Going great, Peter 1.31.11

hola

its so great to hear all is well. i'm glad you got the pictures. yes i do have an adapter for my sd card so maybe i'll try emailing some pictures. Its so exciting to hear i have a niece. can't wait to see some pictures. Emily's in Peru and she flew over Florida last week. its exciting so much is going on. its so amazing. God is so good to us.

This past week we taught a man that we have taught multiple times. He loves the Bible and knows it to be the word of God but has a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. He has prayed concerning the book but has only received the answer to gain more wisdom and so he has been studying everything he can get his hands on and as a result he has found lots of Anti-Mormon material and has had many questions he wanted us to answer. we had gone over a few times and tried to answer his questions but frankly we didn't know the answers to most of them. Thursday evening we went over to his home and talked to him and his wife. we went with the intent to let him know that we don't have all the answers and  to watch Elder Hollands talk "Safety for the Soul". after watching and listening to elder Hollands talk and testimony of the Book of Mormon. we asked if we could kneel down with them and pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true. he accepted the invitation and we knelt in his home. he prayed and we all stayed on our knees waiting and praying in our hearts for an answer. after what seemed like a long time R. said that all he kept on thinking was that Christ is his savior and that he didn't see any reason to continue investigating the Church but that he would call us again if he wanted to again. as a last resort we bore testimony and asked him to come to church Sunday and he accepted to give it a try and at least come and see one of our services. Sunday came around and R. showed up to church and enjoyed sacrament meeting but was very disappointed that they didn't really preach from the Bible. Elder Mcclatchy told him that we would study the Bible in Gospel Principles. and we went to the class where we did read from some scriptures from the bible and discussed them and it was great he really did enjoy it! and after church that day he said we could come back and discuss the Gospel more with him.

It was a tender mercy of the Lord. we didn't know how to help him any more and hoped and prayed he would come to church and he did! and the Lord Blessed him with a spiritual experience. God is good and He will bless us and His Grace is sufficient after all we can do. Christ lives and loves every one of us! and it is a Blessing  to be in His service.

Love 

 Elder Olsen

P.S. Mom is Grace the word you chose to focus on this year?

Elder Olsen pictures

 Peter sent home his picture card.  We are loving the pictures and have to guess what is what for now.  It is nice to have it all documented in pictures.

modern army of Helaman

great quote for all of us

Peter loves sunsets.  Quite a few of the pictures were of sunsets.

