Peter 8.27.23

thanks for the pics.

hurricane isaac has mostly taken a turn for the west so we don't have to worry to much about it. we are just going to get alot of rain. and yes we'll try dry... not probable.

this week we have begun teaching kn a potential from the area book. and just last night we started teaching ron.

i met kn about 3 months ago and wasn't really sure how positive he was but we were near his home so we stopped by and got back in contact and then returned for a lesson about a week later. we brought Brother Mills with us to teach and it was perfect. we were nervous that Kn would want to preach at us being that he is a minister at his chuch, so we thought brother mills would definatly help us be able to teach.  and it was perfect! brother mills has a presance that almost demands respect so we were able to teach. and as i recieted the First vision from memory looking Kn in the Eyes i felt the spirit testify deeply it confirmed my testimony once again of the Restoration. it was powerfull! Kn felt it as well and he said he knew it was that he felt the spirit testify as well. i realized that it has been a while since we've had a really powerful lesson. kn was in a place to recieve spiritual knowledge.

R was is amazing as well we had a lesson last night that was an answer to prayers. he was referred by his member friend who filled out a referral at cove fort in ut. we are excited to meet with him on wed.

I love you!

Elder Olsen

Peter, 8.20.12

hey yal'

sounds like i'm gonna come home to a ranchin' family! mom i'm glad your rist is feeling better. and that you both are ok. i just finished a letter from emily while waiting for the computer to become available. She is so amazing! i'm so glad, im  grateful to have such a great sister. she gave me an update on all of the kids. it was great to here her perspective on the family. is emily heading up to Logan for school? When does it start? most of the schools here started today. so we're hoping we will still find families home and available. thank you for praying that we'll find people that will make and keep convenants. debbi was inspired to pray for help to learn the language. My companion really wants to learn spanish. so he has got a hold of some spanish books from the spanish elders, we have been learning some. and frankly i needed that prayer because i haven't really been working on my spanish. i have felt that i have so many other things to study and work on before spanish. but really i need to learn so we can more productively talk with everyone we meet. communicating... well i hope its getting better! it really seems like there are an enormous amount of people that can't communicate very well. i have been working to simplify how i speak, so that others can understand. without any room for misinterpretation. their is a quote in PMG that says "we aren't to teach the gospel so simply as to be understood but that we are to teach it so that it cannot be misunderstood" that is my goal. when we are able to do it the spirit testify s powerfully of what we have taught. Elder Kunzler has really helped me in this area. he is supper smart he told me his mind is an "iron trap" and that he remembers everything. He really does. He has taught me a lot about everything. if anything comes up he has a well studied out answer that is correct and logical. sometimes he just starts teaching me about random stuff that comes up. yesterday between our correlation meeting and sacrament meeting. we were sitting in the kitchen at the church with the other elders in our ward and Elder kunzler taught us about the 3 catigories of evidences that the book of mormon is a true record. it was really cool, He also knows that no matter the evidence that it is the spirit that teaches.

my mormon.org profile? well its really simple go onto mormon.org click "our people"  then "meet mormons" then it has a place to enter a name, city, or key word. type in "peter" "kissimmee" or "Orlando". you can also put in age group and gender then all you need to do is look through the pictures till you see my "smilin'" face. i need to get a new pic on their but haven't. i should have a new one this week.

when we use the church websites we usually just use their computer or i bought a mormon messages dvd if they don't have the internet. it has been supper powerful.

what videos did you use for your lesson? one we have used for teaching about service is one under the youth section onmormonchannel.org titled "datons legs" its an awsome one.

this week we started teaching 4 senior citizens in an assisted living center. the owner of the center actually asked us to come teach them so we did for the first time on friday morning. there are two that are more promising E who has read some in the book of mormon before and lived in utah for 2 years at the air force base, and B who said she had attended  an lds church before. we have an appointent with them tomorrow. but i'll be on exchanges in st cloud with elder buckmiller.

the chuch is true! the Book is blue!

i love you!

Elder Olsen
ps the reason the last 2 emails have been longer is because sister Hall is sick and President hasn't had us write him for the last to weeks. Please keep sister Hall in your Prayers.

Peter, 8.13.12

hola!

today we got together as a district with a senior couple in the pleasant hill ward, and had a BBQ games and ultimate football. it was a blast. it was pretty fun and thats why i'm emailing so late. i'm glad you made it home from maryland safe and sound. what is it that walters doing for work out thier and where is it exactly that the gunters live. ive told people i have family up there but don't really know where they're at. is it near baltimore? this week seemed to go by pretty fast. i know there is a lot that happened but i'm forgetting the details right now. wednesday we had exchanges. Elder L came to kissimmee east with me and elder K went to canoe creek with elder B. i learned a ton about making lesson plans using Mormon messages as part of the lessons. we had a lesson with mike an investigator that has been taught for a while by missionaries but seems to be missing something. so we made a lesson plan to teach part of the restoration (Christs ministry-apostasy-restoration) and then used the Mormon message "are we really Christians?" it was a great lesson accept at the first the member that came to the lesson with us got into a little bit of an argument on politics but they soon realized what they were doing and left it. the lesson then went surprisingly well. and the member and mike became pretty good friends by the end. as we were almost done with the lesson mikes wife came out with some brats, crackers, and what we thought was a dark soda or juice and we almost took some but soon we found out it was Ice tea... it was a close one :/ but we let mike know and he quickly replaced it with juice. it was close one. 

