Peter, 7.25.11

Hello,

thanks for sending the pictures. you have all changed so much! its crazy! how is grandma and Grandpa doing in nauvoo? they look like they're doing great!  I'm sure Isaac is excited to be up on the ranch. I'm glad danes out of the hospital, he has and will continue to be in my prayers. He is so strong. i love and admire him he has been through so much and is still so patiant through it all.

this week we tracked into a family, R and N, and we invited them to a ward party and they came! enjoyed it and we invited them to church and they came and enjoyed it too, we are going to go and teach them the about the restoration. we have high hopes for them.

the ward takes great care of us here. we were given some peaches from one of the members on wednesday and on saturday we were given ice cream, i'm going to be HUGE after serving in this ward, maybe? we'll see. we have had lots of support. it is really amazing that there are so many people willing to help us out.

the church is true! and simple! Jesus Christ is our savior, and He stands at the head of this church.

love you all

Elder Olsen

Emily alligator skins 7.25.11

Guess what?! I finally bought me some scripture cases, and they`re made out alligator skins! Sweet huh? I`m sending a picture, hopefully it works. I^m really happy about them.

Happy Pioneer Day! Its crazy, I thought about the pioneers a lot yesterday, but no one here even knew it was pioneer day. I guess its more of a Utah holiday, then anything, but its an awesome time to be able to remember what they did, their example, and to learn from their faith.

Mom, I am constantly wondering the same thing. I have got to increase my faith. I am constantly wondering how, what do I need to change. I know that I need stronger faith but, how? Its rough stuff. It talks about how we can increase our faith in True to the faith. There`s so much to learn!

Dane! I love yoU! Take care of yourself, be of good cheer, maybe the Lord hasn`t healed your leg, but He will "make your burdens lighter" like he did for the people of Alma. Keep on keepin on, learn from the experiences that teh Lord blesses us with, and I know you`ll look back when you`re on your mission and be able to share how you testimony grew and was strengthened during this time. Trust in the Lord. WHere are you going for EFY?! I`m slightly jealous, I wanna go!

This week has been awesome, and it all started from when I wrote you all last time! Last Monday we went down town to send letters and print pictures. In the taxi on the way back the taxi driver was a member, better super inactive. He said that he was going to go on a mission, he had a call and everything, but he was in a car accident and couldn`t leave when he was going to, and then he just never went back to church. Hna patzi told me to share my experience - I think she meant when I broke my and couldn`t leave on a mission - but I thought of my car accident and shared my experience with that. My testimony of the atonement everything. It was pretty amazing. As I began to share we were stopped at a red light. I was sitting in back but he looked at me in his rearview mirror, and as I talked the spirit just filled the taxi. A lot of times I talk and the people don`t really understand me, but when I shared my testimony in the taxi, he understood every single word. I could see it in his eyes. The spirit was incredibly strong. He promised us that he was going to go to church this Sunday. It just amazes me how the Lord puts us where He needs us to be and we are able to help in the work. We could`ve taken any taxi home, but this man that needed to be reminded of the Savior and His love picked us up. It was an awesome experience.

Monday night we had a family home Evening wtih an inactive family. Its really sad, they`re sealed in the temple, the husband is an RM, and now they`re are super inactive. We read in Alma 5, where it asks us if we are ready to meet our Savior, and the dad began to explain everything. Apparantly he didn`t approve of something that the leaders had done stopped going to church. They kept reading their scriptures and saying their prayers, they even had their FHEs but little by little they stopped doing everything. When we asked them, they said they weren`t reading, praying, NOTHING. Crazy. I felt the spirit really strong and was really direct with them. I basically told asked them if they saw where they were headed. And I don`t even remember when else. But it was an amazing experience. They didn`t come to church yesterday, but we have another FHE witht hem tonight.

ALso this week, another amazing experience! There is this family that lives in our ward, but  assist the other ward in the same church. They say its because they have more friends there. The dad isn`t a member (yet:)) and we have been trying to get an appointment withthem since the first week were here. We finally had onethsi Friday,a nd it was awesome. Recently the mom received her endowment (I don`t know how she has a recommend, if she is inactive in her ward, but oh well) and we talked about the blessings of the temple. But from the time that the opening prayer was said the spirit just filled their house. F. (the dad) said he still had some doubts (the other missionaries had taught him everything), but he promised that he would pray. We saw him Saturday and asked how it went. He said that the  moment he began to pray he just began to sweat - and that it was really hard. It reminded me of Joseph Smith`s experience. But he said that he felt good after. When we asked if he believed it was the spirit he just smiled and nodded. We didn`t have much time to talk, but we have another FHE with them tonight too. So exciting! He knows its true. Now hes just gotta get baptized and receive the priesthood, and I think it will be through him that his family is going to be strengthened, and be able to assist the ward where they`re blessings are waiting. Awesome!

