August 25

There are a lot of gated communities in our are (we are in the richest area in the mission) which can make things interesting. One time we had been doing a few things in one of these communities and when we came into it the gate was just open, so we rode our bikes right on in. Once we were leaving we got to the gate and it was closed. There wasn't any other way to get out. So we started looking around for where the weight sensors are to open the gate. We each stood about where the two front tires of the car would be, jumped a few times, and it opened! Haha I felt like we were the toys on Toy Story 2 when they are trying to get into Al's Toy Barn. It was pretty great!

At church yesterday I found some neat connections with people. I was talking to a Brother Tuttle he said his wife new someone that lived in Manti. It took him a little while to find the name but it was Nephi Eddy. Which was neat, we had a good time talking about that and Manti. Also, I was talking to another brother, his name so happened to be Eichelberger. So yesterday I met Mr. Eichelberger's (from Manti high school who is now over at the middle school) dad. His dad lives in my ward. Weird. Haha it was pretty cool. 

I remember dad talking about some movie where the kid has visions and has seen his grandpa and great uncle or something like that. Maybe "Heaven's Not That Far Away"? I don't know what movie it was. But anyways take a look at Alma 32:23 sometime. It kind of explains why the movie happened. Pretty neat scripture.

I am so glad to hear that Master Your Influence was so great! Thanks for telling me about what you are going to be working on, I think I will be working on some of the same things too. Also, can I get the declarations from that one? I think most of them apply to missionary work. Also, I don't remember much of what I am supposed to do with the "Who I want to be" poster. I put a bunch of words on it, but what else am I supposed to do with it? Should I be reading through each of them each day or something?

Isaac! That is so awesome! It is super cool that you are the new deacon's quorum president! Do an amazing job! (I know you will) Also, make sure to look for those deacons (or deacon age) that we could get coming to church that aren't. Isaac you are so good at making friends and being an example. I just know that you can really help a lot of those deacons. Also, getting a horse!? Woot! Woot! That is so awesome! Just know that I am a little (lot) jealous. That will be awesome! I Hope it all works out well for you and that you get to ride it a lot so you can sell it for a profit! It's a great plan! 

So now to the story about the power of the scriptures. Yesterday we were meeting again with a man named Richard that we had knocked into while we were tracting. He is really great and loves his family and is truly seeking for truth. I am really hoping to help him find it. We were teaching him the restoration, and we were getting to the end and we had him read in Moroni 10:3-5. He hasn't don't much scripture reading, especially in English, so he was having a hard time, but he kept pushing and made it all the way through the scripture. Now I was kinda worried that he didn't get much from the scripture because he was focusing so much on reading words. We were making sure he understood what he read and explaining what the spirit is and what it feels like when he says "I felt that. I felt it, something different, when I was reading that scripture." It was so awesome! It made me so happy that he had felt the spirit and recognized it! We celebrated once we left. It was so great! So always remember the power of the scriptures. They are so powerful, even if we don't understand what we are reading we can still feel the spirit of it. It was all so awesome!
Always remember that the Church is true, the scriptures are powerful, and true conversion changes us! Love you all!

Elder Olsen

August 18

Well, Florida is great! It is absolutely beautiful! I am still working on getting use to it all, and I will be for a little while longer. Every once in a while I think to myself "Wow, I am actually in Florida, and I am actually on my mission." Both things that I have looked forward to for a long time but it is taking me a while to get use to the idea that it has actually happened. So crazy! and so great! 

My companion is Elder Smith, he is from Brigham City and he was a mechanic before his mission and payed for his mission by buying crappy cars fixing them up and then selling them. He is pretty cool. We are in the Lake Crescent area (Elder Smith opened this area last transfer and it is a brand new ward, so that is exciting). For Peter, it is close to the Lake Reams area and Windermere, and I was wondering what all the areas that you served in were and did you serve with an Elder Collins, because one was going home the day I got here and I heard that he had a comp that was an Elder Olsen. Also you might know Elder Patten (He is like 6'6") if you do know him he is one of the APs now. 

