Peter 5.29.12

Hello!

i don't have much time this week. we have been seeing miracles. First one is that T accepted a date for June 23 and he came to sacrament meeting. We also were able to give E a blessing. We talked to her on the phone and she said she was sick, we offered her a blessing and she accepted.  She is great! We are excited to meet with her this week. We also were able to teach R M she is hatian, and has been in contact with missionaries before when she lived in miami. We gave her a French Book of Mormon and she has been reading it. we have an appointment with her tomorrow.

Mom i'm sure you will do great as a Laurel advisor. you are excited and have amazing insights.  the yw will love you! I hope you have fun at girls camp this week. i hope it doesn't rain too much on you.

pagent is starting later this year? why? is dad still the set director? hope all is well with you. you will be in my prayers along with emily and her knees.

I love you!

Have a great week!

Elder Olsen

Emily, 5.28.12

 Please pray for my knees.

Mom! I am so excited for you and your new calling! That is gonna be so much fun! and you are gonna help those girls so much in such a crazy fun time in their lives. Don`t worry about a thing, just be yourself, be happy, and enjoy it. God knows what He is doing, and He calls us where we can help the most, and where we can learn and grow the most. Who else is in Young Womens? My YWs leaders had a huge impact on my life, and i will always be so grateful for them and their example.

Umm... Hna Thorpe wrote me. Sounds like she is gonna go to USU and she wants to live with me - which is fine with me. She told me that there aren`t any apts left but there is a studio - but we would have to furnish it she says. I think i would prefer an apt. if at all possible. 


That is so crazy that whitney is home. But awesome. I got a letter from her this week. IT`ll be awesome to talk and share experiences.

So....my knees. A few weeks ago we went to a district meeting and i got off the bus and couldn`t walk. My knee hurt me a lot. We ended up heading to the doctor the next day and he ordered a CAT scan of my knees. Turns out i have a disease! haha yep thats what he told me. My knee caps are both heading for the outside of my leg. He said it is super common among women from having wider hips (i`m not sure what he was trying to say...), wearing skirts, walking a lot, and kneeling often. Sounds like a disease of a sister missionary. Its nothing
serious - he just told me i had to go to fisical therapy every day for ten days and we are gonna see how it goes. He also told me i am no longer allowed to kneel down, for awhile. haha I guess i have been praying to much. Mostly i just feel like an old lady who has bad knees. They don`t give me to many problems,. I just pray that they
hold out two more months! So, pray for my knees please!

This week we found a girl named Angelica. She is 19 and is super friendly! She lives in front of the institute. We taught her about the restoration and asked how she felt, and she said satisfied. She felt good and happy, and excepted a baptismal date for June 23. Her problem is going to church. She told us she was anxious to go - but turns out she visits home every weekend and well, its gonna be hard for her to put church first i think. But we are praying lots. Last night we went to visit her, and she hadnt gotten back yet, but we met her sister, Claribel (i know that sounds like a cow name in English, but its better in Spanish). We taught her really fast yesterday. she prayed and asked God if this was the true church. After she told us she felt like crying and had a really strong feeling in her heart. It was really special. We are gonna visit them both tomorrow. should be awesome!

We also got to help a sister make flowers for mothers day. It was a fun service. We are gonna head back to teach her this week we hope. Should be great.

Well. The church is true! I love being a missionary. I love you all. OH! I found a quote in my study of the ensign this morning. ITs by M Russell Ballard. He said "...the most important cause of our lifetime is our families. If we will devote ourselves to this cause, we will improve every other aspect of our lives" 

Hermana O

Peter, 5.21.12

Mother!

life seems to never slow down for you all. simeon looks great runnin' that machine! that is so cool! i'm sure he loved it!

this week the rainy season started. it rained 2 days this week! I love the rain! its usually warm rain but when the lighning comes out we have to go in. tuesday we were able to get to a less active families house and taught a lesson. they then gave us a ride home. wednesday  we were biking home to get out of the rain and more especially the lightning. while we rode one house stuck out more then the rest but we were wet and lightning was getting pretty close so we went home. once the storm subsided we rode back up the street that the 'house' was on and once again it stuck out and at that point i realized that we needed to stop. we did and nancy opened the door. she seemed to be really receptive as we were talking she said she saw us earlier and had been sick but went to work anyways, as we talked more she said she had recently had an uncle die in Puerto Rico and that she takes care of her aged mother and blind brother. she was really weighed down we prayed with her at her door the spirit was definatly there. she gladly agreed to set up a return appointment. we have high hopes for her!
i am so greatful that God gives us second chances! God is Directing his work and i'm realizing it more and more!

well i've got to go.