Yesterday we were doing missionary contacts when we met these two old ladies and invited them to come to church. The smiled and thanked us and then said they wouldn`t be coming to church because they`re nuns!
Haha I can now mark "invite nuns to come to church with us" off my bucket list! haha

Times up already. This week has been amazing. I don`t know what changed, but I have felt the spirit so much this week, and I truly feel guided and directed. It is so awesome to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I love you all lots nad lots!

Hermana Olsen

Peter 7.18.11

Hello

sounds like things life is just getting faster and faster, i'm glad Navuoo was fun. and you were able to travel back home safely. and Julie had her baby! sweet! i don't think i knew she was pregnat till last week. but i'm glad it all went smothly .  Your lesson sounds like it also went well, one thing i have decieded to work on is teaching. and Elder Thomas is going to be a great help to me.

Elder Thomas is from Mont Pilliar(?)  somewhere in idaho, close to bear lake. He is the youngest of 5 boys who all served missions. He played baseball for the College of Eastern Utah in Price. He has been out for about 13 months so just over the hump. we live in an apartment with the closest elders, the ones we share a car with, living about 12 miles away.  In this area we have the car every other week, it's really different we bike for a week and build up our muscles and get used to biking and then we drive for a week and lose everything we just built up. so that makes it fun each week. We met with M. this week and he his having a hard time recognizing how the gospel can affect him, and so he dosen't want to put very much into keeping committments. we will hopefully be able to help him progress but if he dosen't soon we'll most likley drop him. We wern't able to meet with L or K (the rs pres neighbor) so their isn't alot to say about them. we will hopefully be able to see them soon. You asked how haitian sounds, its kinda like french. it might even be a dialect of french.

Dane will be in my prayers, i know that he can be heald. the power of the Priesthood is real! and truly a blessing to have it in our lives.

Love you all

Elder Olsen

 

Ps dane i'd like to be updated about what you and dad decied to do with the truck. 

Becoming Bread! Emily 7.18.11

Hey fam! I love you so much! It sounds like Nauvoo was amazing, of
course! I sure love that place, the history of the church is so
awesome, there is so much to learn. Tell Julie congratulations! I am
so happy that everything went well, and I`m excited to meet Eden. And
I approve the name. :)

Dane Nathen Olsen! Be careful, be smart, and always listen to the
spirit. I know its super hard to not be able to do everything that you
want to, but its better to miss a few things now, then to have it last
longer or be worse then it should. Remember that you have been blessed
with the Holy Ghost, and one of His characteristics is to guide you.
Really though Dane, I`m proud of you. You really do inspire me with
your awesome attitude about everything. I understand at least a little
how hard it is to not be able to play like we want too, but always
trust in the Lord, and remember that everything we experience is for
our good. Heavenly Father is preparing you for the marvelous work and
wonder that you`re gonna do with your life. Hurry up and learn what
you`re supposed to from this trial of your leg so that you can heal!

Speaking of broken legs, I was telling some investigators about our
experiences with broken legs yesterday. We taught an awesome family
yesterday. The dad is a member, INACTIVO, he hasn`t gone to church for
years. But he broke his leg really bad about 8 months ago and is still
using crutches. And he says it`ll be another year before he should be
healed. But from what I can see he has this awesome attitude about it
all. His wife is really awesome, and was explaining some of her
beliefs about how the church of Jesus Christ should be, and it fit
everything that the Church of Jesus Christ is. Way awesome. They`re
gonna come with us to a "noche de hermanamiento" I think the
translation is a night of fellowshipping? But an activity in the
church this week, and we`re excited. The hard thing is that she works
all day every day because her husband can`t and we can only teach them
Sundays.

We are also teaching this older couple, O y R. They`re are awesome, have a strong testimony of the importance of family, which is really neat to see, because not very many people believe in the family unity, marriage, or anything. We`ve tried to give them a baptismal date several times and they don`t understand yet why its important to be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ. Hopefully we can help them to understand better everything, and it`ll be good :)

A, an older investigator came to church yesterday! And she said
she really liked it! Our awesome new Bishop came up and met her and
talked to her, our relief society president jumped in, and an awesome
older sister also jumped in and met her, and told she had to come
again next week. The ward is growing and bettering so much and it
makes me so happy. A is great, the trick is being able to teach
her husband.

