless us with a extremely special family. So on thursday night we were talking, and this young couple went by with a baby boy in a stoller, and my companion talked with them, and we felt that we should invite them to be baptized on the street. They got really happy and accepted!! They are a special family Araujo and Patricia. Like Luis and Aline they're not married.... which is a bummer.. but they are extremely excited to mark their wedding. We also have brother Henrique. He is great. He is just pure elect. He went to the baptismal service on saturday and loved it. He always talks with the members about his baptism on the 23rd. We are really excited about him, he has alot of potencial to be a future leader in the church. He just needs to get married. Which we are already working on finding him a wife :) haha.
The Lord is bless us more than i could imagine. We are teaching alot of people in just a short few hours. The Lord is blessing us alot with prepared people, that want to hear the restored gospel. Aline's mom and sister are progressing really well! They were going to get baptized together with Aline on saturday, but her mom(Neide) suffered a car accident on saturday and is in the hospital. But she is out, and is going to watch Aline's baptism this saturday, we are going to work with them both to be baptized on the 23rd.
I love being a missionary. I see miracles everyday. It is incredible! The Lord truly blesses his servents. We are seeing alot of progess in such a short time, I am so thankful for the Help the Lord gives to me. I know that He loves me. and that he wants me to succed as a missionary, and as a child of God. I know that all things are possible through faith and hard work. I love you all, your prayers and letters help me with encoragment and exciment for the work. I talk about my family everyday, people just love it. I can truly testify of the importance of the family and of unity in the family. I am so thankful for you all. the great love that you give to me. Continue praying, it REALLY does HELP, and ALOT!!!
I love you all!!!
Elder Olsen!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
6 Oct 2010
Hello!!!
Well this week was a great week. We are really happy with all the blessings the Lord is giving us. We are seriously being blessed alot, and I know that we really need to work a lot harder to show apprecation for these blessings. This weekend we were really blessed with alot of investagators at conference, and all of them loved it. We had luis fernando and aline, who are just as excited as ever for their wedding and baptism this next week. we also started teaching aline's mom and sister, who live really close, they both went to church and loved it too. we marked their baptisms for the same day as aline and luis, which is going to be great. we also had pedro at church again, he is a member's son, and is really excited about his baptism. he is going to be baptized on saturday! We are really excited about that. We also had brother henrique, he is a single man, about 35 and great. he has been reading the book of mormon nonstop, and loves it. we marked his baptism for the 23rd of this month. we have really firm baptisms for every single week this transfer. we are really excited, and we are going to continue working hard to be able to do even better. we established a HUGE goal for this transfer and we know that it is possible. we are really excited, we want to work really hard. The Lord is blessing us alot.
Hey, cool story, i totally got to drive our presidents car!!! haha, that has never happened before, no missionary has ever droven a car on the mission, but yesterday president was here in the office and needed the car moved but he was busy, so he gave me the keys and said go crazy elder. haha. it was awesome. one of the coolest things that has happened on the mission, just kidding, but it was really cool.
well i am really happy. I love my companion, we are getting along great. he is a great man. I am really liking my area and all the investagators that we are teaching. i am really thankful for this work, it is amazing to be a missionary.
i love you all, thanks for all the prayers and support.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Olsen
Well this week was a great week. We are really happy with all the blessings the Lord is giving us. We are seriously being blessed alot, and I know that we really need to work a lot harder to show apprecation for these blessings. This weekend we were really blessed with alot of investagators at conference, and all of them loved it. We had luis fernando and aline, who are just as excited as ever for their wedding and baptism this next week. we also started teaching aline's mom and sister, who live really close, they both went to church and loved it too. we marked their baptisms for the same day as aline and luis, which is going to be great. we also had pedro at church again, he is a member's son, and is really excited about his baptism. he is going to be baptized on saturday! We are really excited about that. We also had brother henrique, he is a single man, about 35 and great. he has been reading the book of mormon nonstop, and loves it. we marked his baptism for the 23rd of this month. we have really firm baptisms for every single week this transfer. we are really excited, and we are going to continue working hard to be able to do even better. we established a HUGE goal for this transfer and we know that it is possible. we are really excited, we want to work really hard. The Lord is blessing us alot.
Hey, cool story, i totally got to drive our presidents car!!! haha, that has never happened before, no missionary has ever droven a car on the mission, but yesterday president was here in the office and needed the car moved but he was busy, so he gave me the keys and said go crazy elder. haha. it was awesome. one of the coolest things that has happened on the mission, just kidding, but it was really cool.
well i am really happy. I love my companion, we are getting along great. he is a great man. I am really liking my area and all the investagators that we are teaching. i am really thankful for this work, it is amazing to be a missionary.
i love you all, thanks for all the prayers and support.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
22 Sept 2010
Dear Family
Wow this week was amazing. We really saw a lot of miracles, and the Lord has been blessing us so much. First of all Dalila was baptized! It was amazing! On Saturday she was baptized, it was really amazing. The service was really special; the spirit was really strong throughout the entire service. The coolest part was that the family had such a huge role in the baptismal service. The dad said the prayer, the mom gave the message, and Joyce who was baptized just last week bore her testimony in front of everyone! It was amazing to see how much this family has changed during this past month. What a blessing! We had a pretty amazing lesson with her and her family, in which the whole family cried a lot. It was probably one of the greatest lessons on my mission. Dalila loved Amanda’s letter. She really did, she and Joyce are extremely happy because of Amanda and Janessa’s letters. It is awesome that my sisters made the difference with them!
Luis and Aline are great! The wedding is all set for the 14th, and the baptism on the 16th. I am so excited! It is going to be amazing! They are already members. They know everyone in the ward, and they are really excited to work in the church, they are going to be a major blessing in the ward and in the church. Well my companion is going home this week. I am really thankful for everything that I learned with him, he really was an amazing companion.
This week I had to travel to the furthest zone in the mission. I left the state of Sao Paulo, and went to Minis Gerais, which is about 4 hours by bus! It was pretty sweet there; it is a beautiful city. Unfortunately the church is very weak, it is only a district, and we only have 8 missionaries there, which don’t baptize a lot, but it was cool to visit the district and to do some teaching, the people that live there are all catholic. So, it represents a different type of challenge on the mission. I got back at midnight after two days there. It was a fun trip.
Our mission has two districts, both are really weak. So this week I really wanted to get to know the districts and the attitude of the members and missionaries, so tomorrow I am going to the other district, we is on the opposite side of the mission, and is also 4 or 5 hours away by bus, but it should be a fun trip, where I will be able to get to know the mission a little bit better.
I love the mission, it is amazing, I can’t believe that the Lord has given me this opportunity to be a missionary. It is the greatest time of my life. It has changed who I am, what I believe and what I think. I can’t believe how grateful I am to be a missionary. I love you all, thanks so much for the prayers, they mean so much to me, I can really feel them, and they work!!! Keep praying!!!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL
Elder Olsen
Wow this week was amazing. We really saw a lot of miracles, and the Lord has been blessing us so much. First of all Dalila was baptized! It was amazing! On Saturday she was baptized, it was really amazing. The service was really special; the spirit was really strong throughout the entire service. The coolest part was that the family had such a huge role in the baptismal service. The dad said the prayer, the mom gave the message, and Joyce who was baptized just last week bore her testimony in front of everyone! It was amazing to see how much this family has changed during this past month. What a blessing! We had a pretty amazing lesson with her and her family, in which the whole family cried a lot. It was probably one of the greatest lessons on my mission. Dalila loved Amanda’s letter. She really did, she and Joyce are extremely happy because of Amanda and Janessa’s letters. It is awesome that my sisters made the difference with them!
Luis and Aline are great! The wedding is all set for the 14th, and the baptism on the 16th. I am so excited! It is going to be amazing! They are already members. They know everyone in the ward, and they are really excited to work in the church, they are going to be a major blessing in the ward and in the church. Well my companion is going home this week. I am really thankful for everything that I learned with him, he really was an amazing companion.
This week I had to travel to the furthest zone in the mission. I left the state of Sao Paulo, and went to Minis Gerais, which is about 4 hours by bus! It was pretty sweet there; it is a beautiful city. Unfortunately the church is very weak, it is only a district, and we only have 8 missionaries there, which don’t baptize a lot, but it was cool to visit the district and to do some teaching, the people that live there are all catholic. So, it represents a different type of challenge on the mission. I got back at midnight after two days there. It was a fun trip.
Our mission has two districts, both are really weak. So this week I really wanted to get to know the districts and the attitude of the members and missionaries, so tomorrow I am going to the other district, we is on the opposite side of the mission, and is also 4 or 5 hours away by bus, but it should be a fun trip, where I will be able to get to know the mission a little bit better.