I love you

Elder Olsen

Emily, 5.21.12 Almost Winter

Hola mi familia!
Thats crazy, everyone is getting married! Hna Thorpe wrote one of the sisters here, and she said she feels like everyone is married and she has fallen behind and she just has to hurry and get married as fast as she can! I think i might understand that. Who did Dewey marry? and April? I can`t believe all those kids are graduating this week. Thats crazy! And where is Preston Pace headed on his mission? Thanks for checkin and Feleicia, I thought she should be getting home soon. There is an elder here who went home in the last transfer and lives in her mission. I told him to look for her. Hopefully he did! Did you ride in the hot air balloon? A ride in a hot air balloon is on my bucket list. Someday! 

Hna Ramirez and i had to go to the office this week, and we swang by the distribution center and... they had the conference ensign in English! We both bought us a copy and have enjoyed reading it in every spare moment we find --- which are few, but during breakfast we can usually read a little. 

Before i forget - what souvenirs do you want?? Theres soccer jerseys or bolivian t shirts - fi you want some i need sizes! or... nativity sets, or stufff. haha i don`t know, maybe a painting or something? I`ve only got a few mondays left... like 8 so let me know if you have any requests. 

I also received a dear elder from Hna Broome. She told me she was looking for our mission blog and couldn`t find it. Maybe someone (natalie....) could find her on facebook and help her find the blog?? Her name is CHelsy Broome. Thanks! 

Mom, thanks for sharing your study insights. In the ensign i found a list of the scriptures most often referred to during conference and one of them was John 13:35. Its the one that says by this ye may know if ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another  - or somethin like that. But in my reading i have felt that a lot. Its all about LOVE! Thats why if we don`t have charity, we are nothing. I was reading in Alma, when Ammon and King Lamoni go to free Ammon`s brothers. They ran into King Lamoni`s dad on the way and he was angry! He was about to kill Lamoni, he called ammon a son of a liar, and was what we could see, out of control. He may of had some anger management problems. Ammon steps in and defends King Lamoni. The dad is humbled, and offers to give him up to half of his kingdom (materialist haha), Ammon only asks that his brothers are made free, and that King Lamoni can keep his kingdom. And then comes the part I love. The dad is shocked. He sees the LOVE that Ammon has for his son, and it completely changes his heart. He goes from wanting to kill Ammon, to asking him to "please come and visit, i want to hear your message." All because of love. Charity, the pure of love of Christ. We need to love our enemy, forgive everyone (including ourselve) don`t envy, but be happy for the successes of other people. Just love, like Jesus did. I guess its true what the sing... all you need is love!

OH! I got the RS package this week, with a bunch of balloons and sweet notes from my relief society sisters. I have officially decided that I belong to the best relief society in the world! I hope you can thank them all for me. And mom... i am excited to help you eat your door prize of lindt truffles ;) 

Oh... and I made another connection in this small world. One of the assistants is named Elder Frost, and hes from montecello - when i heard i thought i better ask if he knows Kyle Curtis and his family. Turns out he grew up around the corner from them. And is friends with his brothers. Crazy. Small world. 

Well... last week right before we went home to talk to ya`ll for mothers day we did a contact. We met a girl named K Flores. She mentioned that she wasn`t sure if God existed or why Christ came to the earth. We testified that God exists, that He loves her, and that Christ is her Savior. We taught her how to pray and she said a prayer before we left. We scheduled a return appointment. Tuesday we went back and she was there waiting for us. She is twenty years old, lives alone, is studying and working and she has had some friends that haven`t been the greatest. It was crazy how she opened up to us. We told her we were there to baptize her and she accepted a baptismal date for June 16! We headed back and taught her the restoration. She was a little shocked, but she agreed to pray about it. She said she did and she feels good, like its true, and she wants to keep learning. We took her to the institute and she signed up for class, met the director, and several young adults from the ward, and is really excited. She went to the ward activity and loved it. It was so neat because we talked to her and she said she feels good, happier, and everything is going better for her in work and school. She can feel the gospel changing her life, and helping her. and we can see the difference. It has been amazing to teach her. We called her Saturday to make sure she was planning on going to church. She said of course hermanas, and i`ll be there on the first row! and she went! I truly feel like she is prepared, excited, and she really is gonna be baptized. And it makes me so happy to see the gospel changing and blessing her.  One of he elect. One of the chosen. Hurrah for Israel!