We also had a really awesome experience this week on Monday night. We
are teaching another older lady, but she can never come to church
because she is sick, and can`t walk very well or sit for very long.
She was going to come to a Family HOme Evening with us Monday night,
but didn`t feel up to it. We taught her about the priesthood, and
Brother Mendez, the 2nd counselor of the bishopric came and gave her a
blessing. It was awesome. My favorite part was that he said that she
would be the means that her family would come into the gospel. We
taught her son, and a few of her grandchildren, and we`re going to
keep working with them.

Hermana Patzi and I also taught a short fun lesson last Wednesday for
the ward activity. We taught them to become bread! The topic was
personal conversion. Every ingredient represented something like
scripture study, prayer, faith, baptism, the kneading was enduring to
the end. We made awesome chef hats and wore aprons, the members loved
it. I was gonna send a picture but my camera died :/. Sorry! But it
was really fun.

Well, time to go already. Things are great hear in Bolivia. I am
learning lots. Hermana Merrell got transferred, and my new roommate is
Hermana Castro from Peru. She is an awesome missionary and I am
excited to learn lots from her.

I love you all. Thanks for your support and prayers. I`ll definitely
keep praying for you. I had a feeling that I should pray for Dane this
week. I know that Heavenly Father is taking care of you all. Keep
living the gospel, its the secret to neverending happiness. Mosiah 2
:41., The church is true!

Love,

Hermana Olsen

Emily, 7.11.11, Noche Blanca

Before i forget, dad I would love to use the example of the cups, and
I was able to open it, but all of the titles for the cups weren`t
there. Only the instructions. MAybe you could send it to me snail
mail? or something. I think it could help a lot of my investigators.
ITs super important to understand the apostasy, so that they
understand that this is the only true church. Thanks!

Sounds like Nauvoo has been awesome! I really did love it when we
went. There is definitely so much to learn from Church History. ITs
amazing the example of other people. I`m glad you made it through the
trek, sounds great. If I remember correctly, I didn`t help much
anyway, because my leg was still.. healing. Its so crazy to think that
a year ago I couldn`t run, and now I walk all day long everyday, and
everythings good. My health is such a blessing. I`m so grateful. THats
great that Dane is healing, I hope dad is too.

It warmed up again this week, its super crazy the weather here. They
say its gonna get cold again, but who knows? He How`d you know us
Hermanas have been thinking about a future spouses this week? Weird!
:) Mom, thanks for sharing your dream! haha i promise i`ll tell you if
anyone proposes through a letter. So far most of my letters are from
you, so don`t worry to much! But Sarah Grass, my roommates wrote me
this week and it was SO good to hear from her! Sounds like she`s doing
great.

Grandpa thats so awesome you took someone through the veil in Spanish!
When I was in Peru I had to go through in Spanish, and it was some
rough stuff, but the gift of tongues is real. I`m super proud of you,
and super excited to receive a letter!

Speaking of the gift of tongues, I witnessed one of the neatest things
I`ve ever seen this Saturday. This Saturday was our last Saturday
before transfers, and Elder Hansen and Elder Sevilla (our zone
leaders) decided to have a "noche blanca" where all of the baptisms of
the zone come to one church and are all baptized together. Im happy to
tell you that 14 of your Bolivean brothers and sisters entered in the
waters of baptism this Saturday. SO NEAT. Hermana Patzi and I didn`t
have anyone... (we`re looking, praying, and working, and being
obedient to be sure that we`re worthy of all the blessings we so
desperately need), but when we entered the chapel with everyone, the
feeling was amazing. I got to talk to a woman that was going to be
baptized and she was SO excited. She was practically glowing, and it
was so neat to see. Hermana Merrell and Elder Haws sang ´sweet hour of
prayer´ and I had the privilege of accompanying them, and it was
awesome. The spirit was super strong, and wow, I can`t even explain
it, but the coolest thing was the Elder Rojas convert.

Theres this missionary in our mission that is deaf, he lives here, but
has a nametag and joins us for activities and I think he goes with the
elders to their lessons. His name is Elder Rojas, and on saturday he
baptized his friend, that is also deaf. He taught him and everything.
But like I said before, the gift of tongues is so real. Elder Rojas
was able to say the prayer and baptize his friend. He spoke, and we
understood him. I can`t explain how special it was. One of the times
in my life that I have felt the spirit the strongest. WHen is friend
came up out of the water, he was glowing... it was absolutely amazing.