I love the mission, it is amazing, I can’t believe that the Lord has given me this opportunity to be a missionary. It is the greatest time of my life. It has changed who I am, what I believe and what I think. I can’t believe how grateful I am to be a missionary. I love you all, thanks so much for the prayers, they mean so much to me, I can really feel them, and they work!!! Keep praying!!!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
15 Sept 2010
Hello family,
so this week was amazing, it was really full of lots of miracles and lots of experiences. The greatest news of the week was that Joyce was baptized, it was a great service. We had lots of ward members there, all young women of the ward sung the young women song and everything, it was an amazing service. It was really rough, because Dalila was there, and she didnt want to be baptized, but during the service she cried 2 times!! AH!!! it is so annoying. she knows it is true, she is just so scared, i was so torn up during the service, because i felt that she wanted to be baptized, she just didnt want to be humble and admit to it. Joyce was glowing after the baptismal service, she was so happy. it is amazing how much she has changed in just so short of weeks. when i first meet her so was totally against the church, now she is so happy, and just loving the reading in the book of mormon, it is so awesome. I am postive that dalila will be baptized this week. she will follow her sisters example i just know it. she came up to me after church, and said "elder olsen i will think about next saturday ok?" haha. she is just playing hard ball, but i know that she is going to accept the truth. :)
I am really liking the office, i mean as much as i can, it is a completely different type of mission, but hey, i am working with what i have. We are starting a program to try and get everything done and ready to leave the office everyday at 4 oclock, instead of 530 or 6 which is when we normally leave. We are also going to start doing some different things. we normally spend very little time in the field. so i really want to spend the maxuim of my time in the field helping the elders and sisters be better missionary. My companion elder gabriel is ending his mission. he is a really good missionary, he reminds me alot of mikey. he has been ap for about 9 months. he is a great missionary, i really love him, when i am working with him, i think of how it would be to work with mikey, he actually looks alot like mikey too. haha he has gotten really fat on the mission. i dont know if mikey got fat or not, but elder gabriel did. he reminds me alot of mikey, when you guys come down here you will have to meet him. he lives her pretty close in rio de janeiro. which is about 5 hours away. i have alot of friends her in the office. elder garcia is the fin. sec. i was his comp for 3 months in anhanguera. is has been in the office for 1 year!!! he is extremely smart, he was like the greatest sectercary ever. elder castleton is the other ap. we are going to be working together next transfer when elder gabriel goes home. his is a great missionary too. this next transfer will be his last on the mission. it is way lame that everyone around me is ending there mission. time goes by way to fast.
well luis fernando and aline are doing great. we went to the city center and we marked their weding for the 15th of october. i have offically became the wedding planner on the mission. haha. it will be my 6th wedding on th mission! it is awesome. but luis and aline are amazing. they have been to church 5 times, they always go alone, they have been giving us referals. We are teaching alines mom and sister too. they accepted to be baptized together with aline on their wedding day. we are really seeing miracles in our area. we had 6 people that went to church on sunday, and all of them have baptismal date. it is going to be a great month. yeah! oh yeah i dont think i told ya guys, rimundo and nelma from jd amanda the couple that i was teaching there, this past week they were married and baptized. it was great, i wasnt able to go, but they sent me pics. i love this gospel, i love the mission, for the experience that i have. i love my mission president. he is truly a man of God.
Thanks for the love and support that you all give me. it really helps me.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!
ELDER OLSEN
so this week was amazing, it was really full of lots of miracles and lots of experiences. The greatest news of the week was that Joyce was baptized, it was a great service. We had lots of ward members there, all young women of the ward sung the young women song and everything, it was an amazing service. It was really rough, because Dalila was there, and she didnt want to be baptized, but during the service she cried 2 times!! AH!!! it is so annoying. she knows it is true, she is just so scared, i was so torn up during the service, because i felt that she wanted to be baptized, she just didnt want to be humble and admit to it. Joyce was glowing after the baptismal service, she was so happy. it is amazing how much she has changed in just so short of weeks. when i first meet her so was totally against the church, now she is so happy, and just loving the reading in the book of mormon, it is so awesome. I am postive that dalila will be baptized this week. she will follow her sisters example i just know it. she came up to me after church, and said "elder olsen i will think about next saturday ok?" haha. she is just playing hard ball, but i know that she is going to accept the truth. :)
I am really liking the office, i mean as much as i can, it is a completely different type of mission, but hey, i am working with what i have. We are starting a program to try and get everything done and ready to leave the office everyday at 4 oclock, instead of 530 or 6 which is when we normally leave. We are also going to start doing some different things. we normally spend very little time in the field. so i really want to spend the maxuim of my time in the field helping the elders and sisters be better missionary. My companion elder gabriel is ending his mission. he is a really good missionary, he reminds me alot of mikey. he has been ap for about 9 months. he is a great missionary, i really love him, when i am working with him, i think of how it would be to work with mikey, he actually looks alot like mikey too. haha he has gotten really fat on the mission. i dont know if mikey got fat or not, but elder gabriel did. he reminds me alot of mikey, when you guys come down here you will have to meet him. he lives her pretty close in rio de janeiro. which is about 5 hours away. i have alot of friends her in the office. elder garcia is the fin. sec. i was his comp for 3 months in anhanguera. is has been in the office for 1 year!!! he is extremely smart, he was like the greatest sectercary ever. elder castleton is the other ap. we are going to be working together next transfer when elder gabriel goes home. his is a great missionary too. this next transfer will be his last on the mission. it is way lame that everyone around me is ending there mission. time goes by way to fast.
well luis fernando and aline are doing great. we went to the city center and we marked their weding for the 15th of october. i have offically became the wedding planner on the mission. haha. it will be my 6th wedding on th mission! it is awesome. but luis and aline are amazing. they have been to church 5 times, they always go alone, they have been giving us referals. We are teaching alines mom and sister too. they accepted to be baptized together with aline on their wedding day. we are really seeing miracles in our area. we had 6 people that went to church on sunday, and all of them have baptismal date. it is going to be a great month. yeah! oh yeah i dont think i told ya guys, rimundo and nelma from jd amanda the couple that i was teaching there, this past week they were married and baptized. it was great, i wasnt able to go, but they sent me pics. i love this gospel, i love the mission, for the experience that i have. i love my mission president. he is truly a man of God.
Thanks for the love and support that you all give me. it really helps me.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!
ELDER OLSEN
Thursday, September 9, 2010
9 Sept 2010
Hello family,
wow this week was amazing. I am so thankful for the amazing experiences that I have on the mission. I am so thankful for the spirit that guides me and helps me overcome my difficulties and problems. As you all know I have been teaching the 2 daughters of members. Joyce and Dalila. It has been really fun, but difficult. They have been a little resistent in fulling with appointments and accepting our invitatitions. On friday we left a lesson with them, and it just didnt seem to be getting into their heads the importance of our message. I was really down, i really wanted to see the miracle of them accepting the gospel in their lives. So, in that moment i said a silent prayer that the Lord could help me know what i needed to do to help them overcome the problems that they have. In a type of vision or revelation, the Lord showed me. I saw that i was giving joyce and dalia a letter from Janessa and Amanda, and then i saw them being baptized. I thought it was a really weird thought. That why would they want a letter from Janessa and Amanda? I continued doubting, but when i thought about that i felt alot of peace overcome me, and i know that it was what the Lord wanted. So i followed. I send a email to dad, and then he sent me Janessa's testimony in an email. I translated it, and then on our next visit i went to give it to them. It is funny how the natural man works, up until the last minute i was doubting the answer that i had recieved from the Lord. So i went to their house and we started our lesson like normal with a prayer and hymn.. i just didnt want to give them the letter, i thought there was no way that they wanted a letter from some random girl in the us. haha. well i finally was overcome by the spirit that i just HAD to give it to them. I gave them the letter and explained that it was my sisters testimony, and that she really wanted to share it with them.
Joyce read the letter outloud, and everyone was really paying alot of atention. The spirit was SO strong. Joyce was basically crying while she was reading the letter, she chocked up varias times during the letter, after she read love, janessa. she sat in silence, thinking, and really feeling the spirit. then she looked at us and said "can you mark my baptism for this next saturday?"!!!!! WOW!!! it was amazing. I didnt believe it. I was so happy.It really was an amazing blessing. to see a complete change in her in just a matter of mintues. she said the closing prayer thanking the Lord for the letter she had recieved and thanking the Lord for preparing the way for her to be baptized. It was just what she needed! I am so thankful that the Lord knows the hearts of every single one. and that he knows their thoughts and feelings and desires. The Lord knew that Joyce would connect in a special way with Janessa. What a special blessing that was to me.
I am so thankful to be a missionary, for these amazing experiences that change my life forever. That helps me know that God knows his children personally.
Janessa, you are the best. i know that maybe you think that you just wrote down the first thing that came to your mind, or the only thing that you wanted to say. But i know that what you wrote was what Heavenly Father prepared you to say. You were prepared to recieve sacred instructions from the Lord to help one of his daugthers enter into his church through the sacred convent of baptism. Joyce is really happy. she wrote you a letter, and is going to send it with a picture of her baptism.
That is why i need one more thing. Dalila is still in doubt. she isnt sure if she wants to be baptized. I need a letter from Amanda. because they are both 12 and it will be the exact same thing that happened with Joyce, i know it. Amanda please write dalila a letter, bare your testimony about your baptism about your life.
I love my family. i love you guys so much. thanks for all the love and support that you all give me. I love this gospel so much. Luis fernando and Aline are getting married the 25th and baptized on the 26th!! I am so happy.
I LOVE MY JOB!