Well, I know that this is the Lord`s work. I know that when we are diligent, God blesses, when we are exactly obediente, we can witness miracles. The gospel changes lives, its changing me. I am happy. I love you all. Have a wonderful week. Tell Whitney hi for me! 

Love, 
Hermana Olsen

Peter 5.14.12

hola madra,

i loved talking to you yesterday. but it did seem so short. it almost seemed like it was a time to hear your voices and then say goodby.

 the district is not an intrigue in washington DC, it is training videos that we use in our studies.  i watched them online before i left. we have dvd players in our appartment and have seen them many times.

some of your questions.

kissimmee is known for being a small cow town. but in the last 10 to 15 years it has grown alot and it is a bigger city. its mostly grown because of Disney world with all the torrists it attracts and the people that work there.

we meet now it a building that is in St Cloud. we have both church and our district meetings there. st cloud is about 7 miles away from our house. and thier seems to be a wall between st cloud and kissimmee in peoples minds. st cloud is more of a small southern style town.

 there are 8 elders 2 sisters and 2 senior couples  in our district. Elder Kinser is my district leader again he was my district leader when i first got to sanford but was transferd after my first one there.

my companion is from lehi utah and his family are all long time members of the church. he comes from a family of 7 kids he is the 3rd he has an older brother and sister that have both served missions and were on their missions when he left. elder Dupaix has now been out for 9 months and is great!

well  i've got to go.

Love you,

Elder Olsen

¡Hola mis cuñados! Emily 5.14.12

Hey fam! It was awesome to talk to you all yesterday. It always goes by so fast, and there is so much to say i don`t know where to start. But I am so glad to know your all happy and well, living the gospel and the plan of happiness. It was kinda a bummer i couldn`t talk much to Natalie and Elise and their husbands, but i`ll guess it`ll have to wait till July. I have been thinking about all the may birthdays and i haven`t wished anyone a happy birthdya - but i hope john had a good
one, and Jena - how is that girl? and kaitlyn averett... Blackburn? and Sarah`s in a few weeks, and amy`s, and everyones. How is Jaiden doing? I ahve been thinking about him. I sent him a letter with mom`s and nat`s birthday letter, hopefully they get theri soon. Jaiden is gonna go to USU right? It makes me a little sad to think that i have to go tos chool when i get back all alone again. But such is life i suppose.

It was so good to hear from Neil that he was engaged. Its great that it worked out that way. Its a huge bummer that schedules didn`t work out. But I am happy for him. Caitlyn`s dad is more important then me. I hope they are planning on sticking around so they can be there for
my wedding in a year or two ;) Thanks for sending the pictures. Caitlyn looks like a nice girl, and i think she`ll fit right in with the Olsens.

Mom, the district  is about a district of missionaries and we watch them teach and we learn from their examples. It`s part of the training program and the extra time we have to study in the mornings.  I told my companion about Peter`s ringtones and she thought it was pretty funny. Peter sounds happy. And like he is workin hard. Thanks for making it possible to talk to him too. I was thinking about how fun it'll be to swap stories and experiences. I can`t wait. It was fun to hear about dad`s mission a little too. That is something i would like to hear more about. and about Natalie`s, John`s, and William`s.

This week has been good. We found two families this week. They went to the ward activity on Thursday and really enjoyed it. We had a little lesson, hten headed out and played soccer with everyone. It was a blast. Saturday night we went to visit the Justiñano family and it was awesome. We met the wife and kids at the ward activity. When we got there the husband was leaving. We invited him to stay and join us and he said he needed to go. But de repente he
decided to stay. At first we talked to the poarents, and then the mom said she wanted her kids to listen and she called her four kids in to join us too. They have four very well behaved boys. It was great. We used the example of hte cups and the apostasy and all the boys helped us build Christ`s church, and then "restore it." I hope we can help them go to church so they can progress and be baptized.