In Peru, Emily 1.27.11

I´m in Peru!! Thanks for the quick email! I am so glad to hear that Nellie is doing better. The priesthood is amazing. My first week in the MTC one of the elders in my district got sick and all the elders gave him a blessing. It was so neat to watch those boys grow up and be men! It´s amazing! This Spanish keyboard is nuts! Sorry if it´s a mess. So ya! I´m in Peru! We made it, although it was actually about an hour delayed. Bummer deal. We tried to find some american food pero there wasn´t anything worthwhile around, so we just got some ice cream! Elder Felton was in my flight group, as soon as he said he was from las vegas I remembered that his mom was the all-knowing one ¨) He´s way cool. and really tall. Actually I feel like a giant here. When I´m around the natives especially. But it´s fun. If you´re wondering if I´ve played soccer yet, the answer is yes! SO much fun! The CCM is actually super nice. Their soccer field is turf, Its not quite full size but it´s good. When I first played there were natives playing and they definitely ran circles around us, and laughed the whole time. But its so fun! They also have ping pong tables, foose ball tables, basketball court, sand volleyball. Its rockin! It is so beautiful, pretty humid, but overcast. I think it feels amazing, the natives all of jackets... I love it! I am super excited to study outside, where the sun is! I still can´t believe I´m in Peru! Oh my companion! Well I believe she is Hna Madrid? I don}t really understand whats going on with that. She}s not currently living in my room, I think she said she got the wrong keys. But she is my companion. Thats if I understood her, it was all in Spanish. Crazy huh?? So I have a native companion and we study, eat, and teach together, but I have a North American district and thats where we learn spanish. So I´m not really sure how the whole always stay with your companion deal works out. Its super weird because we couldn´t even get a drink without our comapnions in provo - we always had to be within sight and sound of each other. My provo comp hna maxwell and I hang out together a lot and I am so grateful for her. Its amazing how close we are after spending just 3 weeks together. I miss her when shes not around! So I cannot for the life of me figure out how to push enter so I´m just gonna do this < when i mean to enter. Heres my address before i forget. They said not to send packages, cause customs and such costs to much. k here goes < Hermana Emily S Olsen < Bolivia Santa Cruz < Av. Melgarejo 159 < Urb. Campo Verde < La Molina, Lima, Peru < We have pouch mail that goes out every monday, it takes US stamps and I only have five so if you want to send me some then i can write more letters. Supposedly it only takes a week to 10 days for mail to get here. No se tho. < It was way hard to say goodbye to my district and zone on Tuesday. And to Shandi and Steph and Cami Webb, and so many people. It kinda broke my heart. Its amazing how close we all got. Whenever anyone leaves, the zone has a testimony meeting the night before and it was  crazy to be giving my ´leaving´testimony. I seriously miss my district so much. I was talking to Hna maxwell and she said she´s not home sick for home, she´s homesick for the provo MTc and our district. haha its crazy what a mission does to you. >We´ve been trying to take lots of pictures but I´m not sure how im gonna be able to send them to you. I don´t even know how to print them. Theres so much to learn and figure out still! It is so small. All of the missionaries live in one building! Oh on Tuesday our whole district went to and ate at the temple caffeteria to get something besides MTC food, it was... good. Then we all went on a session together. It was so neat. I really am gonna miss seeing all their faces every day all day. We haven´t met any of our teachers yet. It is so weird cause in the Provo MTC we had absolutely NO free time, like at all, but here I don´t even know what to do with myself. we have like 8 hours to unpack, nap, and then do pretty much whatever you want, like our schedule says to go play soccer or volleyball or something. Just have a free day. Its crazy! Fun tho, The dorms are so much nicer here than in Provo. We have our own bathroom in our room of 4 hnas and the beds are great and its just super nice. All of the elders let ALL  of the hermanas eat first. It was super nice, I was surprised. Theres kind of a lot of us. Oh. they say that the electricity is 220 Volt, my hair dryer switches to 250, do you think it can work dad? Tambien, I think i must´ve left my straightner in Provo, bummer deal. SO with no hair dryer and no straightner, and tonz of humidity, i am gonna be lookin pretty fine... we'll see. I haven't showered here yet. haha such an adventure. I keep having this re accuring thoughts like ´'Emily! You're in Peru!' this is so great! I´m always up for another adventure. One of  the sisters has been crying all day, I´m really glad I´m here and can help her. Ummm... I would really love to have grandma and grandpa petersons address. That'd be great. Oh I wasn´t sick anymore on the plane. I got some motion sickness pills so that helped a lot. They actually like nocked me out, I slept most of the way to peru. There are ninjas guarding us outside the ccm so you dont even need to worry about all of us... haha. Its all good! Oh! I talked to a lady in the Miami airport and did a contact. The whole time I was thinking aaaa! This is a real person! LIke for real life! She really is catholic and belives in Christ and doesnt go very often and we can help her! So crazy awesome! I gave her a book of mormon... in English... haha she spoke broken english so maybe she can read it, but I also got her name and number and address and she said the missionaries could come visit her. She lives in FL! Hooray! To bad I couldnt send peter on over. It was super neat. It makes me so excited to go out and share this gospel with everyone. Because everyone needs the gospel. Man oh man this is gonna be great! I love you all. It was so good to talk to you. Nellie is in my prayers. Defintiely keep me updated. i can{t wait to see pictures! Sorry this is so random. I{m not sure what else to say. Youre great! I love you all! }Love your hija amado haha hermana Olsen


I just checked on dearelder.com and they have the Peru MTC on their list for free!  I know she loves letters and it is a very easy way to do it.

She's off, again

Airplane:  Vehicle used to take loved ones far away from me.
Prayer:  vehicle used to bring us close no matter where we are in the beautiful world.


Today Emily called from the airport in Florida.  She sounded happy and well despite the fact that she had thrown up on that last flight.  Her time was short because they board international flights too soon.


She mentioned that she had met a woman from Peru who was anxious to talk to them, tried out her Spanish, made no sense to the Peruvian, gave up and resorted to English.  Good thing that was still an option.  She will have 6 weeks more of language and missionary training and then the real training begins.  (the Peruvian lady asked for name and number of missionaries in Peru, way to go Hermana (new Tia, that means aunt) Olsen.  Little Nellie was born the same time that Emily's plane left Salt Lake.  We got to share that news with her and she was able to visit with Elise.