ELDER OLSEN
wow this week was amazing. I am so thankful for the amazing experiences that I have on the mission. I am so thankful for the spirit that guides me and helps me overcome my difficulties and problems. As you all know I have been teaching the 2 daughters of members. Joyce and Dalila. It has been really fun, but difficult. They have been a little resistent in fulling with appointments and accepting our invitatitions. On friday we left a lesson with them, and it just didnt seem to be getting into their heads the importance of our message. I was really down, i really wanted to see the miracle of them accepting the gospel in their lives. So, in that moment i said a silent prayer that the Lord could help me know what i needed to do to help them overcome the problems that they have. In a type of vision or revelation, the Lord showed me. I saw that i was giving joyce and dalia a letter from Janessa and Amanda, and then i saw them being baptized. I thought it was a really weird thought. That why would they want a letter from Janessa and Amanda? I continued doubting, but when i thought about that i felt alot of peace overcome me, and i know that it was what the Lord wanted. So i followed. I send a email to dad, and then he sent me Janessa's testimony in an email. I translated it, and then on our next visit i went to give it to them. It is funny how the natural man works, up until the last minute i was doubting the answer that i had recieved from the Lord. So i went to their house and we started our lesson like normal with a prayer and hymn.. i just didnt want to give them the letter, i thought there was no way that they wanted a letter from some random girl in the us. haha. well i finally was overcome by the spirit that i just HAD to give it to them. I gave them the letter and explained that it was my sisters testimony, and that she really wanted to share it with them.
Joyce read the letter outloud, and everyone was really paying alot of atention. The spirit was SO strong. Joyce was basically crying while she was reading the letter, she chocked up varias times during the letter, after she read love, janessa. she sat in silence, thinking, and really feeling the spirit. then she looked at us and said "can you mark my baptism for this next saturday?"!!!!! WOW!!! it was amazing. I didnt believe it. I was so happy.It really was an amazing blessing. to see a complete change in her in just a matter of mintues. she said the closing prayer thanking the Lord for the letter she had recieved and thanking the Lord for preparing the way for her to be baptized. It was just what she needed! I am so thankful that the Lord knows the hearts of every single one. and that he knows their thoughts and feelings and desires. The Lord knew that Joyce would connect in a special way with Janessa. What a special blessing that was to me.
I am so thankful to be a missionary, for these amazing experiences that change my life forever. That helps me know that God knows his children personally.
Janessa, you are the best. i know that maybe you think that you just wrote down the first thing that came to your mind, or the only thing that you wanted to say. But i know that what you wrote was what Heavenly Father prepared you to say. You were prepared to recieve sacred instructions from the Lord to help one of his daugthers enter into his church through the sacred convent of baptism. Joyce is really happy. she wrote you a letter, and is going to send it with a picture of her baptism.
That is why i need one more thing. Dalila is still in doubt. she isnt sure if she wants to be baptized. I need a letter from Amanda. because they are both 12 and it will be the exact same thing that happened with Joyce, i know it. Amanda please write dalila a letter, bare your testimony about your baptism about your life.
I love my family. i love you guys so much. thanks for all the love and support that you all give me. I love this gospel so much. Luis fernando and Aline are getting married the 25th and baptized on the 26th!! I am so happy.
I LOVE MY JOB!
ELDER OLSEN
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
2 Sept 2010
Family,
Wow! Today is the big day. Justin is going to the MTC. I am so happy for him. I cant believe it. It is going to be such a great experience for him. It is amazing, the mission is the greatest thing that has ever happened in my entire life. I love it so much.
This week was amazing. We are seeing real miracles here on the mission. Luis Fernando and Aline are amazing. They the defenitly going to be the greatest baptism on my mission. This week we visited them with the bishop and with a lot of other ward members. They are really excited and really wanted to be members of the church. They went to church again this week, all alone. 3 straight weeks they have been to church alone. We marked their wedding!! We are so excited. They are going to the city center tomorrow, and their wedding should be on about the 27 or 28th of setember. The whole ward is getting really excited and we are defintely so thankful for this huge blessing. Luis and Aline are amazing. I was sitting by them at church, and the sunday school teacher talked about the list to clean the chapel, after church aline asked me if i could grab the list that her and luis wanted to help clean the chapel. haha, they put their names down the this next saturday!! they arent even members and they are already going to clean the chapel. We are really excited for this family. Aline is pregnant too, which is really excited, and she already has the cutest little girl, that is 2 yrs old.
We had to postpone the 2 baptisms that we had this last week. Dalila and Joice werent ready. It was a little bit of our fault, because this past week we had meetings every single day of the week we werent able to teach them during the week. But we marked their baptisms for this week, and we are praying that we will be able to prepare them for this day.
It is a really different life in the office, alot of traveling and meetings. The weeks go by CRAZY fast. it seems like yesterday i got here, and it has already been 3 weeks. i cant believe it. My companion Elder Gabriel is ending his mission, it is his last 3 weeks. He has been a great friend and example to me on the mission. I have really enjoyed being with him. I am learning alot. I also am with Elder Castleton, who next transfer will go home, i have known him for a long time on the mission, he is a great missionary.
I am really learing alot. it is cool to see alot more training meetings and to talk alot more.. Like just yesterday i recieved the assignment to go to a different zone and i didnt get back until about 8 at night.. so life is a little bit rushed.
On the good side i think i will defintely get fat. I hadnt eaten fast food my whole mission, (because it is hard to find in other city, only the main city has it) but already i have eaten at Mcdonalds 3 or 4 times and Burger King like 4 times too.. so i think i will get alot fater here. The next few weeks should be alot smoothly here in the office, we dont have any big meetings left. we just have a meeting next monday with all the zone leaders, and then thats it until the transfers on the 27th.
I am really loving being a missionary. Today i had to go the the police station and declare my last 5 months there. wow times goes by way to fast. i cant believe that mikey goes home this month and that justin leaves today. time seems to fly by here on the mission.
I love this gospel. it changed my life. I hope that i can help changes others too.
ELDER OLSEN
Wow! Today is the big day. Justin is going to the MTC. I am so happy for him. I cant believe it. It is going to be such a great experience for him. It is amazing, the mission is the greatest thing that has ever happened in my entire life. I love it so much.
This week was amazing. We are seeing real miracles here on the mission. Luis Fernando and Aline are amazing. They the defenitly going to be the greatest baptism on my mission. This week we visited them with the bishop and with a lot of other ward members. They are really excited and really wanted to be members of the church. They went to church again this week, all alone. 3 straight weeks they have been to church alone. We marked their wedding!! We are so excited. They are going to the city center tomorrow, and their wedding should be on about the 27 or 28th of setember. The whole ward is getting really excited and we are defintely so thankful for this huge blessing. Luis and Aline are amazing. I was sitting by them at church, and the sunday school teacher talked about the list to clean the chapel, after church aline asked me if i could grab the list that her and luis wanted to help clean the chapel. haha, they put their names down the this next saturday!! they arent even members and they are already going to clean the chapel. We are really excited for this family. Aline is pregnant too, which is really excited, and she already has the cutest little girl, that is 2 yrs old.
We had to postpone the 2 baptisms that we had this last week. Dalila and Joice werent ready. It was a little bit of our fault, because this past week we had meetings every single day of the week we werent able to teach them during the week. But we marked their baptisms for this week, and we are praying that we will be able to prepare them for this day.
It is a really different life in the office, alot of traveling and meetings. The weeks go by CRAZY fast. it seems like yesterday i got here, and it has already been 3 weeks. i cant believe it. My companion Elder Gabriel is ending his mission, it is his last 3 weeks. He has been a great friend and example to me on the mission. I have really enjoyed being with him. I am learning alot. I also am with Elder Castleton, who next transfer will go home, i have known him for a long time on the mission, he is a great missionary.
I am really learing alot. it is cool to see alot more training meetings and to talk alot more.. Like just yesterday i recieved the assignment to go to a different zone and i didnt get back until about 8 at night.. so life is a little bit rushed.
On the good side i think i will defintely get fat. I hadnt eaten fast food my whole mission, (because it is hard to find in other city, only the main city has it) but already i have eaten at Mcdonalds 3 or 4 times and Burger King like 4 times too.. so i think i will get alot fater here. The next few weeks should be alot smoothly here in the office, we dont have any big meetings left. we just have a meeting next monday with all the zone leaders, and then thats it until the transfers on the 27th.
I am really loving being a missionary. Today i had to go the the police station and declare my last 5 months there. wow times goes by way to fast. i cant believe that mikey goes home this month and that justin leaves today. time seems to fly by here on the mission.
I love this gospel. it changed my life. I hope that i can help changes others too.
ELDER OLSEN
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
25 Aug 2010
Dear family,
Hello! Wow, i am really happy right now, i am so thankful to be a missionary. This week we are having miracles!! I don’t think that I have ever worked so hard in my entire mission. It is a different type of work, but I like it a lot. This last Thursday we had a special training for all 2nd transfer missionaries, we talked about the mission, and how to have success on the mission. After that, this week we started 5 days of training with all the zone leaders, district leaders and trainers on the mission. It is a whole day thing, it is crazy. We are passing to the mission a new program from the first presidency. We are teaching the new program to them, it is a lot of work. We are presenting 2 lessons a day, and we are doing a lot of practicing and teaching, it is actually a lot of fun, but a lot of work. It is weird; sometimes we don’t really have time to sleep this week. ha-ha. I am so tired!! But it is alright, the training is going great!! We are having a lot of success in training the leaders.