I also learned something amazing this week. Diligence is amazing.
Every day we set goals of how many lessons we`re gonna teach, how many
new investigators we`re gonna find, how many contacts we`re gonna do,
and a few other things. The truth is that very few times have my
companion and I actually achieved all of our goals, but Tuesday
morning I prayed, a lot, that we`d be able to reach them. We left on
time, and we walked with a purpose. During lunch we talked about what
we still needed to do, and we were both filled with this, "we gotta go
we gotta go, there`s so much work to do!" feeling. We left lunch early
and worked really hard all day. Practically running from every
appointment. ANd you know what? Not only did we reach all of our
goals, we exceeded them! and It felt SO good. There`s a promise in
Preach My Gospel that if you are diligent you won`t be homesick,
you`ll be happy, you`ll have the spirit, and you`ll find success.
We`ve been working on having shorter lessons, and our last one was 15
minutes long. And it was the best lesson of the day. I felt the
spirit, and they did too. You could see it in their eyes. It is so
important to be diligent. To work hard every single day. Its also
pretty hard to have. The natural man is so strong. I also have a
testimony of prayer. Its real, and powerful.

Recently we started teaching the A`s. A young couple with one
little super cute daughter. The dad, I, is an artisan (is that a
word?) he makes little Deer JOhn tractors, for decoration I think. He
wanted me to ask you all if theres a company or something that he
could sell them too in the United States. Hes just starting up his
business, and is looking for buyers. I couldn`t think of anything that
he could do, but he wanted me to ask you all. If you have any ideas,
let me know! thanks!

This week is transfers already! I can hardly believe it! I think
Hermana Patzi and I hare going to stay in Braniff. Its almost a
guarantee that Hermana Merrell is gonna be transferred, I hope not. It
has been such a huge blessing in my life to have her as a roommate.
Shes super spunky, full of energy, and the spirit, and she gives me
pep talks right when I need them. Its been an honor to get to know
her.

Well, I love you all so much. I`m glad you`re safe. Thanks for your
prayers and support. Know that I think about you everyday. Our lesson
yesterday in Relief societ was about the family, and just feel so
lucky, and blessed, to be a part of this family. The church is true,
the gospel changes lives, the power of the priesthood is real. Thanks
again.

Love ya lots!

Hermana Olsen

Peter, 7.11.11

hey

Nauvoo sounds like so much fun! the sporit is so strong and you can feel the Joy that they felt while being thier. Do you have pics from the handcart treck? i'd love to see them. i got my suit thanks so much for sending it. i've had it drycleaned and i'll need to have it altered some. the sleaves are a little short.  i might be growing!? i'll have to mesure. 

so thiswhole transfer we have been strugling to meet our goals. and this week we met or exceeded our goals to teach lessons. God definatly is blessing us! we had only been teaching about 5 lessons a week and this last week we taught 15. we noticed that when we put more into our planing seccions we recieved so much more. 

we taught L and M this week and extended the baptismal invitation and they both said that they had already been baptized. they haven't recieved a spiritual witness. it is going to be our goal to help them feel the spirit. so that it can confirm what we have been teaching them. 

so trasfers are here elder stratford is getting transfered and i'm staying here in sanford. and elder Thomas is going to be my new companion. i'm excited to work with him. he will be coming tuesday. I'll get you more details next week. this church is true! Jesus Christ is our savior!  He LIVES! and he wants us to turn to Him for help. His church has been restored through a modernday prophet. and he leads us today!

Love you all

 Elder Olsen

ps it would be great if you could pray for L and M.   

Peter paragraph 7/5/11

Hello,

Happy late birthday Debbie! wow i didn't know you were going to nauvoo that is so cool. i hope its fun. say hi to grandma and grandpa for me.

this week we began teaching the RS presidents neighbor, she is pretty cool. we don't have a return appointment as of yet but she said she would read from the book of mormon. we hope all goes well with her. and last night we began teaching a recent converts father, T, he is really neat! he has been catholic and he just began coming to church with his son two weeks ago. we are going to teach him again on friday we are excited.

my testimony has grown so much of member missionary work, when we go tracting its cold contacting and definatly can be effective but its so much better when someones friend can introduce them to the church and they can have a friend and fellowshipper before we begin teaching. the ward is really supportive of missinary work its great!

Transfers are next week. i think i may be getting a new companion but we'll see.

the church is true! Joseph smith saw God the father and Jesus christ and eventually called him the be the prophet of this dispensation. so that we can knoe how to come unto Christ.

Love you

Elder olsen

ps i haven't gotten a letter from Niel yet

Emily's epistle, 7.4.11

I sent pictures of Peter's truck after Dane rolled it to Peter and Emily.  Emily had not yet received the letter explaining that Dane was fine only the picture.  Hopefully she is all informed now.

Happy Birthday Debbie Lou! I can`t believe you`re already five years
old! Make sure you enjoy all the fireworks for your birthday! Not
gonna lie, i`m a little shook up with those pictures. I`ll try to
write everything that I wanted...