The MTC in Provo was actually too easy for me.  I wondered why.  This MTC in Peru has been a lot harder.  A few more tears keep surprising me as I think of her being so very far away.  I will miss her and can't wait for more letters.  If any of you get letters and want to share with me, I am very open.

Se Bautizara, Emily, 1.25.11

Last week we had a workshop on committing people to baptism. Ever since everyone says that all the time?! It means will you be baptized?! haha its great. SO umm... Voy a Peru! For reals! Crazy right? Last wednesday we went and asked them if we had visas and they said no, we'd pretty much decided we weren't going.... but then yesterday they said we were! aaa! I'm excited! But I'm gonna miss the people here like crazy. It's amazing how fast we all become family. So, here's my flight plans:

 

6:05am fly out of Salt Lake City

9:55am arrive Dallas/ Ft Worth, TX

10:50am leave the big state

2:25pm arrive in Miami FL - think of Peter!

4:25pm wave goodbye to Pete

10:10pm arrive in a Spanish speaking country!

 

They said the policy on calling home at the airport is that they don't have a policy. so.... I would love to talk to you! I"m thinking maybe while I'm in Florida, that's our longest layover. Hopefully it'll work out. I think maybe I'll call mom's cell just in case Nellie decides to grace you all with her presence :) If you have any last things to tell me, if you send a dearelder today before like 2 ish I should get it tonight. :) As of Elise's letter yesterday - still no baby? crazy! Thank you so much for all of your support and letters. It's so fun to get! My district always makes these awful Manti jokes - like yesterday a got a bunch of letters and they all said they were pretty sure that every person in Manti had written me. hahah I'm gonna miss my district like crazy. I realized I haven't told you much about them so I want to introduce you to District 32B!

 

Elder Almquist - from ST. George, tall blond, writing a girl named Stephanie. His famous quote is "yo joke around" he does a lot too. He's definitely the one that keeps us laughing. He has two older sisters and says that me and the other Hermanas in our district are like his older sisters. He's awesome. He wants to be a dentist, and his families pretty loaded, I believe.

 

Elder Manuirirangi - Almquist's comp- he's from Las Vegas but before that his family lived in New Zealand, sometimes he has a sweet accent when he talks. We played zone volleyball last Friday night, new districts versus the old districts, and Elder Manu has got some sweet volleyball skills. It was so fun! He and Elder Almquist are so excited to share teh gospel, they learn lots every day. His famous quote "So... the plan of salvation... sounds like a pretty good deal right?" haha

 

Elder Dickinson - from ID he's super cool and calm. He's kinda shy I think, but then every once in awhile he says something randomly funny, and I'm never quite sure how to take it. He's great. His investigator profile that he plays is a 60 year old man and he gets all into it. It's sweet.

 

Elder Moser - From CA Dickinson's comp - he makes me laugh. I'm never actually sure what's going through his head. He's been kinda sick these last few weeks so I think he's been kinda out of it. He always right random things on the board like "i'm over 9000" I'm not really sure what that means, he's says its really good. haha His famous quote was last week when he was bearing his testimony "This isn't me talking, this is a brain shut down."

 

Elder Garland - From FL very down to earth. He is here to work. He has an amazing ability to focus when the rest of us start chatting. He is way cool, but he has really strong opinions about random things, like Africa - he thinks its a terrible place, and the dear community is really, rude?? haha it's crazy. His famous quotes: "I would rather DIE then smell bad" and "Elder Adams and I complete each other."

 

Elder Adams - From Fruit Heights, UT, Garland's comp. He's our district leader and he's super cool. He wants to be a public speaker when he grows up and I think he's gonna rock it. We have little district/testimony meetings after Tuesday night devotionals and he always finishes them up cause he's the DL and he always does this super inspiring speech. It's sweet. He has  super loud voice, and gets so excited about it all. Last week he said to an investigator, "Se bautizara?!" and they said yes! and pretty sure he was jumping up and down for joy. He gets super excited about sharing the gospel. It's fun. His famous quote "Your ojos (eyes) pierce my soul!" said while teaching Oscar, our teacher's investigator. Way funny.

 

The other Hermana's are amazing. I think I'm going to miss them the most.

 

Hermana Tippets - from Las Vegas super sweet short girl that I love. She always makes me feel good, she eats way super healthy and is a way good example. She's very humble. And she's reallly good at making me laugh, pretty much always. She's obsessed with harry potter and Lord of the Rings and has a scriptural application for both of those movies at least daily.