It has been really hard to teach in our area. Since the training goes until 6, by the time we get to the office and get everything settled.. it is already about 7 o’clock. So, we have very little time to teach.. I am really starting to miss teaching all day, but at the same time the Lord is blessing us richly. I have been praying a lot ever since I entered into the office, that the Lord could prepare elects for us, so that we can help the faith of the mission grow. WOW, Heavenly Father is so caring and loves us so much. This week we meet a new family that is incredible!! Luis and Aline. They’re amazing. They are the type of family that every missionary dreams about. They are a new couple, young and wealthy (haha.) which doesn’t matter of course, but it is good, because he will definitely be a future leader in the church. He owns his own business, and they have a little baby daughter that is 2, and Aline is pregnant. The only bad part is that they aren’t married.. but they are willing to get married. So this next week we are going to mark their wedding. They went to church all alone. We didn’t even have to call or anything.. they just showed up. All ready, dressed up and they took the book of mormon with them!! J This Saturday we are going to take them to the temple, and we talked to our president to go with us to do the visit. Haha. A trip to the temple with our mission president and a beautiful family (the office has its perks. J) But that isn’t all. The Lord is richly blessing us. we really wanted to show the mission that miracles are real, and that the Lord can do anything and everything. So this last week I asked my companion for anybody that could be baptized.. he talked about everyone but nobody was really ready. So the week past. But on Sunday I saw a recent convert family at church, and they have 2 daugthers. Well I was talking with them, and I found out that the daughters are not baptized!! I went crazy, they are young 14 and 12, they parents were baptized 2 months ago, but the daughter are really rough and didn’t want to be baptized. I got all excited. But my companion told me that they had tried everything, and that they just didn’t want to be baptized. Well last night I convinced my companion to finally go there with me. I prayed A LOT that the Lord would guide me. We got there and had a fantastic lesson!! It was amazing!! The spirit was really strong. And the best part is that the 2 daugthers accepted to be baptized this Saturday!!! Miracles are real!!! The Lord is amazing. So this Saturday we are going to have 2 baptisms, I am really excited!!
Well today we went to the temple with all the mission leaders in the mission; together with our mission president and his wife it was amazing. It was really cool to have 55 elders and our president in the celestial room! I love being a missionary. I love being here and for all the blessings that the Lord gives us. I love you all, thanks for all the love and for the prayers.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!
ELDER OLSEN
Hello! Wow, i am really happy right now, i am so thankful to be a missionary. This week we are having miracles!! I don’t think that I have ever worked so hard in my entire mission. It is a different type of work, but I like it a lot. This last Thursday we had a special training for all 2nd transfer missionaries, we talked about the mission, and how to have success on the mission. After that, this week we started 5 days of training with all the zone leaders, district leaders and trainers on the mission. It is a whole day thing, it is crazy. We are passing to the mission a new program from the first presidency. We are teaching the new program to them, it is a lot of work. We are presenting 2 lessons a day, and we are doing a lot of practicing and teaching, it is actually a lot of fun, but a lot of work. It is weird; sometimes we don’t really have time to sleep this week. ha-ha. I am so tired!! But it is alright, the training is going great!! We are having a lot of success in training the leaders.
It has been really hard to teach in our area. Since the training goes until 6, by the time we get to the office and get everything settled.. it is already about 7 o’clock. So, we have very little time to teach.. I am really starting to miss teaching all day, but at the same time the Lord is blessing us richly. I have been praying a lot ever since I entered into the office, that the Lord could prepare elects for us, so that we can help the faith of the mission grow. WOW, Heavenly Father is so caring and loves us so much. This week we meet a new family that is incredible!! Luis and Aline. They’re amazing. They are the type of family that every missionary dreams about. They are a new couple, young and wealthy (haha.) which doesn’t matter of course, but it is good, because he will definitely be a future leader in the church. He owns his own business, and they have a little baby daughter that is 2, and Aline is pregnant. The only bad part is that they aren’t married.. but they are willing to get married. So this next week we are going to mark their wedding. They went to church all alone. We didn’t even have to call or anything.. they just showed up. All ready, dressed up and they took the book of mormon with them!! J This Saturday we are going to take them to the temple, and we talked to our president to go with us to do the visit. Haha. A trip to the temple with our mission president and a beautiful family (the office has its perks. J) But that isn’t all. The Lord is richly blessing us. we really wanted to show the mission that miracles are real, and that the Lord can do anything and everything. So this last week I asked my companion for anybody that could be baptized.. he talked about everyone but nobody was really ready. So the week past. But on Sunday I saw a recent convert family at church, and they have 2 daugthers. Well I was talking with them, and I found out that the daughters are not baptized!! I went crazy, they are young 14 and 12, they parents were baptized 2 months ago, but the daughter are really rough and didn’t want to be baptized. I got all excited. But my companion told me that they had tried everything, and that they just didn’t want to be baptized. Well last night I convinced my companion to finally go there with me. I prayed A LOT that the Lord would guide me. We got there and had a fantastic lesson!! It was amazing!! The spirit was really strong. And the best part is that the 2 daugthers accepted to be baptized this Saturday!!! Miracles are real!!! The Lord is amazing. So this Saturday we are going to have 2 baptisms, I am really excited!!
Well today we went to the temple with all the mission leaders in the mission; together with our mission president and his wife it was amazing. It was really cool to have 55 elders and our president in the celestial room! I love being a missionary. I love being here and for all the blessings that the Lord gives us. I love you all, thanks for all the love and for the prayers.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!
ELDER OLSEN
Saturday, August 21, 2010
18 Aug 2010
My dearest family!
I am so thankful to be a missionary in the true church of GOD! I love this calling. i love being a missionary with all my heart.
This week was crazy busy. I have never done so much in little time. The office is COMPLETELY different. There is alot of stuff that we do in the office, and very little that we do in the field. This week was especially busy since we had transfer meetings with President every single day. This was the first transfer for President Tanner since he was called President here on the mission, so it was a really big transfer. President Castro our old president hadnt made alot of changes in the past transfers because he wanted to let President Tanner do all the changes. so what ended up happening is that we changed almost 100 percent of the areas. only 8 sets of missinoaries stayed the same on the whole mission. we change 76 areas out of 84, which was alot of work. we meet every single day this past week. it was pretty hard, i have had a non stop headache this week, but i am really love the revelation that the Lord gives me. On our first meeting, i was a little nervous to make any comments in the meeting. well there was a point where we didnt know what to do with a certain elder, they were talking about putting him in another area but the spirit whispered that he needed to go to a different one... i was nervous but i said my thoughts, and everyone agreed, and it was done by the spirit. It was really awesome, because ever since i have been called i have been able to feel the spirit really strongly. It is amazing the spirit is REAL he can literally guide our thoughts and help us know the will of the Lord in EVERYTHING that we do.
On monday was a sad day, the elders went home that ended their mission. It was a pretty "trunky" day, here in the office there were 7 elders going home, and all the wanted to talk about was girls and stuff, it was different.. i can say that the office life is defintely going to be way different. Elder Greener went home. he really was one of my best friends on the mission. he is going to call mom this week, he wants to go by and see you all.
on tueday was awesome. we recieved 11 missionaries in the field. it was crazy! we ate lunch at Presidents house, and then we gave training to them. it was pretty cool to give training... haha i gave a part about street contacts ( my favorite part on the mission!!) and so we practiced... i told everyone that it is a new rule on the mission to invite 5 people a day to be baptized on the street! all the greenies thought we were crazy, but after some practice they'll get it down.
we are doing alot of meetings with President, because tomorrow we have another!! training meeting with all the elders and sisters that got here in the last 2 transfers. and then next week we have this new 5 day training!!! which is going to be crazy, for 5 days every ZL, DL, and trainer will have a training meeting with us and President. we are going to put in to practice the new program of the mission field, and it takes 5 days to start. it is going to be over 60 missionaries on the mission in the same chapel for 5 days. and i have to teach them all!! haha i am a little nervous, but i know the spirit will help me.
There are 2 things that are going to be a challenge. first is that the area that i am in is completely dead. the elders havent worked in the area for 3 months!! because the mission president changes the past 2 APs were basically mission presidents, they had to do everything. so it is dead. they have been teaching only about 3 lessons a week; because they had to travel to interview evey zone, and do all the stuff with President Tanner.. so in the past 6 months the APs area has 2 baptisms.. haha.. well that just isnt enough for me. so i am going to work really hard to help build up this area. When i was interviewed by president that is one thing that he told me. is that he wants me to bring a work type of attitude to the office. I am going to do my best. the second thing is that it is going to be hard to not get fat. they only eat junk food here. because the meal that the members give here in brasil is lunch, and at lunch we are always doing something for president, during the week we dont have lunch with members, we have to buy something to eat.. well something usually is something fast and easy.. but not always healthy.. but i think maybe it will be a blessing, in my last 6 months i had lost 12 pounds!! i am stick and bone right now, i weigh about 125 or something. i am really skinny.. my 6 months in Amanda i ate well, but walked and worked alot.. so that is why i got so skinny.. now i am hoping to put on some weight.
