Monday, June 20, 2011

20 June 2011

20 June 2011

wow so this last week was super good, so we had three baptisms Felipe, vicente and daisy, it was all beautiful, the best part was that a really good member of the ward did the baptisms, his name is hno. ever. we eat at his house every day and i have never met a funnier guy, he used to be a drunk and about 6 months ago the missionaries found his and he changed his life, anyway we told him we had some baptisms and recently he just recieved the priesthood so we go to his house with a pair of white pants that he can use in the baptism we just whip them out and hand him the pants, he just kind of looks at me like ¨what is this crazy white boy doing with white pants¨ we tell him he is going to baptize two people and he just flips out i have never seen anyone so happy, then it hits him he has to know all the words and how to do it, andhe just starts panicking man i have never seen anything so funny but it was all realy good.

Anyway yesterday i had a huge surprise the urione family came to montero to visit me for my birthday, this is the family that i knew in santa cruz when i was training elder baker, but wow i have never reallly realized the power of the gospel that we share with people it was so amazing, they brought me a cake, and bought me a way nice watch, they are seriously one of the coolest families in the world,(and they told me they tried to contact you guys but your not answering their emails or your not looking them up on face book, they really want to talk with you guys please look for them in facebook.) ( name= neydda amerika urione farfán) she has facebook and has been trying tocontact janessa)
anyway it was super good to see them and it is amazinghow much they have changed, they are seriously amazing. i love that family it helps me realize the importance of missionary work. God really is preparring people for me, i have never seen so many miricles in my life.

This coming saturday we do not have any baptisms planned but i plan on having at least one person come unto christ, it is possible i just gotta test my faith, right now we are teaching a good family of five and we are waiting for another family to get married but we are expecting alot of baptisms these coming weeks it is just gonna take alo9t of work andalot of prayers.

i am super grateful for everything your guys dothank youso much i love you all so much i am sorrry for not writing but i am just super busy i sent some stuff home for andrew and sam i also had more stuff for janessa but i could not send it because it cost alot to send it. by the way tell that girl to write me a email. i love you all please stay firm in the gospel it is the only way to be happy.
Love Elder Olsen

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

13 June 2011

WOW June what an amazing month, wow i am just so blessed it is amazing i love Bolivia i love it. so this last week i went to santa cruz with my companion for the zone leaders meeting, we show up and all the other zones are asking how is Montero, my zone and we are justlike it is all good we are doing fine, working hard, the normal, haha. anyway during the meeting we always do a slide show of all the baptisms and the zones where are the strongest zones in the mission and where are the weakest. anyway 2 months ago we were number 4 or 5 in the list of baptisms. last month number 3, and me and my comp have really been trying to motivate our zone to just baptize everyone, anyway we are going through all the zone we get to our zone and well i know we are not supposed to glory in the honors of men, but not gonna lie i did have a little smile for this. we ended up being the best zone in the whole mission, and Presidente Calderon wow he sure did talk us up even more it was super animating we were pretty happy ahah.

anyway when we went up there after the concilio Pres. Calderon started showing us all of the statistics of our mission in the past two years and june is always the lowest month of baptisms in the entire year, it is because right nw it is winter here in bolivia and no one wants to get in the cold water. anyway this was the best part he just starts telling us how we need a miricle in june, we need to search under the rocks of the earth to find those people who are ready to baptize, and i will tell you i have never been so pumped up in my life, we walk out of there and imidietly i start thinking how i can translate this into my zone how i am going to excite them, that night i go to bed and i start praying for a miricle and for help for my zone.

The next mornign i wake up and sit down to study i was really wanting to read preach my gospel but something was telling me i neededto readthe bookof mormon, so i dive intoit. i amin alma and i happen tobe at the part when helaman sets the title of liberty and starts putting down the rules giving a motivational speach. i start thinking about that and i look up and it turnns out that i have this gospel art book and it just happens to be on the pictrue of helaman and the title of liberty, i think God is trying to tell me something here....... finally it comesto my mind i gotta have my on title of liberty.

Thursday was zone conference, all the elderes show up we start giving them all of the announcments and stuff,finaally we get to the part about how we need a miricle this month how we need to just baptize everyone. and well in the moment opportune while i am motivating my zone, i just get so pumped up i rip of my white shirt and start tearing it into pieces declaring to them that we need our title of liberty we need our standards of excellence, we needthis miricle (you should have seen the face of some of the elderes)(some of the scared to death others way pumped up, after my comp told me i was all red in the face almost screaming)... wow it was super adrenaline rush..... i write down on the shirt what is my motivation what is my reason to be here in themission and i just write down MY FAMILY. all the other elderes come up and writedown there reasons or there motivation and we set the title of liberty so we are goingto do it we are going tohavea miricle.
man i love the mission it is the greatest place inthe planet, this month i am going to be an instrument in Gods hands and we are going to havea miricle i know it.

Seriously every single one of you is my motivation and my reasoning of why i am here suffering the insects and the heat and the food, i am here because i know that if i workmy butt off i might be able to help another family become like my family is, a family that is just amazing, i love you all and seriously i pray for you every day,it is not only about returning with honor but living with it our whole lives, i am preparing myself for the furture, i dread the day when i have to come home and go back to doing normal stuff. the missionhas helped me see the most important things in life. please remember that, i am talking to my brothers, remember what you felt, why you felt it , and how you can always feel it, i dont know what i would do with out it, the spirit is the guide of my life, always life worthy of this amazing influence of God. I Love you all.
Steve get married
Mike keep studying
Tyler well keep living the gospel
Janessa your my hero
Amanda hardest worker
Adam Not the man of the house
Andrew The second man of the house
SAM THE MAN OF THE HOUSE
Love you all
Elder Olsen

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

6 June 2011

WOW, so i am still in montero and it is officially the longest time i have in one zone, or one area,
right now i am with elder parrales the lord is really helping me with my ability to love and serve my companions
i am actually really excited for this transfer we have alot of really good investigators we are just waiting for some
really stupid reasons, one of them is marriage, another is they do not have permission from parents, but
they are all amazing people,

the biggest thing i have learned in my mission is to just be happy and the best way to
be happy is to smile all the time whenever i am teaching i am just trying my best to just smile, there really is
alot of power in a friendly smile, the funniest is fast sundays, it iswhenever i walk up to bear my testimony i just
sit at the pulpit and smile for a couple minutes until i see that everyone else is smiling, i have not decided if they smile
becaue they are happy also or because it is funny to see a white kid stand there smiling, either way it makes everyone
a little bit happier.

Sorry i have not written very much these last two weeks it is just really there is not time. i try my best but i am really trying
to lose my self in the work.

so i got a letter from darin hillyard, first off i cant imagine him being fat. second it was probably the funniest thing i have ever read
i am so thankful for all of your prayers and everything you have done for me.

Please pray for mario he is 15 his dad says he can be baptized but his mom no. he is a stud, janessa you have permission to marry him

Love ELder Olsen.