 

Hermana Spiller - from West Texas - she is super. She's the one that gets up and exercises with me every morning. We also play basketball with the elders during gym, and she beats em all the time, but it is so so so fun! She's very real, and teaches me a lot. She gets a package almost every day, and we eat a lot fo her food. Her favorite quote of mine, we're sitting in the caffeteria. We learned command forms and we asked how to say "take my tray in spanish" it's "Tome mi bandeja" the elders start leaving and she stands up and hollers "Toca' me!" translations - touch me! bahaha so funny in a cafeteria full of elders.

 

I really love them so much, I can't wait to hear from them and their mission adventures. They sit in the back corner and we have all of these awesome inside jokes that we smiel at across the room. Their favorite quote of mine is:

 

Hna Spiller "I was at a 6th grade reading level in kindergarton"

Hna TIppets "you were?"

Hna Spiller "probably"

 

I seriously love the people here so much. And my zone, and my teachers and everything. It's been a really great week. For RS on Sunday Sister WIxom, the primary general president spoke to us. It was awesome. She talked about loving hte people, and when we do we will be able to learn the language.

 

I'm super excited to be going to Peru. I saw a picture of the Peru MTC and they have like 3 soccer fields! It's gonna be amazing! It's weird to think I'm leavinfg the country. I'm experiencing a whole flood of emotions, it's great though. It's what the missions all about!

 

Oh! We had a sweet teaching appointment. He commited to baptism! It's so exciting. I can't wait to teach real people.

 

The church is true. I know it with all my heart. Everyone needs the gospel, the trick is finding out why. I hope everyone is doing awesome. I'm not really sure about my new address, but I think it's in my packet. Love you all!

 

Love

 

Hna Olsen

Peter, 1.24.11

hey

Isaac and simeon i got your book marks! thank you so much!

Mom i'm doing amazing! thank you so much for the letter and your thoughts its so fun to hear what your studying and doing. we have reacently taught about the story in matt 8 we started by watching finding faith in Christ where there is a depiction of when they lowered the man with the palsy through the roof and Jesus told him his sins were forgiven him and only after forgiving his sins he healed him physically. its so amazing. we used this in the lesson that Christ can see the real problems and addresses things that may not even seem relavent to us but He Knows us personally, and will do what will help us most in the long run. 

 

so friday morning we woke up to the sound of rain hitting the window in our room and it wasn't just a slight pitterpatering on the window it was pounding on it and woke us all up more than once. and the lightning here is amazing! it was lighting up most of our room. it was the most real storm that has come through since i've been here. when we went out at about 1:00 friday afternoon it had mostly cleared up and we began trackting and after a couple hours the rain struck again and we just had to accept it and go and get wet. we ended up going to a part members home and taught a lesson while we waited out the remainder of the cloud burst. such is the wether in florida.

 

the church is true! and its Great to be in the service of the Lord!

Love Elder Olsen

Peter, 1.18.11

Hello  

this past week has been Great! Elder Mcclatchy is awsome!  we started teaching a girl named Louran. Teaching her has been almost a perfect preach my gospel experience. it started by a member calling us and said they had an appointment schedueled and they asked us to come and teach her in thier. when we got their last wednesday night. Miss L. was there and ready to learn and the members family was all their to support her and help where they could to teach her about the importance of the gospel. she has lots to overcome but she has felt some of the joy that can come from the gospel its awsome! we went over again last night and watched Finding Faith in Christ and committed her to be baptised on february 5 and she accepted and knew that it was the right thing to do. she is amazing! she has recognized the spirit and knows she wants it. we are excited to continue teaching her. after the lesson last night she called us just because she was so excited/happy and needed to talk to someone. it was an awsome experinece talking to her.  The joy that she felt was amazing she wouldn't let anything get her down. we are also teaching the W family.  bro W is looking for truth and is constantly studing and learning more. he started reading the Book of Mormon about three weeks ago and has already read about half of it.

on friday i got your package you sent with the marcotts. they sounded great! i was expecting to get the slippers but the cookies and bread was a suprise to me. the bread was amazing it was good to eat the good homemade bread again. thank you so much! the work is great it just keeps getting better and better.  the church is true and its a blessing to be able to share it

 love

elder olsen

Emily 1.18.11

Hola mi familia!

Good morning! Can you believe it's already P day again. I apologize for my last letter. There's kind of a lot of pressure in this whole thirty min deal before it kicks you off the computer. I have no idea what I even wrote you about. Hopefully some of it made sense!