I am going to love working with President Tanner. He is exactly the type of man that i want to be. He was a lawyer for over 20 years!! He is amazing. It is crazy, i know that working on his side will be a huge blessing for me. I know that I am going to learn ALOT. i am going to learn alot more than i teach.
i love being a missionary. i love this work, it is so amazing.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!
ELDER OLSEN
I am so thankful to be a missionary in the true church of GOD! I love this calling. i love being a missionary with all my heart.
This week was crazy busy. I have never done so much in little time. The office is COMPLETELY different. There is alot of stuff that we do in the office, and very little that we do in the field. This week was especially busy since we had transfer meetings with President every single day. This was the first transfer for President Tanner since he was called President here on the mission, so it was a really big transfer. President Castro our old president hadnt made alot of changes in the past transfers because he wanted to let President Tanner do all the changes. so what ended up happening is that we changed almost 100 percent of the areas. only 8 sets of missinoaries stayed the same on the whole mission. we change 76 areas out of 84, which was alot of work. we meet every single day this past week. it was pretty hard, i have had a non stop headache this week, but i am really love the revelation that the Lord gives me. On our first meeting, i was a little nervous to make any comments in the meeting. well there was a point where we didnt know what to do with a certain elder, they were talking about putting him in another area but the spirit whispered that he needed to go to a different one... i was nervous but i said my thoughts, and everyone agreed, and it was done by the spirit. It was really awesome, because ever since i have been called i have been able to feel the spirit really strongly. It is amazing the spirit is REAL he can literally guide our thoughts and help us know the will of the Lord in EVERYTHING that we do.
On monday was a sad day, the elders went home that ended their mission. It was a pretty "trunky" day, here in the office there were 7 elders going home, and all the wanted to talk about was girls and stuff, it was different.. i can say that the office life is defintely going to be way different. Elder Greener went home. he really was one of my best friends on the mission. he is going to call mom this week, he wants to go by and see you all.
on tueday was awesome. we recieved 11 missionaries in the field. it was crazy! we ate lunch at Presidents house, and then we gave training to them. it was pretty cool to give training... haha i gave a part about street contacts ( my favorite part on the mission!!) and so we practiced... i told everyone that it is a new rule on the mission to invite 5 people a day to be baptized on the street! all the greenies thought we were crazy, but after some practice they'll get it down.
we are doing alot of meetings with President, because tomorrow we have another!! training meeting with all the elders and sisters that got here in the last 2 transfers. and then next week we have this new 5 day training!!! which is going to be crazy, for 5 days every ZL, DL, and trainer will have a training meeting with us and President. we are going to put in to practice the new program of the mission field, and it takes 5 days to start. it is going to be over 60 missionaries on the mission in the same chapel for 5 days. and i have to teach them all!! haha i am a little nervous, but i know the spirit will help me.
There are 2 things that are going to be a challenge. first is that the area that i am in is completely dead. the elders havent worked in the area for 3 months!! because the mission president changes the past 2 APs were basically mission presidents, they had to do everything. so it is dead. they have been teaching only about 3 lessons a week; because they had to travel to interview evey zone, and do all the stuff with President Tanner.. so in the past 6 months the APs area has 2 baptisms.. haha.. well that just isnt enough for me. so i am going to work really hard to help build up this area. When i was interviewed by president that is one thing that he told me. is that he wants me to bring a work type of attitude to the office. I am going to do my best. the second thing is that it is going to be hard to not get fat. they only eat junk food here. because the meal that the members give here in brasil is lunch, and at lunch we are always doing something for president, during the week we dont have lunch with members, we have to buy something to eat.. well something usually is something fast and easy.. but not always healthy.. but i think maybe it will be a blessing, in my last 6 months i had lost 12 pounds!! i am stick and bone right now, i weigh about 125 or something. i am really skinny.. my 6 months in Amanda i ate well, but walked and worked alot.. so that is why i got so skinny.. now i am hoping to put on some weight.
I am going to love working with President Tanner. He is exactly the type of man that i want to be. He was a lawyer for over 20 years!! He is amazing. It is crazy, i know that working on his side will be a huge blessing for me. I know that I am going to learn ALOT. i am going to learn alot more than i teach.
i love being a missionary. i love this work, it is so amazing.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!
ELDER OLSEN
11 Aug 2010
Hello family,
well this week was definitely the most interesting on my mission. I am seriously lost on where to start.
well on the first note we found and continue to work with all our new investagators. We continued to work with over 40 investagators in our new area, which was amazing!! We are being blessed beyond belief here in our area.
On sunday we had 16 investagators at church!!! It was amazing! 3 complete families were there, it was awesome! After church is when the riot began.
Elder ------- who lives with me, his companion got really sick... he was complaining about heart problems and that he was feeling really sick. So we went to lunch after church, and he got worse, so we ran to the local hospital with him... they told us that he was having a heart attack! and since it is a local hospital they dont have the resources to take care of him, so the sent Elder ------ and his companion by ambulance to the other hospital in a near by city. then I went with a brother from the ward to the hospital. when we got there, they told us that he was in serious condition and that we needing to go to a different hospital in campinas ( one of the best in the country) so we ran there. (I got to ride in the ambulance!!! :) so we got there in campinas and it was already like 830 at night, after all the traveling that we had done and stuff, so we got there and he was admitted. We was put in the intensive care unit, and they werent going to let anyone stay with him. I talk with the doctors very nicely and they let me stay the night in the ER with him. well that was a huge adventure.. elder damilda (elder greener's companiion) was pretty bad.. he did tests until 130 in the morning and then at 330 in the morning he had an attack, so i ended up staying up ALL NIGHT! it was crazy, i didnt sleep at all. then at 6 in the morning 2 elders came and picked me up. i called President and we both felt that there wasnt any problem for the elder to stay alone while he is in the ER. so i went to the office. I got there about 815 or 830, and i was just beat. i really couldnt do much but just stay awake. so i took a shower in the office and sat down, and about 915 President Tanner got to the office. We talked about E. Dalmeida, and how he was doing, then he looked me in the eyes and said Elder Olsen I need to talk to you. he called me in his office and told me that he really trusts in me, and then told me that i am being called as the new AP on the mission. And that i was so start imed. to help with the transfers this next week. It came as a huge shock to me, and i really wasnt expecting that at all. i am telling you this dad, mom, steve and mikey so that you can all join in and pray for me. So on monday i went right to work, and on tuesday i had my first meeting with President, we started the work on the transfers.. wow, i never realized how big the mission is. we are going to recieve 11 new missionoaries, and we have alot of changes on the mission that need to happen. How our President is new, he needs alot of help to know which elders are good and which arent. so it really gave me a headache yesterday. but at the same time i was really happy to know that the Lord loves me so much to trust me with such a sacred calling, at first it all past in a blur, i really didnt believe it... but now i am realizing how much the Lord expects from me.
Today i had the great opporunity to go to the temple and seek for further help, and it was amazing, i really felt the spirit strong and i felt the spirit testifying of what i need to do to become better.
I love being a missionary, i love being a servent of our Heavenly Father. I know that he loves us and guides us in everything that we do. I know that he will help me become better.
Please pray for me, I am really needing the help from the Lord in this moment.
I love this work, i love the mission, it is the greatest time in my life.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
ELDER OLSEN
well this week was definitely the most interesting on my mission. I am seriously lost on where to start.
well on the first note we found and continue to work with all our new investagators. We continued to work with over 40 investagators in our new area, which was amazing!! We are being blessed beyond belief here in our area.
On sunday we had 16 investagators at church!!! It was amazing! 3 complete families were there, it was awesome! After church is when the riot began.
Elder ------- who lives with me, his companion got really sick... he was complaining about heart problems and that he was feeling really sick. So we went to lunch after church, and he got worse, so we ran to the local hospital with him... they told us that he was having a heart attack! and since it is a local hospital they dont have the resources to take care of him, so the sent Elder ------ and his companion by ambulance to the other hospital in a near by city. then I went with a brother from the ward to the hospital. when we got there, they told us that he was in serious condition and that we needing to go to a different hospital in campinas ( one of the best in the country) so we ran there. (I got to ride in the ambulance!!! :) so we got there in campinas and it was already like 830 at night, after all the traveling that we had done and stuff, so we got there and he was admitted. We was put in the intensive care unit, and they werent going to let anyone stay with him. I talk with the doctors very nicely and they let me stay the night in the ER with him. well that was a huge adventure.. elder damilda (elder greener's companiion) was pretty bad.. he did tests until 130 in the morning and then at 330 in the morning he had an attack, so i ended up staying up ALL NIGHT! it was crazy, i didnt sleep at all. then at 6 in the morning 2 elders came and picked me up. i called President and we both felt that there wasnt any problem for the elder to stay alone while he is in the ER. so i went to the office. I got there about 815 or 830, and i was just beat. i really couldnt do much but just stay awake. so i took a shower in the office and sat down, and about 915 President Tanner got to the office. We talked about E. Dalmeida, and how he was doing, then he looked me in the eyes and said Elder Olsen I need to talk to you. he called me in his office and told me that he really trusts in me, and then told me that i am being called as the new AP on the mission. And that i was so start imed. to help with the transfers this next week. It came as a huge shock to me, and i really wasnt expecting that at all. i am telling you this dad, mom, steve and mikey so that you can all join in and pray for me. So on monday i went right to work, and on tuesday i had my first meeting with President, we started the work on the transfers.. wow, i never realized how big the mission is. we are going to recieve 11 new missionoaries, and we have alot of changes on the mission that need to happen. How our President is new, he needs alot of help to know which elders are good and which arent. so it really gave me a headache yesterday. but at the same time i was really happy to know that the Lord loves me so much to trust me with such a sacred calling, at first it all past in a blur, i really didnt believe it... but now i am realizing how much the Lord expects from me.