Dane, hows the legs? Did you have to use crutches again, or did you
just jump into everything. Make sure you`re careful. Thanks for your
example of your awesome attitude. Keep on keepin on. Be CAREFUL!

Isaac, you`re play house looks awesome! How long did it take you to
build it? Did you do it all on your own? Maybe Debbie can help your
decorate it, and when I get home you can give me a tour, deal?

Thats so fun that you`re going to Nauvoo this week! Make sure you do
everything you possibly can! I really loved our trip to Nauvoo last
summer. It was an amazing experience for me, and I definitely want to
go  again someday. Are you gonna see in anything else, or just Nauvoo,
our grandparents, and stop at Mark and Jen`s? Is Amber gonna meet you
in Nauvoo? Has Julie had her baby yet? I haven`t received anything
from Neil yet, but it takes a couple weeks. Hopefully he`s written me!
I hope Kate sends that letter soon! I bet her wedding is gonna be so
cute! She super creative. Hopefully someone is there to take pictures
and send them to me! Thats so great that Lisa went through the temple.
I really do love the temple so much! Its amazing. Its definitely on my
to do list when i get home. One of the first things, I miss the temple
like crazy. Michigan! Thats awesome. Is it cold there?

It is SO cold here. Sometimes I think that my toes are gonna freeze
off! The worst part is that there is no heating here. ITs like you
can`t escape the cold. The houses here are awesome for the heat, open
and cool, but they stink when it comes to blocking out the cold. I put
on several pairs of socks, tights, like 8 shirts, and my jacket,
beanie, scarf, and gloves, and it fights it off pretty well. Tell you
what tho, I`m SO grateful that I`m not in a mission where its always
cold. I definitely couldn`t handle it. Its pretty hard to get out of
bed in the morning, and take a shower, and everythign when its cold.
And there are a lot less people in the streets to talk to, but they`re
in their house more, which is good for teaching. I prefer the heat,
but its all an adventure ;)

Oh, I was wondering if you could send me the talk that our quote comes
from. THe one thats above the front door about the angels. I`m pretty
sure its by Elder Holland, in an April conference, a few years ago.
Thanks so much!  (the quote was from Elder Holland's talk in October 2008 general conference.)

Things here in Bolivia are good. We had a Zone conference this week,
and it was awesome. President Calderòn is amazing. I learn so much
from him all the time. He has had so many neat experiences in his
life, and you know what? He`s a convert. He is so strong. I hope that
i can help someone like those missionaries helped him. We also watched
the talk by Elder HOlland that he gave in the MTC, WHitney talked
about it in one of her letters that i recently got, maybe its a few
months old, i`m not really sure. BUt its awesome. I think the New
Testament is really important to study. Are you all still studying the
new testament?

We found two families this week, and they`re awesome! One is an older
couple - R and A. They lived in the United States for a few
years, and it helped to have that connection. We taught them the
restoration and it was really neat. I think its one of the best
lessons I`ve had, the spirit was there, and it was more like a
conversation, then anything. It was awesome. Hermana Patzi and I are
teaching better together and its a good feeling. The only problem with
them is that they`re going on trips. R has a business trip in
ARgentina for two weeks, and A is going somewhere this Friday.
R took the Book of Mormon with him to read it on his trip, and
hopefully he`s doing it! We`re going to visit A tonight,
hopefully it all goes awesome. Shes really sweet.

We also found this other family, the Cue. N and F, and
their little boys J(10), C(7), and L(1). Weve only
taught them once, but they listened, and we prayed with them, and they
told us they were gonna come to church. We went to pick them up and
they had forgotten, but they said they would come next week. Our phone
hasn÷t been working the last little while, but if it does work, we÷re
gonna call them to remind them. We also have another appointment with
them this week. I really hope they can progress and experience the joy
that comes from living the gospel.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week. I really love that book. I
started again yesterday, and read JOseph Smiths testimony in the
beginning. ITs pretty crazy what responsability he had to protect the
plates. He had to be exactly obedient, and if he was the Lord had
promised him that the plates would be protected, but if he didn÷t do
everything that he possibly could, they would fall into the hands of
wicked men. What if he hadn÷t been obedient and done EVERYTHING that
he could have, where would be+  But, because he was exactly obedient,
we have the Book of Mormon todayª Amazingª

Well, have so much fun at with the BBQ, in the warm sunª Tell everyone
"hi" for me. Have an amazing trip to Nauvoo, drive carefully. We÷re
gonna eat pizza and hot chocolate for the 4th of July, should be great
:? Love ya all lots and lotsª

Love

Hermana OIsen