Dane, how you doin?? Your surgery went good, right? What else? Are you being smart with your leg, or are you going  crazy and forgetting that you had surgery a week ago? How/s school? When do you think you'll get to go snowboarding again? Be smart, K? How's being the oldest, you rockin the house :) How are the dinner dishes at night? :) Love ya!

How is the piano? You just have one more lesson right? Are you both learning lots? I'm excited to hear you play, With practicing every day I'm sure you'll be masters by the time I get back! I've played the piano both weeks in sacrament meeting. Every week the district that is leaving does the little musical number. Last minute on Sunday a district who is hoping to leave soon, all depending on Visas, asked if I could play a few hymns. It went good I think. Hna ADams who is in our zone asked me to play "for our day" for Sacrament this week. I've enjoyed playing, its a good break :)

Oh, before I forget, I could really use a few more pairs of exercise socks. We get up every morning at 6am for a sisters exercise class. We do step aerobics, pilates, yoga, stretching and toning, all sorts of stuff. It's really fun, I enjoy it. But we still have gym every day, which means I could easily go through about 12 pairs of socks a week. Anyhow, a few more pairs would be nice. Gym is always really fun. The Hnas in my district made up this wicked game of jump rope four square. B asically its four square while your jumping rope. It's pretty intense :) Isaac, Sim and Debbie, can you jump rope? My district leader Elder Adams has a brother whose nine and he jumped 50 I think. Pretty awesome! :) Oh, I also think that my tan skirt is to short. I've worn it but it's so close to borderline that it makes me uncomfortable. It would be really awesome if you could send me another one, my Branch Presidency's wives said they could hem it up a little for me. If not, I'll be ok. Whatever :) It's a size medium, tan from sister missionary mall. You know that brown skirt we finally found? Well it definitely changes colors, pretty sure it was olive green last time I wore it :)

Mom, have you chosen a word to focus your year on? Those all sounded like good ideas. It's cool thought to do, let me know how it goes. Sounds like you're doing a lot of good things. We study three hours or more a day, but I swear it's never enough. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of studying that I should be doing. I have yet to even start studying lesson two, we'll be teaching that this weekend. I figure as long as I am making sure I am using every minute of my time the Lord can bless me. But I can;'t waste a single minute! There is so much to learn.

Guess what?! Last week for Tues night devotional Elder Holland came and spoke to us! We got a new MTC Presidency this week, so we knew it was going to be someone awesome. Me and Hna Maxwell decided that we'd sing in the choir. Mostly because then we wouldn't have to worry about saving our seats. It was an absolutely amazing fireside. He taught me so much. He talked about how we have to be good missionaries, we have to have the gospel written on our hearts because every investigator is going to need something different. He told us the three things that missionaries don't do very well - planning, studying, and teaching for commitment. It made me want to be so much better, to work so much harder, and to give so much more. He told us that we are the hope of Israel, and we have to be better missionaries than he was. That's a lot to raise to. We sang "because I have been given much" for the closing song, and I may have cried... a lot. It's true I have been given so much, I've been given the gospel. I am so blessed. After the fireside we had a district meeting where we all shared our testimonies on what we had learned. It was powerful. Elder Almquist talked about how important it is that we focus, it's for our converts. He was balling. It was really powerful. All of the testimonies were amazing. Every missionary in my district inspires me. It's awesome.

SO... we got our travel itinerary! We are to report to the MTC travel office at 3am on Jan 26. We fly to Texas, then maybe FL? Then to Peru. It's pretty exciting, but I've been told that getting our travel plans doesn't guarentee that we will get to go. They said we may not find out for sure until Monday or Tuesday next week. It's crazy not knowing. If anything changes apparently we get a five min phone call, so I may be calling you sometime next week to let you know what's going on, as soon as I do. :)

Thanks so much for sending me all of the missionary cousin letters. I really love hearing about everything. Sounds like Whitney is having such an awesome adventure. I loved how she said, it's not far, just like an hour and a half walk. ha I can't imagine what far is.

I hadn't seen Fale since the first day I got there, but I found out on Sunday that we eat at the same time all day! My zone all eats lunch together, and there we were eating when I looked up and saw him! I yelled Elder Pili! and jumped up and ran over to him. It was pretty hard not to give him a big hug. We talked for a bit and we shook hands. I went and sat back down after and apparently my whole zone was watching to make sure I was being good. It's so funny how careful we all are to not even touch each other. It makes me laugh. We also have the temple walk on Sundays at the same time so we took a picture! There's not a way to send pictures via email here, but I printed some off to send to you.