Today i had the great opporunity to go to the temple and seek for further help, and it was amazing, i really felt the spirit strong and i felt the spirit testifying of what i need to do to become better.
I love being a missionary, i love being a servent of our Heavenly Father. I know that he loves us and guides us in everything that we do. I know that he will help me become better.
Please pray for me, I am really needing the help from the Lord in this moment.
I love this work, i love the mission, it is the greatest time in my life.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
ELDER OLSEN
28 July 2010
so this week was really good, we are really working alot. so this week we had a miracle and it was amazing. Marcelo and his family that were baptized, well their oldest daugther wasnt baptized with the family, because she had a boyfriend, well she has been going to church and everything, but didnt want to live the law of chasity, well on thursday we went there and had an extremely spiritual lesson, and she accepted to be baptized! so we prepared everything and on sunday she was baptized! It was amazing! It was a really special baptism. because the whole family is now baptized, and they are already talking about going to the temple in 1 year. it was a really special day.
it was a crazy week filled with alot of spilts in other areas. our zone had 10 baptisms this week so we had to do alot of interviews and so we traveled alot.
so after kayla was baptized, that basically leaves us with no one to teach, so this week we are starting from nothing. it is going to be really fun.. we are going to work in a place where missionaries have never worked before. we are just going to basically work with all the members there and try to get alot of new investagators.
this week is going to be alot of fun too, tomorrow we have intreviews with our new president, i am really excited to work with him, i really hope to get to know him well.
we are teaching a new family that we way awesome. there names are Rimundo and Nelma, of course since i am in Brasil they arent married haha but thats alright, they always wanted to get married. so we went and taught them ( they were a referal from the bishop.) when we got there before we taught we asked him if he had anything that he would like to ask Heavenly Father in the prayer and he said, well i want to ask that me and my wife can be baptized in your church and that we can follow it well for the rest of our lives.. haha lets just say missionary work is easy when you are teaching people like that. so they went to the ward activity and everything and next tuesday we are going to mark their wedding... in the middle of august they will be married and baptized. it is going to be a great family.
it is really fun leaving in 6 missioaries, we are able to have alot of success together, and at the same time we are able to have alot of fun. I live with a really funny and great elder, elder greener. it is his last transfer. but he is a great friend already, he is going home in 2 or 3 weeks, and says that he is going to visit our family when he gets home.
I love being a missionary it is great. the blessing of the gospel are for everyone!!!
Elder Olsen
it was a crazy week filled with alot of spilts in other areas. our zone had 10 baptisms this week so we had to do alot of interviews and so we traveled alot.
so after kayla was baptized, that basically leaves us with no one to teach, so this week we are starting from nothing. it is going to be really fun.. we are going to work in a place where missionaries have never worked before. we are just going to basically work with all the members there and try to get alot of new investagators.
this week is going to be alot of fun too, tomorrow we have intreviews with our new president, i am really excited to work with him, i really hope to get to know him well.
we are teaching a new family that we way awesome. there names are Rimundo and Nelma, of course since i am in Brasil they arent married haha but thats alright, they always wanted to get married. so we went and taught them ( they were a referal from the bishop.) when we got there before we taught we asked him if he had anything that he would like to ask Heavenly Father in the prayer and he said, well i want to ask that me and my wife can be baptized in your church and that we can follow it well for the rest of our lives.. haha lets just say missionary work is easy when you are teaching people like that. so they went to the ward activity and everything and next tuesday we are going to mark their wedding... in the middle of august they will be married and baptized. it is going to be a great family.
it is really fun leaving in 6 missioaries, we are able to have alot of success together, and at the same time we are able to have alot of fun. I live with a really funny and great elder, elder greener. it is his last transfer. but he is a great friend already, he is going home in 2 or 3 weeks, and says that he is going to visit our family when he gets home.
I love being a missionary it is great. the blessing of the gospel are for everyone!!!
Elder Olsen
4 Aug 2010
wow this week was wonderful, we had alot of neat experiences. we are really working hard. i am loving being a missionary and serving here in Jd Amanda. Well, this week we offically opened up our new teaching group. we went to the new neighboorhood and had alot of sucess. we found over 35 new investagators in 5 days! It was really awesome. We found 4 new families, and we taught 10 first lessons. It was really cool. We were able to really work hard. It is a little bit of a far walk to get to the new place where we will be working, it is about 45 minutes when we walk.. but it is worth it. It is really awesome to go to a place that has never seen the church. So we worked really hard and it paid off. on sunday we had 4 cars full of investagators.. and we were able to have 9 investagators at church, the Lord really blessed us. All 9 of these people have baptisms marked for this month!! So we are really excited. The Lord is really blessing us. we are working hard, my companion got really fat of the mission (he had gained over 25 pounds..) well in 2 month he has lost 10 :) haha so i think it is having a good effect on him! We are going to work even harder and harder this week.
This week we also had interviews for the first time with our new Presidnet, P. Tanner. He is really awesome. I already really do love him. It was really fun to talk to him, he is like exactly the type of man i want to be haha. he went to law school at byu, was a lawyer in California, and was a stake president for 10 years!! He is really awesome. I am defenitly going to learn alot with him. We got along really well, we talked alot about life and the work of the Lord.
He interviewed our whole zone, and is really happy with the work we are doing. This past month our zone was richly blessed with 30 baptisms!! over 12 more than the next closest zone, so the Lord is really blessing us. We set the goal to baptize 60 people this month, everyone is really excited and ready to work!!
Then on monday we had a zone leader meeting at presidents house. and it was really awesome. I am sure learing alot about being a leader in the church because of the mission. I have learned so many things about how to lead people and help them accomplish their goals through the mission. It is weird... i feel like as a leader i am learning more than teaching.. but hey that is part of the trade.
We have an amazing group of missionaries in our zone, i love them all like brothers. I am not sure what is going to happen this next transfer.. i am a little nervous that i will be transfered.. i already have 6 months here in the area. In 2 weeks we have transfers.. on the 17th.. and i am nervous. but it will be in the Lords hands.
Sounds like everyone at home is doing great. I love being a missionary so much, this has been the greatest time in my entire life. Everyone i can feel your prayers and your support for me. It really is something special, to know that i have over 70+ olsens praying for me. and that all the friends and neighbors too it adds up to alot of prayers!!
i am going to need alot of prayers in the next few days, i really hope that everyone can please pray alot for me, so that i may be able to fufill all the Lords wants from me, and that i will be able to support whatever calling the Lord has in store for me.
I love you all. i love this work, the Lord is on our side! He loves us, and cares for us.
Elder Olsen!!!!
This week we also had interviews for the first time with our new Presidnet, P. Tanner. He is really awesome. I already really do love him. It was really fun to talk to him, he is like exactly the type of man i want to be haha. he went to law school at byu, was a lawyer in California, and was a stake president for 10 years!! He is really awesome. I am defenitly going to learn alot with him. We got along really well, we talked alot about life and the work of the Lord.
He interviewed our whole zone, and is really happy with the work we are doing. This past month our zone was richly blessed with 30 baptisms!! over 12 more than the next closest zone, so the Lord is really blessing us. We set the goal to baptize 60 people this month, everyone is really excited and ready to work!!
Then on monday we had a zone leader meeting at presidents house. and it was really awesome. I am sure learing alot about being a leader in the church because of the mission. I have learned so many things about how to lead people and help them accomplish their goals through the mission. It is weird... i feel like as a leader i am learning more than teaching.. but hey that is part of the trade.
We have an amazing group of missionaries in our zone, i love them all like brothers. I am not sure what is going to happen this next transfer.. i am a little nervous that i will be transfered.. i already have 6 months here in the area. In 2 weeks we have transfers.. on the 17th.. and i am nervous. but it will be in the Lords hands.
Sounds like everyone at home is doing great. I love being a missionary so much, this has been the greatest time in my entire life. Everyone i can feel your prayers and your support for me. It really is something special, to know that i have over 70+ olsens praying for me. and that all the friends and neighbors too it adds up to alot of prayers!!
i am going to need alot of prayers in the next few days, i really hope that everyone can please pray alot for me, so that i may be able to fufill all the Lords wants from me, and that i will be able to support whatever calling the Lord has in store for me.
I love you all. i love this work, the Lord is on our side! He loves us, and cares for us.
Elder Olsen!!!!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
21 July 2010
hello family,
this week was really great. we are starting to form a new teaching pool right now, and it is going to be really rough, but i am excited for the challenge. we are going to change our neighboorhood where we teach, we are going to start working in a neighboorhood where nobody has ever worked, it is going to be great. i am really loving being here in this area and this zone, it is a huge blessing for me. i am really loving being a missionary, it is great. this week we went through some hard times, we are having to leave alot of our investagators because they dont want to fulfill with appoinments. but, i know the lord is on my side, and is ready to help me overcome everything that i need to go through on my mission.
this week we are going to try and do somthing never done before on the mission, we are going to try and really start an explosion of baptisms in our zone, so we are going to work really hard. please pray that this week we can see a miracle and baptize 20 people in our zone! we need lots of prayers. so please pray for us.