I know that this is the true church. It is the only way, and there is no other. EVERYONE needs to be baptized in this church or they cannòt be saved in teh Kingdom of God. I know that God hears and answers prayers. He loves us and wants teh best for us. I know that Presidente
Monson is the living prophet. He truly speaks with God, and fulfills his calling in guiding and directing our lives. I know that when we follow the prophet we are blessed. I know JOseph Smith was a prophet of God and that through Him the fullness of the gospel was restored.
And because we have it we can have joy in this life, and neverending happiness in the world to come. I know we are living the plan of happiness and we must share it with everyone. They all need it! I know that the families can be eternal if we do our part. I know there is hope in the atonement.

I love you all so much. THanks for your support and prayers.

Love
Hermana Olsen

She says it's rainy season and their feet are wet most of the time.

Peter, 5.7.12

mothers day next week! and i'm super excited! 

nothing happend with transfers we both stayed. we have lots of potential we are working with right now and hopefully a couple families we have met will become investigators. we haven't had anybody at church and are hoping we will be able to get some people to come out to church for mothers day! Mn and M are a couple that we have met with briefly but haven't really started teaching. their life has been pretty hectic lately but it seems to be slowing down. so we are hoping to teach them on thursday. pray that we will!  also pray for B.  she is a members friend that came to church a few weeks ago but we haven't been able to begin teaching. those are some miracles that we need.

hmm questions you should ask about... i'm not sure. anything you are wondering about.

we live in a house on the edge of a lake or big pond.

we have a car every other week.

my bike is well used.

we have some sweet members here.

this past week we set a date with V to be baptized on may 31

we are seeing miracles

i have a suit that would probably fit dane if he wants it! it is sweet! but i don't need it here. let me know if i should send it

thier are lots of spanish people in this area.

 hopefully this list helps you think of questions that you could ask.

well got to go

love you.

talk to ya this week!

Elder olsen

Emily, 5.7.12

Umm.. Simeon has braces?! Thats crazy! I love the pìctures - looks like you have an amazing camera. And awesome kids. Isaac`s rabbit only had three babies? They all look so grown up - my brothers and sister - not the rabbits, They look pretty little. And all that sunshine. Sounds fun. I never did read little britches - i`ll have to put it on my long list of things do when I go home. We sang come thou fount in my seminary graduation too - and we all cried. I love that song. 

OH! transfers - nothing happened. haha hna Ramirez and I stayed here in equipetrol. Hna Ramirez thinks that i am gonna finish the mission here- which would be ok, but crazy. Cause all together they would be 9 months in one ward. Weird! But i am happy to be here. Elder Felton is in my zone again - and elder bass. THey were both in this zone when i got here, feels like starting over. There are two new hermanas too, we`re excited to get to know them. 

This week was good. We are working hard and God is blessing us. I have been studying about being diligent and not getting distracted. I really liked Presidente Eyring`s talk in the priesthood session in oct 2011. He shared stories of leaders working harder then they thought they could. Giving more, even when they were tired. It was a good motivating talk to start my second to last transfer. I hope to be able to apply everything i have learned up to now, in these two tranfers and work like crazy! We have focused a lot this week in meeting our goals, and praying hard to be able to do  it, then working diligently. And we have improved a lot and what we were able to accomplish in one week. Feels good to work hard. 

We had a neat experience this week. We went to get to know a new neighborhood. We have been meaning to go for awhile. We knocked on a gate/clapped and a 21 year old guy came out. We started talking to him and inviting him hoping to be able to make an app. but then his sister came out. She was on her way to the market but we talked her into waiting and giving us a chance to share a short message with them. We didn`t have much time, btu we just talked about the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. THey just had these amazed looks on their faces. As we headed out hna ramirez said "wow, the message of the Book of Mormon is stunning" and its true! They were stunned. We are gonna go back tomorrow, and hopefully we can help them come unto Christ! A few houses later there was a lady outside sweeping. She let us come in and told us that she had some problems with her family, but she was fighting for her famiy because she loves her kids. We talked about how the gospel is powerful, and blesses families. It was so neat. I felt like God had sent us to her in her time of need. We get to go back to visit her today!  

We are working with Hno Eloy. He is about 55 years old, lives alone, and is a shoemaker. I don`t remember if i told you all about him last week. But he wants to be baptized. Every time we go he talks about how he wants to be closer to Christ and change his life. He reads the Book of Mormon, read the law of chastity and word of wisdom pamphlets, and prays - but he didn`t come to church yesterday .We don`t know why. He always says he is gonna go, and he`s gonna iron his lcothes and shower the night before so he is all ready, but sunday morning comes and something happens. The devil works hard on the chosen - but we are gonna work harder!