Our teachers are amazing. They inspire me and push me to be so much better. The other day Hno Arnell had us read about the times that the resurrected Lord visited his apostles, and taught them. He asked to think about what it would be like to experience that and imagine how we would act and what we would do. Then he told us that our experience in the MTC is the closest we will have to that experience. We are getting our last lessons, being taught the last things before we headed out into the world. I better make sure I"m working hard.

Hna Barker also told us an awesome story, but I don't have time to explain it. Basically the result of that is our entire district is fasting today to know how we can cleanse ourselves, and become the powerful, worthy missionaries we need to be. Maybe I'll send you a copy of the story.

Gym time is awesome! Every Friday nght we have gym just before bed, so we always play "friday night volleyball" it's super fun!

We get to teach and be taught a whole ton here. Yesterday I was being taught and Hna SPiller was telling me about all the prophets. She said Adam and how he was the firs tman on earth, Noah and the ark. then she said and Moses, and I expected her to say something like "he parted the red sea" but she said "he saved the children" what?! I guess we really thought they were kids that he saved. ha so funny we laughed a lot.

Well I'm pretty much out of time. Oh! I would really like to write Jarle, I've been thinkin about him a lot. Do you think you could get me his addres to? and... Hna Tippets ahs a blog if you want to read about her side of tehs tory. We're pretty much all together all the time. Her address is:http://www.sistertippets.blogspot.com/ Love ya!

Love

Hna Olsen

Emily 1.11.11

I was typing a quick email to Emily and before I could send it her letter arrived.  I'm going to have be be quicker next time.
 Si Se puede!

Translation - it can be done! OR somethin like that :) Hola mi familia!

 

I get to write you! I don't even know what to tell you, there's so much to tell! THe MTC is awesome. YOu know how peter said it was the most zion-like place he'd ever experienced, I understand that now. We are all of one heart and one mind as we are trying to learn and understand the gospel and prepare to teach. There isn't competetion here we all just want everyone to succeed. It's really neat to live this way. The days are super super long. But getting faster every day :) They keep you extremely busy. After I got my room keys we dropped off my luggage and sister lathem said that I needed scriptures, note taking supplies and Preach my gospel. So i grabbed it all and we went to get my tag and stuff, then we grabbed my books, then went straight to class. I walked in and my teacher immediately started speaking to me in Spanish! Ha ha not overwhelming at all. :) We went went went like crazy busy missionaries till nine and then finally got to go back  to our room and unpack. The zone leaders did their little meetings with us on Wed and Thursday and it was cool to kind of get an idea of what Peter got to do for a few weeks while he was here. My friend Scrumptiouys (sister leavitt) had the same meal time as me so I got to see her all the time. She makes me so happy! She actually left Monday morning, I feel really lucky that I got to see her a few times. I have also run into Jillann Mackey a few times, one girl that I had a class with last semester, and I finally found Hna Barton on Sunday during relief society! It made me so happy! I see Shandi a lot, we live in the same building and have class on the same floor, so that's way fun. It is so so so great to see people I know here. Their everywhere! I didn't find Elder Kaden Hill until Friday, and yesterday in the bookstore I ran into Tyler Thomas! He lived with the Jacksons for awhile. He said he almost ran up and gave me a big hug, then remembered he was an elder! haha it is so weird adjusting to this sister/elder relationship. We know we're not supposed to touch, like at all but it's weird. Inclose spaces we just have to keep our hands all to ourself, or if i ever run into people (like literally, and it actully happen more often then you think) I always want to grab their arm and apologize, but I can't. It's just funny how much we have to try to avoid touching anyone. haha It's good though.

 

Our teacher had a little talk with our district yesterday about elder/sister relationships. She says that all the Hna's are cactuses and their spikey so don't touch them! But one of the elders piped up and said can our Hna's be desert roses, cause their pretty but their still thorny, and the bud is the hand that we can shake, not hold. BHaha everything is super funny to us. I don't know if it's because we are all tired, or if we just don't have much to laugh at or what, but we laugh at everything. It's so much fun. 