I love you all, thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Olsen
Hurrah for Israel!!
this week was really great. we are starting to form a new teaching pool right now, and it is going to be really rough, but i am excited for the challenge. we are going to change our neighboorhood where we teach, we are going to start working in a neighboorhood where nobody has ever worked, it is going to be great. i am really loving being here in this area and this zone, it is a huge blessing for me. i am really loving being a missionary, it is great. this week we went through some hard times, we are having to leave alot of our investagators because they dont want to fulfill with appoinments. but, i know the lord is on my side, and is ready to help me overcome everything that i need to go through on my mission.
this week we are going to try and do somthing never done before on the mission, we are going to try and really start an explosion of baptisms in our zone, so we are going to work really hard. please pray that this week we can see a miracle and baptize 20 people in our zone! we need lots of prayers. so please pray for us.
I love you all, thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Olsen
Hurrah for Israel!!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
14 July 2010
so this week was amazing, i am really happy for all the blessings the lord is giving me right now on my mission.
This week we saw a true miracle, Marcelo and his whole family were baptized!! It was a truly amazing experence. On thursday they were married in the chapel, it was awesome. marcelo used my suit, and he looked right stunning haha. and i bought a tie that matched his wife´s dress Marina. She was really beautiful as she walked down the aisle and everything. i was supposed to be best man, but it didnt work out, because i would have had to walk down the aisle, and here in brasil you have to give the bride a kiss... and well since i am a missionary that really wouldnt work out. so we chose a member to be the best man. it was really awesome. i took alot of pictures i will show yall some day. On saturday the whole family was baptized. it was awesome, i got something that every elder has tired to do, the bishop baptized! haha, he is like dad, fat.. so he never gets in the water. well after this family we got it. he baptized marcelo and his wife. it was awesome. it was really special to see another family being baptized. the lord is blessing us so much right now it is amazing. i love this work. we are trying our hardest to baptized every single week this transfer. so everyone please pray for us. i love being a missionary.
hurrah for israel!
Elder Olsen
This week we saw a true miracle, Marcelo and his whole family were baptized!! It was a truly amazing experence. On thursday they were married in the chapel, it was awesome. marcelo used my suit, and he looked right stunning haha. and i bought a tie that matched his wife´s dress Marina. She was really beautiful as she walked down the aisle and everything. i was supposed to be best man, but it didnt work out, because i would have had to walk down the aisle, and here in brasil you have to give the bride a kiss... and well since i am a missionary that really wouldnt work out. so we chose a member to be the best man. it was really awesome. i took alot of pictures i will show yall some day. On saturday the whole family was baptized. it was awesome, i got something that every elder has tired to do, the bishop baptized! haha, he is like dad, fat.. so he never gets in the water. well after this family we got it. he baptized marcelo and his wife. it was awesome. it was really special to see another family being baptized. the lord is blessing us so much right now it is amazing. i love this work. we are trying our hardest to baptized every single week this transfer. so everyone please pray for us. i love being a missionary.
hurrah for israel!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
7 July 2010
so this week was really great, and i have alot of good news. the first is that i am going to stay here in Jd Amanda. it is going to be awesome. I am so excited. I stayed with my companion, Elder Feitosa, so we are going to work really hard together. I got to meet my new presdient, President Tanner, wow he is really awesome. he is a great leader in the church. he was in a stake presidency for 18 years in california, so he knows his stuff. when he got here he brought alot of change from the first presdiency, all about the new mission. alot of stuff is going to change on the mission, there is a new method of teaching and alot of stuff. I think Mikey has already been working with this stuff for a while, but this week it is all new in brasil, so it is going to bring alot of change here on the mission. it is going to really focus on preparing the missionaries to teach and testify, so alot of missionaries are going to get better. also, some exciting things happening with the zone... it is now even bigger!! i am not sure what is going on, but we received 2 new areas, so we now have 12 areas in our zone haha, it is huge!!! 24 elders just in our zone, with only 3 dls. so it is alot of work. i am working alot in spilts and with the dls. and i know the Lord will help me. I recieved a big help Elder Greener who was the assisant, is ending his mission this transfer, he is going to train in my zone, and so i will really learn alot from him. we know have 6 elders that live in our house. our area is having alot of success, so there is going to be 3 (sets?) of missionaries working in the 2 wards here in Amanda. it is going to be alot of work. This week is going to be really special, Marcelo is going to get married, and he has chose me to be the best man. he is going to use my suit for his wedding, i bought him a great tie to go with it. on thurday they are going to get married, and on saturday they will be baptized, it is going to be awesome!! The 2 children will be baptized, and the oldest is going to have to wait another few weeks, she is having problems with the law of chasity. but i have faith that she will stop. My companion took them all to the temple to visit, and they loved it. i was sad i couldnt go, i had to open up a new area, which is alot of work. new beds, desks, phones, and zero investagators. so i went there to open up the area and it was awesome, in 1 day we recieved 20 referals and marced alot of baptisms. so the Lord is really going to bless this area. I recently found out that this stake, the Hortolandia stake is the 4th fastest growing stake in the world. WOW! what a blessing that i have to be here. the stake presdient is awesome and all the bishops too. I have been working in this stake for a long time!! (my whole mission exvcept 3 transfers..) so i know alot of the members and basically everyone in the stake, and it is really awesome to see the work move foward. In august it is going to spilt, so it will be really cool too see!!
my presdident is awesome, he is a lawyer, so that will really help me. i am already going to start talking to him about how to get into the business and everything. his wife doesnt speak any portuguese, it must be really hard for her, but she is really smart, so i am sure in not time she will speak. Well i love being a missionary, it is the best time in my whole life. i love this work so much!!!
Hurrah for israel!!!!
Elder Olsen
my presdident is awesome, he is a lawyer, so that will really help me. i am already going to start talking to him about how to get into the business and everything. his wife doesnt speak any portuguese, it must be really hard for her, but she is really smart, so i am sure in not time she will speak. Well i love being a missionary, it is the best time in my whole life. i love this work so much!!!
Hurrah for israel!!!!
Elder Olsen
30 June 2010
Well this week was a really good week. we didnt have any baptisms... again.. wow it has been rough these last 2 weeks. we have alot of investagators, but non of them want to comitt to be baptized. but hey, it is part of the plan, everyone has a choice. But, we are still with a beautiful family Marcelo and Mariana, and their 4 children, and will able be baptized on the 8th. They are already getting ready for the weeding on the 8th. Marcelo is going to use one of my ties and shirts haha he is really excited. Their children and really great, the oldest daughter Kayla is being a little difficult about baptism on the 8th... so everyone please pray for her, she is 18 and has a really annoying boyfriend that is trying to stop her from living the law of chasity. But, i know the Lord will prepare the way. Well this week is week 6, so we are going to have transfers this week, i am not really sure what is going to happen, because my President is leaving today, and then we are going to have a new President... i dont know how much he will be able to change in 4 days.. but you never know. I just am praying alot that i will stay here... i really want to see Marcelo get married with his family.
I am really sad these days about the change of President.. it is going to be really weird.. i really am not sure how to act, probably alot of going to move and stuff.. so i am not sure what to do. but hey, the Lord will help me. Everyone is really weirded out about how it will be. so we will see.
Things with my companion are alright, he isnt the type person i would want to marry lets just say that, but hey we work hard and that is all that matters.
I am glad to be a missionary. Everyone pray alot of me, so that we can organize a new teaching pool.
I love you all. everyone also needs to pray that Brasil can lose in the world cup. haha, it is getting in the way of everything. The entire country is shut down while the soccer game is on. Our President gave us orders that during the game we need to have a district meeting or a zone meeting, so like 2 times a week we have meetings. they are going to play again on friday in the quarter finals, i hope they lose so our work can go back to normal. But at least i am seeing things i never thought i would see. On monday night after the game, a flood of drunker people went in the streets.. it was about 2 thousand people... the police had to come and throw gas and beat up alot of people haha. and of course some missionaries were right by it when it all happened. so they got to see some cool sights. it is crazy how much they love soccer.
Well i love this work. i love being a missionary.
Elder Olsen!!!!!
I am really sad these days about the change of President.. it is going to be really weird.. i really am not sure how to act, probably alot of going to move and stuff.. so i am not sure what to do. but hey, the Lord will help me. Everyone is really weirded out about how it will be. so we will see.
Things with my companion are alright, he isnt the type person i would want to marry lets just say that, but hey we work hard and that is all that matters.
I am glad to be a missionary. Everyone pray alot of me, so that we can organize a new teaching pool.
I love you all. everyone also needs to pray that Brasil can lose in the world cup. haha, it is getting in the way of everything. The entire country is shut down while the soccer game is on. Our President gave us orders that during the game we need to have a district meeting or a zone meeting, so like 2 times a week we have meetings. they are going to play again on friday in the quarter finals, i hope they lose so our work can go back to normal. But at least i am seeing things i never thought i would see. On monday night after the game, a flood of drunker people went in the streets.. it was about 2 thousand people... the police had to come and throw gas and beat up alot of people haha. and of course some missionaries were right by it when it all happened. so they got to see some cool sights. it is crazy how much they love soccer.