Anyways it is all so great! We have already done a lot of tracting and our area is a really rich area, so that is kinda fun. The first picture is one of the cool houses that we knocked on the other day, and the funny thing was is this house was on a dirt road (sand road). I didn't think that there would be any of those in Florida, especially with so many nice houses on it. Also the second third and forth pictures are pictures of where our ward party was yesterday (one of the member's houses). They had a pool party and in the pool in their back yard and did some wake boarding and tubing in the lake in the back yard from their own private dock. So that was totally awesome! Even though I couldn't do any of it. The ward is great and we eat several times a week at a members house. 

That is so awesome Isaac! That is so cool that you rode a steer! And great job Debbi! Way to ride that calf. And Simeon, that is all good, I don't want you to mess up you knee or get kicked in the face. ;) I'm sure you will get another chance to ride sometime! :) Good luck on the next ride Isaac! That will be great!

We have been able to find a few people that are at least potential investigators and we taught a family yesterday for the first time, I really hope that they keep taking the lessons. They already know so many great things from their religion, but I know we can add to their understanding and it will do so much good for them! I really hope they keep going, they are just awesome!
So one of the typical stories we get when we go tracting "Oh I already know Christ and I know I'm saved, but I appreciate what you are doing. I hope you find those that don't know Christ so you can bring them to him. Good luck!" Oy! They are all great people but don't understand that our message still applies to them. I just don't know how to get to them, and I don't have any other ideas for a door approach or angle that would help them understand better. Anyone have any ideas? I would love to hear them!

Thanks for keeping me updated on how things are going mom! I really appreciate it, and thank you dad for the insight, I am going to study some more on those ideas. It is really cool. It makes me sad that the stake presidency are about done, they have been so great! But it will be good to see how it goes with the new ones. :) 

Love you all so much! The Church is true and it blesses lives!
Elder Dane Olsen 

August 9, 2014 and last letter for the MTC

This MTC stay has gone so fast! It is so crazy! But at the same time I look back at being dropped off and it seems to be forever ago. It has been so great! I have learned so much, my favorite chapter that I read in the scriptures this week is Alma 29 so much to learn about missionary work and respecting our calling and even how vision boards work. Incredible scripture, and I want my plaque scripture to be Alma 29:9. Another cool story from scripture study. You remember how in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Frank is frankincense because there are no F names in the Bible? Well it's not true. Look up Acts 23:24. :D I thought it was hilarious! 

Anyways, everything is going so great! I love it all so much! I am constantly learning and progressing. The more I learn and progress the more I realize how much there is to learn. I am always striving to learn more because as I learn more and understand things deeper I will be able to explain them simpler.

Something that I find interesting, I don't recall ever learning much about the doctrine of Christ before my mission, yet it is essential to everything! Why don't we focus on it more? 2 Nephi 31 is an amazing chapter on the Doctrine of Christ. That would also be a fantastic chapter to read. 

So this week me and Elder Langston have been teaching two investigators. We both learned so much! Rick was a fantastic investigator, he is excited about the gospel mostly because of the relationship it creates between himself and God. He read and prayed on his own and was progressing wonderfully! But on our last lesson with him on Thursday he said he didn't want to take the lesson's any more, and I was shell shocked. I had no idea what to say so it is a good thing that Elder Langston kept talking until I got back on my feet. I couldn't let him just give up like that. So we helped resolve his concerns and helped him see how continuing in the gospel is what would help him most in his life. Helping him see that when we come closer to God things will get better again.

