Peter, 12.20.10

hey

IM IN FLORIDA! and its amazing i love it here! it is crazy Christmas is this saturday. i live in a house here right close to orlando. are area is about 20 miles from end to end, we are about a 30 minute drive from our chapel and its kinda hard to get investigators to church cuz its so far and it is different from any church most of them have ever experienced. i went to my area tuesday afternoon after we had some training at the mission home and the mission office about mission specific rules and about cars. most areas here share cars. my comp and i have a car every other day so thats nice so that we can go to farther meetings and not spend so much time biking. but it is hard to stay under our milage limitations. my companion is our district leader and as such has to go on exchanges every week. and it just so happend that on wednesday he had to go to another area on an exchange leaving me to take over my area for a day, with an elder that had never been in my area and i was made senior comp for the duration of the exchange. i felt completly inadequate i didn't really know any of the people we were supposed to meet with and where everything is. i get turned around so much here, its so hard to tell directions or even know where north south east and west are its so different because i have felt like i have always had a good sense of direction but i now know i don't at least not in florida. its almost completly flat and there really aren't any landmarks so i end up just following my companion most of the time, and that was humbling in its self. last night i meet with an investigator at a members house. we ate dinner with them and then taught a lesson. we were about to start teaching the third lesson which is The Gospel of Jesus Christ, when my comp realized that was not what we were supposed to teach and began teaching about the Atonement. i want you to Know MIRACLES HAPPEN! don't ever think that they don't big or small. we have prayed for miracles and i really didn't think to much about it. but   the spirit was so strong we read in alma 7 and i think it was verses 16-18 or 19 but anyways their is a part there that says Fear not and be baptized and that is the part we emphesised and it really was what she was concerned about and we were through the spirit able to resolve her concerns and helped her feel the love of the savior and the redeming power of the attonement. we were all tearing up towards the end of the lesson it was great and we were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 15th of january it was awsome!

the church is true! I know it and it is wonderfull to be able to share it with the world

love elder olsen

The temperature in Orlando is the same as it is here this morning, 42.  Colder than he expected there and warmer than we expected here but though I asked him if he is cold there are no complaints. I believe the fire of faith and missionary work are keeping him warm.