Well i love this work. i love being a missionary.
Elder Olsen!!!!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
23 June 2010
so this week was a little rough, but it had some bright spots. Edson and his family were not baptized, Marcia the wife is really really sick, so we are going to wait to see if she gets better.. she has been in the hospital, so everyone please pray for her to get better. this family is amazing, they are really special and we really want to see them be baptized. We also had a great thing happen. We took a family to the city center to get married!!! Marcelo and Mariana, we have been working with them for awhile, but they really didnt want to get married, they have already been to church 3 times, but they really dont want "commitment" ( oh by the way the have already lived together for 14 years and have 4 children!!!!") so one day we didnt know what to do, so i went there and just told them all about the blessings of seeing my parents married and happy in life... Mariana started crying, and said she wants to get married.. so we took them on thursday and marked the wedding!!!! on the 8th of July they are going to get married!! It is going to be awesome! everyone in the ward already knows them, so we are going to have a big party in the church, with everyone, and i am going to be best man!!!!! haha :) it is going to be awesome! They have 4 children, and 3 are old enough to be baptized (11 yrs, 15, and 18) and they are all going to be baptized together on the 9th of July!!! It is going to be way amazing. me and my companion are fighting aobut who is going to be here (transfers are on the 6th) but i am like 99.99% that he is going to leave and i will stay :) haha. but it is going to be way cool. we had 3 confirmations in church on sunday, and that was really cool, Elis and Tulio who were baptized are really excited, Elis already went to choir practice of the ward and is going to sing in the choir, and tulio went to church in a blue shirt and tie!!! ( i gave him a awesome tie on his baptism) things here are really going amazing, i love being here and i love this area. please everyone pray for Edson and his family.
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
16 June 2010
Wow, so this week was amazing. i have never been more blessed on my mission than i am being blessed right now. we are really seeing the Lord in our work. So this week we had 2 baptisms!! I have already talked about them, Elis and Tulio, they are the mom and brother of tales, who we baptized like 2 months ago. after 5 times in the church we finally were able to baptism them. The mom was really hard, she had been hiding something from us, but the spirit lead me. On sunday we were all ready to baptize just tulio.. because she had said that she didnt want to be baptized this week.. so we decided to just baptize tulio.. well i was filling out the forms with her about her son, and i just bore my testimony about the word of wisedom, and about eternal families. she started to cry, and said, "do you still have more white cloths?" haha wow, it was amazing. so she and her son were both baptized. she had been drinking coffee and didnt want to stop, because she didnt understand why she needed too. but she was to nervous to tell us, so every time we asked, she said she had already stopped. the spirit is amazing!! I totally thought the problem was the law of chasity, but the spirit knows all things, and lead me to know the truth! I love the spirit. This week is going to be just as special too!! Edson Marcia and Danielle are going to be baptized! This family is really special, and they are going to change lots of lives in the future. we are going to visit the temple with them tomorrow and go on a tour of the temple. they are all set for this sunday. it is going to be awesome. i am really excited and loving the area here. i really hope that i can stay here for like 6 more months or so. but who knows, we will have a new president here in 2 weeks, and i hope he doesnt take me out of here.
things with my companion are going good, he is a good elder. i like him. i just think all these blessings that we are recieving are going to his head a little.. i try to remind him that we are doing nothing, that it is all the Lord, but i think he might be getting prideful. in our zone meetings he talks himself up in front of the elders.. yeah, i am a little worried. i think that he suffered so much in the beginning of the mission (6 baptisms in one year) and now in two week he has already doubled that. he thinks that it is because of him.. ahh... the enemy works really well. he knows how to try and stop the work.. but it will all work out great.
I am really excited to work in the field. i love being a missionary.
Thanks for all the love and prayers!!!
ELDER OLSEN
things with my companion are going good, he is a good elder. i like him. i just think all these blessings that we are recieving are going to his head a little.. i try to remind him that we are doing nothing, that it is all the Lord, but i think he might be getting prideful. in our zone meetings he talks himself up in front of the elders.. yeah, i am a little worried. i think that he suffered so much in the beginning of the mission (6 baptisms in one year) and now in two week he has already doubled that. he thinks that it is because of him.. ahh... the enemy works really well. he knows how to try and stop the work.. but it will all work out great.
I am really excited to work in the field. i love being a missionary.
Thanks for all the love and prayers!!!
ELDER OLSEN
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
9 June 2010
I agree with Mikey, when you get over 1 year on the mission it looks like no one likes to write anymore, but hey its part of the deal. This week was amazing!! It was one of the greatest weeks on my mission. It was really awesome because we had 4 baptisms!!!! It was really amazing! I had alot of special expeineces this week that really changed my life! Well i will share two really quickly. first is that on friday i went to anhanguera and did some interviews, anhanguera is my first area, where i stayed for 8 months. well i am not sure if you all remember jose milton and his family.. they are the family of 5 that i baptized when i was there towards the end, well when i was there i didnt baptized one of the daugthers.. she had had a problem and didnt want to be baptized, and how it was the first transfer that i was senior i wasnt a very good missionary so i just let her go and just baptized the parents and the other 2 daughters. well on friday when i was in anhanguera, all the appoinments feel through, so i decided that we could go to their house and try and teach the daughter. the elder told me that they had already try lots of times, and that ever since i had left the elders had been going there to try and teach her, but she would never accept anything. but i told him that that day she was going to accept. It was a really crazy thing, because i have already dreamed alot of times with this family in the temple, and every time that i have this dream the daughter was never there, and then when i leave she is on the outside and she starts crying and telling me how because i didnt help her be baptized her life was runied. and alot more stuff that has happened since i left anhanguera. so i have always felt really strongly that it was my purpose or calling to baptize her and her family. so we went there and when i got there they didnt believe that i was there. they said that they had been talking about me that day, and all the things that i did to help them. we started of the lesson singing a hymn and then the elder bore his testimony and then let me talk. the spirit was really strong as a testfiyed of eternal families. after teaching about the importance of following the savior, i invited her to be baptized on the next day on saturday. she accepted. it was amazing, everyone was crying so much. so on saturday she and her family went to my area in Jd amanda and i baptized her. it was really awesome!!! the whole family was really happy to see her be baptized. now the whole family are members of the church! I know that they will enter into the temple!!!
On sunday we had 3 more baptisms. It was really amazing!! We have been teaching a part member family for a while. the husband is a member, and his wife was from a different church, and she would always go to church but didnt want to be baptized. on wends. i went there with a member and we taught about the book of mormon, the spirit was really strong and she and her child accepted to be baptized on sunday and they were!! The husband was so happy!! haha, he hasnt recieved the priesthood yet so i had to baptized them, but it was still really amazing!
And Reginaldo was also baptized on sunday. he is sergios friend. sergio is our recent convert that is amazing. he is really excited about the work. our teaching group is basically his friends and family that he has. we are going to try and baptize all of them.
this week we have 3 more baptisms. we are going to help complete another family of the ward. it is going really awesome.
We also have a family of 3 that will be baptized on the 19th. defintely the most beautiful family i have taught. they are way ready for the gospel. they are well off and have 2 children (12 yrs and 4 yrs) on saturday we had stake conference and the dad of the family Edson, he went in a white shirt hhaha, his wife went in a skirt and all dressed up. it was really awesome. they are going to visit the temple tomorrow night with us, and we are going to enter in there with them in one year. they say they cant wait to be baptized.. really they were prepared to hear the gospel!!
I am loving my mission. i am loving everything about my area. please pray for:
Edson, marcia, daneile, elis, tulio, valeska, marcelo, mariana, kasia, maria and carlos. all them have a date for this month, but they will needs lots of prayers!!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
On sunday we had 3 more baptisms. It was really amazing!! We have been teaching a part member family for a while. the husband is a member, and his wife was from a different church, and she would always go to church but didnt want to be baptized. on wends. i went there with a member and we taught about the book of mormon, the spirit was really strong and she and her child accepted to be baptized on sunday and they were!! The husband was so happy!! haha, he hasnt recieved the priesthood yet so i had to baptized them, but it was still really amazing!
And Reginaldo was also baptized on sunday. he is sergios friend. sergio is our recent convert that is amazing. he is really excited about the work. our teaching group is basically his friends and family that he has. we are going to try and baptize all of them.
this week we have 3 more baptisms. we are going to help complete another family of the ward. it is going really awesome.
We also have a family of 3 that will be baptized on the 19th. defintely the most beautiful family i have taught. they are way ready for the gospel. they are well off and have 2 children (12 yrs and 4 yrs) on saturday we had stake conference and the dad of the family Edson, he went in a white shirt hhaha, his wife went in a skirt and all dressed up. it was really awesome. they are going to visit the temple tomorrow night with us, and we are going to enter in there with them in one year. they say they cant wait to be baptized.. really they were prepared to hear the gospel!!
I am loving my mission. i am loving everything about my area. please pray for:
Edson, marcia, daneile, elis, tulio, valeska, marcelo, mariana, kasia, maria and carlos. all them have a date for this month, but they will needs lots of prayers!!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
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