 

My companion is Hna Maxwell and she's awesome!  I really love her. She is amazing at the language. She understands like, everything, so she helps me alot. Her grandpa was Elder Neal A Maxwell, crazy right? She has 8 kids in her family, and she is just amazing. She seems to be doing ok homesickness wise, but I can't tell. I'm trying to be here and open if she ever needs to talk. She knows a whole ton more about our mission than i do. SInce being here I've met a lot of missionaries that haven't gone to the Peru MTC when they were supposed to because of Visas. I guess their pretty slow, so I don't know when I'll be leaving. I'm still scheduled for Jan 26, but they said it can change even after i receive my travel plans. So I really have no idea how long I'm going to be here. But whatever is good. I really really love my district. the elders keep us laughing and the Hnas are so awesome. Hnas tippets and spiller are both in my district and we room together and it's so great. They are amazing sisters and I learn so much from them everyday. Everyone is really happy here, it's awesome! We have three sets of elders in our district elders adams, garland, dickinson, moser, almquist, and manuirriaggi (or something like that, we call him elder manu). Our teachers are great! I'm sure you've heard but our girl teacher is hna Barker, and Natalie was her trainer. Crazy right?! So she likes me a lot :) Our brother teacher is super amazing, Hermano Arnell. He has the funniest facial expressions, he reminds me of John Fife and it makes me happy. He also has a lot of patience so that is so nice.

 

Sundays here in the MTC are amazing. We get to watch music and the spoken word (hna Maxwell's mom is in the mo-tab, way cool!), then they bring in a speaker, this week it was a seventies wife, Cathy Clayton. I learned  a lot from her. Especially about making my companion a co-hero in this story that I'm writing. it was so so so so good. I can't even explain it. We also had Sacrament meeting with our zone, then a fireside Sunday night. It was awesome. The guy who spoke asked all the missionaries that were converts within the last two years to stand and had some of them share their stories. It was amazing. the spirit was super strong. Since I've been here it seems like the biggest thing I've learned is how important it is to love the investigators, to take the time to get to know them, and just to help them feel Christ's love. So so so good. The spirit is amazing here. It's always strong. Hna Maxwell and I taught our teacher yesterday, it was a neat experience. Our teacher only spoke spanish and I understood the gist of it! But I feel like we were guided by the spirit and it was amazing.

 

I feel like I have already experienced the gift of tongues. It still takes a lot of work and I don't know very much yet, but I am learning so fast, I can tell it's coming and that the Lord is helping me.

 

I would really like some addresses! My efy girl Destiny, and my oakcrest girl Melissa, their letters are in a notebook in my crate by my desk. If you could give me those that would be amazing. Thank you so much for the dear elders. that really is the best way to do it here. and I really do love letters... so keep em comin :) I hope that everything is going awesome! I everyday I wake up and wonder if I have a new neice yet, anything?

 

I'm so glad that thing seem to be going so well at home. I knew dane would an awesome big brother as he takes over the role of being the eldest! Did Peter write this week? I would love to get a letter from him! I may need his address, actually i may have put it in my book, no se. I loved Neils letter. He inspires me. 

 

Well the church is true. THe Lord helps me every day. I am so grateful to be serving a mission. It's so funny we always go hna guess what?! We're missionaries! Its super happy. Well twenty seconds. I love you all! Have a good week! 

 

Love

 

Hna Olsen           

Pete, 1.10.11

hey famila

This week has been great! learned some spanish but still don't understand a whole lot gues what i got a new campanion his name is elder Mcclachy he is from utah also. he is great! he speaks portugues he was transfered her from Brazil after serving their for 10 months. we are both learning and growing. He will probably be my companion for a while. it really is amazing how the people are prepared to hear the gospel. its amazing! One thing that we run into frequently is people who know religion is important and have studied and found many truths and are very knowledgeble but still don't see the importance of the message we share. the scripture that says  when they are learned they think they are wise and harken not to the councils of God. this scripture is a great example of how some people are here, they are very knowlageble but they listen all to often with their head and their knowledge and ignore their heart. we are teaching a family of four now that have been well prepared for the message. we will be visiting them on tuesday and teaching the plan of salvation i'm really excited. the church is true! and i have realized how we really can find happiness by living the precepts of the gospel.

   love

        Elder Olsen

 

Wow, Emily, 1.5.11

Mi Familia!

Guess what?!  I'm a missionary!  I have felt many tender mercies today.  As I got to my  building the first person I saw was one of my favorite girls from Utah State!  It made me super happy!  Then my host was Amanda Lathem (She's the girl who got set apart just before Peter).  Then as I was getting my keys Shandi was there and she gave me a great big hug! So great!  Standing in line to get my tag the elder behind me is going to my same mission!