Sunday we had a dinner with the Mills sister Mills is the Relief society president and Brother Mills is the stake executive secretary. they are an older couple that are so amazing. they are down to earth, and really area huge help to the ward. they served a mission in shrilanka (not sure on spelling) the place the thomas's served. they served there right after the Thomas's left. there son is also apart of the music group "Jericho Road" anyways we had a great lesson with them and shared a Mormon message "lifting burdens" and then shared 2 nephi 26:23-28 about how Christ invites all to come unto Him, and turns nobody away. we then committed them to set a date by which they would have somebody the missionaries to teach.The Lord really blesses us when we us all the wonderful resources he as given us. the videos are super powerful and really bring the Spirit.

 oh and friday we had a trainer/trainee follow up meeting at the stake center across the street from the temple. it was very insightful they split up the trainers and trainees and we were able to bring up concerns we had and were able to resolve and receive some help on what we could do better. it was definitely a great time to learn.

one of the things i am learning is how to correct in a positive and loving way. it is hard because i want to be able to lift and inspire and not be a nagger. D&C 121 gave me alot of insight in that it said that we are to "reprove with sharpness but then show an increase of love so that he esteem thee not to be his enemy" or something like that. 

we were informed also that Elder Zwick will not be coming due to so back problems and the doctor won't approve him to fly. so we will still have zone conference. i'm sure it will still be a revelatory experience. the spirit can answer our questions no matter who give the instruction.

the Great apostasy did take place. the authority to administer the Ordinances of the Gospel was lost and would be till God saw fit to call another Prophet. Joseph Smith was that Prophet. the authority to administer the ordinances of the Gospel has been restored. the fullnes of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored!

I Love you,

Elder Olsen

Peter, 8.6.12

Have fun in maryland!  when did Amber have her baby? is he healthy? I hope he is doing well! Your  getting close to florida! we meet a lot of people that have moved here from Maryland.  we have a lot of people that move here from everywhere, especially from the north to get out of the cold. How long are you going to be there? I hope its fun! 

So Friday we were biking down florida parkway, and this white van drove passed and then it stopped and reversed back up to us and pulled off the road. as we got stopped and figured out he wanted to talk to us, we went to the window and he said that he has been super stressed and that he just needed help. he said he was sick of money, cigaretts, and drinking. He went on to ask us for literature. we gave him a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. which he gratefully accepted. overall it was a neat experience knowing that he was prompted to talk to us and recognized that we could help him. we taught him last night at his home. He told us of his life which has been really hard. being in a foster home, doing drugs, and being fully engulfed in the world for so long. we promised him that the gospel will help him. taught about the atonement from Alma 7:11-12.

in a week and a half we have a zone conferance with Elder Zwick from the 1st quorum of the seventy. we are excited as we are preparing to recieve revelation by coming up with questions that we have to help us more effectively do this work. we are expecting to be taught by the Holy Ghost the answers that we need.

I know that the Church was restored throught the Prophet Joseph Smith by a Loving Heavenly Father.

I love you and pray that you will travel safely.

Elder Olsen 

Peter, 7.30.12

Hello,

i'm so glad emily made it home safely. I'm sure she gave and amazing talk. i'd love to see pics. she was an amazing missionary.

this week has been great! Elder K is my companion. he is from Park Valley. He grew up on a 35000 acre ranch. and is awsome! He served in the Utah Ogdon mission for a 2 transfers before coming here so he is very familiar with missionary work and he loves it already. He is very good at working with leaders. I have been learning tons from him. He is my favorite companion yet. we have been working with T for a few weeks we haven't been able to teach him to much but he lives super close to us so we stop by and talk to him when we have a few minutes. He had hit bottom and wasn't sure if he even wanted to get up again. he is in his 50's and has seen this cycle in his life and he doesn't like it. He basically realized the pride cycle in his own life. we would teach him breifly about the atonement we'd mostly just listen to him. but saturday when we stopped by he had seen huge changes in his life. he now had a job. a drivers licence and a vehicle. all serious blessings. he thanked us very sincerly for the little we had done. it really helped me realize that every little thing matters. and that by small and simple things great things are brought to pass. that is how God works.

well i'm excited for the van ormans and their new life down by ceder city. i'm sure John will love it.

got to go,

I love you

Elder Olsen