Our other investigator was Lawanna. She is such an incredible woman. But we had a super hard time with the first lesson and the first part of the second lesson. Finally part way into the second lesson she just said "Y'all are dry. You're dry, so I'm dry." Basically we weren't teaching like we were real people. Though we were trying to teach to her needs it wasn't getting anywhere because she wouldn't give us anything to work with, she wouldn't open up to us. At first I didn't know what to do, but the day before in our preparation I had been telling Elder Langston that we needed to be vulnerable with her to actually be able to gain her trust. (Something I learned from James Ure at elevation.) So I told her about some of the really hard times that I've had this last year, and how the only place I found true comfort was in prayer. Then she listened. She connected and opened up. There was so

much in the Gospel that was meant just for her, but we couldn't teach her as a person until she trusted us enough to open up. It was such an incredible experience and it just got better with the following lessons.

The gospel is true. I rely so much on Christ every day 2 Nephi 31:19-20. Keep the faith strong. Faith is the key to being successful in any and everything.

Love you all!

Elder Dane Olsen

August 2, 2014 Our first email!

Hello!
The MTC is fantastic! I am loving it so much! My district is so amazing, I love them all so much! We get along great and we have a ball talking to each other. Which can be a problem sometimes because we are so friendly and talkative. Which makes it super fun! 
I am learning so much, but at the same time I am always thinking back to the Preach My Gospel class. We actually did a lot that gave me a good head start on what we are learning at the MTC. We do tons of role plays and talk about different important parts of teaching. Yesterday Me and my Companion Elder Langston did a role play with our teacher. He was a non-denominational Christen. The lesson went very well and we taught him about his relationship with God. We got him committed to be baptized (which was kinda freaky to do, especially in the first lesson) and towards the end of the lesson we talked about prayer we said a prayer with him and then helped him say a prayer. It was powerful. I really enjoyed it. 
Also, Dear Elder is still a great thing for the MTC, so if anyone wants to send a letter that would be great, but it only works in the MTC. Make sure to send it to the Provo MTC Mission unit 1. I'll get it that evening. 
I got my flight itinerary yesterday. Elder Langston and I (and all of the other missionaries headed to Orlando and there is  a lot) are headed out on ... the morning. So pumped! I am excited to get out there. 

I've been able to see lots of people that I know here in the MTC. So far I have seen Elder J.T. Ransom, Elder Connor Aste, Elder Mike Petersen, Elder Kenny Christensen, and on my second day hear I had an awesome opportunity, I ran into Elder Levi Masgarave (I'm not sure how to spell his last name) he is a friend from Williamsburg. So awesome! I didn't even know he was here. I have just loved seeing familiar faces, it makes my day every time!
I've been learning all kinds of cool stuff, yesterday I found a simple yet very powerful definition of praying with real intent. Praying with real intent means that you are committed to acting on the answer that you receive when you pray. It makes sense, I just hadn't thought of it before in such simple terms.
Yesterday we had an awesome experience with our district. There is a sister in our district that was converted 4 years ago, her name is Sister Sparks. Her mother is really un-supportive of her choice to serve a mission because her mom isn't a member. One of our teachers asked who had someone back home that they wanted to help and receive revelation for. (We were talking about receiving revelation through prayer.) Sister Sparks volunteered and we all already knew at this point about the struggle she is having with her mother. So she pretended to be her mother and our teacher role played as the missionary. As they were going through the role play the spirit was so strong, we could see that Sister sparks was indeed receiving revelation for her mom. Everyone was at least close to crying. It was so incredible and powerful. It also brought our district together even more. So powerful!
I have a few favors to ask, I had a duct tape cup up in mine and Isaac's room, it has some money in it that is tithing. Could someone make sure that makes it to bishop? Also, Peter (or someone at home) could you print off and send me a copy of the talk on sins and mistakes from the October Conference of 1996. That would be fantastic. 

I sent a letter home today so it should arrive next week sometime. My next P-day will be next Saturday, after that I have no idea. 

So  Peter, me and my companion have some questions for Florida. Any tips on dealing with heat and humidity? How are the people as a whole? Are they generally easy to work with and receptive or not? How are the members? Do they help willingly? Just whatever you got! :)

Love you all!
Elder Olsen

P.S. Mom, could you try and get people to email me so I at least have their email address (or send letters that would be great too) because there are lots of people that I could tell a few things to them. Thanks!