My companion is Sister Maxwell.  I already love her so much!  She is a sweetheart.  We already get along awesomely.  She's from Salt Lake, right by Hogle Zoo.  We're going to the same mission!  She seems pretty nervous to be going to Bolivia.  Hopefully I'll just be able to get her excited.  Her Spanish seems great.  I don't know how I'll be able to help her.

I got to wear a bright orange dot that shows I'm a brand new missionary, as if my absolutely lost and confused face isn't enough :)  We've already had lots of great lesson/discussions.  We even practiced teaching tonight.  You really do just jump right in!  I didn't even unpack till 9pm tonight!  Crazy!

Well 10:30, lights out!  Love ya!  The church is true!

Love,
Hemana! Emily Olsen

PS  I've also seen Scrumptious, Fale, Spencer Wyatt, and a boy from the Utah Sate ward.  This is such a fun place to be!  Can't wait till I find Steph!

I got this letter in the mailbox today.  Just what I needed.  It seems like forever since we dropped her off and I was very anxious to hear from her.  I am grateful that most of her letters will be email so that I can  copy and paste.  She does like to use exclamation points and I'm not as good with that.   The envelope says P-day is Tuesday so I will be watching for more information then.

Hermana Olsen now official

My heart is full today.  Emily left to serve a mission today.  She will teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 18 months in Bolivia.  She has had so many experiences and trials and triumphants that have prepared her to be a great missionary and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. 


She spoke in church on Dec. 26.  Her assigned topic was the Atonement.  She chose to focus on Grace, the enabling power of the Atonement.  I had a dear friend share that her sons had been visiting that day and were touched by the spirit.  One of them is ready to have the missionaries come and teach him.  Her spirit of enthusiasm and righteous living is contagious.  As she was set apart through priesthood authority last night she was promised blessings of the gift of tongues, health, wisdom, and peace. 


Today we began as usual with our family devotional but we sang a few more songs than usual.  We sang Build an Ark, Called to Serve, and I Will Follow God's Plan.  It was an interesting mix but just right for us.  


I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's church restored to the earth.  I know that as our young people go out into the world to share the gospel, they are building His kingdom on earth, bringing joy and direction to people's lives, and growing themselves.  I know that God watches over these special missionaries and will bring them back even better than when they left.  Now the adventure begins and we will continue to live the plan of happiness because Christ atoned for each of us and showed us the way.  I love my Savior, my family, my life.

Pete's advice about the MTC

I was just finishing a few things on the computer and thought I should check my new missionary email! I found a lovely surprise from Peter. I really appreciated everything he said. He is so amazing. I really do look up to him. Knowing he's done it before me, i know I'll be able to turn to him for advice. I'm so grateful he's my brother and that we get to serve missions together.

Emily

hey email me before you leave for the Mtc about your feelings and i will try and get back to you one way or another. once you get into the mtc you don't have alot of time to think about writing letters so it would be great to hear from you before you get in there and get all rushed. remember to jump right into everything and get involved that is one thing i didn't do very well and wish that i had more because it is by trial that we learn its how God teaches us and its how we learn how to become teachers in the mtc. they also teach by lots of role play take it seriously it is the way the lord prepares his missionaries. one last thing Take lots of notes on everything you will use them later if not in the mtc in the mission field. i love you and know the church is true and am excited to hear about your experiences while coming even closer to the lord. 100% obediance is huge and it is hard even in the mtc. you are helping with gods plan to bring to pass the imortality and eternal life of man

the church is true

elder olsen

1.3.11

hello everyone!

  the holidays sounded great with all the parties family time. they were great here but its been very differnent here new years was great to start off with new years day we held a baptisimal service for a family of three a single mom and two of her sons, they were very excited and thought it was a great way to start off a new year. by making those covenants, it was a new years reselution for them to remember Jesus Christ and to always remember him they have been a great family to be able to teach they have just accepted everything we taught and made the neccissary changes to be baptized in Christs church. i admire them for being able to accept everything we teach and being willing to change it really does amaze me. God does prepare people to recieve the gospel and will help them to know when they hear it to know of its truth.

i have been amazed lately on how easy it is to talk about religion with everyone and how people are open to talking about God. before i came i thought it would be hard to just strike up a conversation about religion. but i have reallized how easy it is and wish i did it more before i came because its not sacary. the worst thing they can do is turn you down and you can go talk to someone else.

 

the church is true and this is the work of God!

 

love

  elder Olsen

 

ps it would be great if you could send me my retainer i think it was on my head board before i left.