This morning we went to the vera family`s house because they invited us to use their washer and dryer! We`re excited. 

Well times, up. Love you all! I`ll call saturday to let you know about the call sunday. Chow!

Hermana Olsen

Peter, 4.30.12

mothers day is coming!!

.

Mom i recieved the conferance talks and "the best 3 hours of the week" cd. i think that it will help the I family. i also enjoyed your letter. the parkers (the mission office couple) attend our ward and they brought the mail to me at chuch so it was definatly a suprise.

This week we had interviews with President Hall. it was great!  he let us know then that this week the sisters were being transfered out of our ward and that thier area will get split up between us and the other set of Elders in the ward. we are excited to have a little bigger area. which will probably also mean we will get fed a little more :)  i'm glad to see that you got the pictures i sent. i would email more but i haven't figured out how to send them on the computers we are using at the library.

we taught M this week! it was super cool! when we pulled up he was sitting in his garage reading from the Book of Mormon. he has questions that he has never been able to answer. he had a son that was killed about 13 years ago and is still stuggling to cope with it. we have been teaching him about he plan of salvation. we just struggle to teach a whole lot because he talks so much. but he does want to learn! he is super busy with work and so we have only been able to meet with him once a week. we need to meet with him more. but he seems sincere. and willing to put in the effort to find learn this for himself.

this week will be alot of finding, and following up with potential investigators.

have a great week!

love you

Elder Olsen

Emily, 4.30.12 It's May already?

Thanks for the picture mom - i hadn`t seen any of petes pictures in a long time - and he looks like a giant! Its about how i feel with all the Bolivianitos around me :) I am trying to send some pictures, but they are taking an eternity to load -so we`ll see. Mmm strawberries. That is something i am excited to eat again. Sounds like spring is in full swing thats great. It has definitely turned to fall here - the sun hasn`t come out all week, and its officially cold! We have put on our tights, scarves, and jackets. And we are using blankets again to sleep. Its an adventure. Hermana Ramirez was even brave enough to wash her clothes this morning in the cold - i still need to wash mine - should be a great adventure! This week is transfers again. They come super fast. I`m supposedly supposed to stay because we are only half done with Hermana Ramirez`s training - but you never know. We are anxiously awaiting the phone call wednesday night :) So I don`t yet have a phone number to give you. If i stay it`ll be the same house where you called me the other mother`s day -if not well we`ll see. Its my secret dream to go to Monterro - they are thinking about sending hermanas there forthefirst time. Its about an hour away. I`m up for any adventure i can get my hands on ;) But I also would love to stay here. We are finding lots of awesome investigators and hoping to be able to get them to church. 

I still haven`t gotten any packages - and i am guessing you haven`t gotten my letters yet? Hopefully soon. We don`t get mail this week because of cambios - but hopefully soon ;) I got a letter from Winni this week! and from diana bishop, and grandma Peterson. It was SO good to hear from you all. Thanks a million!

Yesterday i was reading in PMG about repentance. I really liked that it said "the central purpose of our life is put it in harmony with God`s will through repentance" That is why we are here - to repent. and put our life in harmony with God`s will. And thats what is so hard to understand sometimes. Everyone says they believe in God and love Him, but what do we do about it. Do we love Him so much that we put His will before our own? That is what we promised to do when we were baptized. And now we have all of our life to keep trying to do it.To follow the perfect example that Christ gave us and obey God`s will. 

We contacted a medio crazy man yesterday. I asked what he was doing here in Bolivia and he said doing drugs. He is from Chile and is here, illegally, and said "I`m a drug man" don`t worry mom - he wasn`t dangerous or anything. But he knew English and insisted in speaking in English and I had the opportunity to testify to him about the power of the atonement and that it could help himl. That he didn`t have to have the life that he does. That God wants more for him. As i testified i felt the spirit so strong. It felt like i could mean it more in English. He was wearing a super dirty white button up shirt. But as I testified of the atonement i just imagined that shirt clean, with a tie  on, and i just thought wow. The atonement really can change him. Even for him, a drug man, he can repent and be cleansed. That is the message of the gospel. That is why Christ came to earth. I am so grateful for the atonement and this probationary state that we are given to repent and put our life in harmony with God`s will. 

Well times up already. I love you all. I think the call works better for me in the night time. Like 7 or 8 o clock here. Let me know. Love ya!

Love
Hermana Olsen