11/24/14

Palm Trees are Evil

Yes that's what I said palm trees are evil. So I guess there's a bit
of a story with that. This last Tuesday went to a sisters house and
did a bunch of service we trimmed palm trees for like three hours. And
you wouldn't know unless you can punctures before that they are
actually very spiky. One of them hit me in the calf muscle it went
through my jeans and stuck a good three eights of an inch or so into
my calf. It kind of feel like getting a shot. And it was sore
afterwards to like I got a shot for a few days. I was pretty and
several other places. Elder Smith even pound in one of them in the
wall to hang up his calendar. He even used a hammer to do it they are
freaking tough stuff. So yes, palm trees are evil.
So there is this totally awesome zone conference we had this last week
and we talked about the Christmas initiative that is taking place. Way
cool. The church has made a huge push and they've made another holiday
video like that "Because of Him" video. They made a website for it and
the church is going to be the only advertising on YouTube for all of
December 7th, for the whole day. So, I'm pretty much pumped about
that.
So we are doing some more service this week and we were helping a
sister with her car. It's a minivan and the door hasn't been sliding
right on it and it even fell off and they couldn't hardly get it
closed. So we got it back on and got it closed and told her that she
couldn't open it because it would fall off again. So of course one of
her children decide to open up the next day and it fell off and so we
got called back over there to put it back on. So this time we decided
that we had to come up with some way to fix it so that it wouldn't
just fall back off because the rollers on the door weren't even there.
So we decided to have some fun. We had to think of someway that we
could make these posts a little bit bigger around so that it wouldn't
fall off so easy. We were looking at it and we decided that a pen tube
would probably fit about right. So we asked the sister that if she had
any cheap pens around. She brought us one, we took it apart, we put
the pen tube on the post and cut it off. Proceeded to put it back
together and guess what? It totally works! So that was pretty awesome.
We went back today and put it together right with the replacement
parts she ordered. Always good to get a chance to work on cars again.
As we come right up to thanksgiving everyone is remembering to be
grateful. Or at least remembering to say that they are grateful. I
read the parable of the talents the other day and it got me thinking.
We are told that at the end the one who still only had one got it
taken away and given to he one who had ten talents. Christ then
proceeds to say "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he
shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away
even that which he hath." Matthew 25:29 There are multiple reasons why
this is the case. The one that I want to focus more on though is how
it relates to being grateful. Being grateful has an action. That
action is simply using the thing that you are grateful for. Showing
that appreciation. So when we have things and we use them and show
appreciation for them then we shall be given more. But if we are not
grateful for the things that we have then shall it be taken away from
us, even that which we hath. Be grateful, and show it. Not just say
it. Make it an action.

Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Dane Olsen

11/17/14

So, I've decided to become an Australian. It's a good idea yeah? Anyways, last Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Peay. Who so happens to be Australian. I learned on that exchange that people find Australians a lot more interesting then two Utah boys. So we will see if I can actually get the accent down, along with the vocab. If you too would like to start just try saying "Good eye might" It'll get you started right away. After all, almost everyone loves Australia. (Er at least the accent).

In the first few weeks that I was in this area I told you about someone who I talked to who knows brother Eddy. That was a sister Tuttle. I didn't think about it much right off even though brother Tuttle said that he had a great grandpa in Manti. We went over there on Wednesday and I told him I thought that we are related. He was blown away by it. He pulled out his family fan chart and there was Luther Tarry Tuttle. It was bloody awesome mates. Then to make things a bit more interesting he started talking about his mission. He so happened to serve in the Cape Verde Islands. So he knows John too. Haha So great! We both decided it was kinda creepy how many connections we had at that point and called it a night. We'll see if we find any more next time. ;)

We were talking to a contact the other day and he was asking about marriage in the church so we told him about eternal marriages and eternal families. He thought that was about the coolest thing in the world. He asked us what time church was, we told him and then he said. Alright I'll be there. See ya Sunday. What!? People don't just say that! It got me so happy! I was really looking forward to seeing him at church, but alas, he didn't come. So goes missionary work.  Sad but true. The work still goes on and we will get a hold of him this week and see if we can teach him and get him to church!

People have been telling us that it is pretty cold back in Utah. Is it really that much out of the ordinary? I miss the cold. I miss the snow and the mountains too. But it is very nice here right now, and I am glad of that. I also have decided that I am very glad that there are no mountains or snow here, because I would just want to go and play in it. So instead of playing, I'll just be doing missionary work! It is a great work. I love feeling the love of God so much, and I even get to share it with others. Its a great work. 

Love you all! Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Dane Olsen

11/10/14

Hello!
Let me just say that I love stake conferences! They are awesome! We
had ours yesterday and it was a bi-stake conference because they
actually made a new stake. That was pretty cool to watch. It use to be
only Orlando South and Orlando stakes, now it is split and there is a
third, The Lake Mary stake (for Peter that one is on the north end and
is the stake that Sanford is now a part of). It is so much fun to see
the work progress and have the church grow. Another awesome thing
about the stake conference is that it was all about member missionary
work. Something sad that I noticed is that whenever the stake talks
about member missionary work, missionaries love it! We totally get
pumped! But it seems to go the other way with members. They just feel
like it's a guilt trip. In reality it should get us all pumped to go
out an make missionary work a part of our everyday lives. Missionaries
are also at fault though, I haven't talked to any missionary that was
anything close to a good member missionary. Another thing, why do we
such a giant gap between missionaries and members? After all every
missionary is a member, and every member is a missionary. And
missionaries are just here to help the members in their missionary
work.
I am pretty sure that most people in fact like people. Everyone likes
having a friend. Everyone likes having people that are close to them.
On the other hand most people have a little bit of a hard time
reaching out and making new friends. In my experience it is always
worth it to make new friends. After all, all of the friends that I
love being around and doing stuff with had to go from being a stranger
to being friends at some point or another. Because I am pretty sure
that I didn't know anyone when I was first born. Had to start
somewhere. People always talk about how hard goodbyes are, because
they don't want to leave the friends and family that they already have
such a good relationship with. It is so sweet to have good
relationships with people. It something that from the beginning that
we were created to seek. Genesis 2:18 "And the Lord God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone;" We need people. Matthew
22:37-39 "37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38
This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The first two
great commandments, we are commanded to love. For that matter every
single commandment is something about our relationship with others
sometimes it is only between us and God. But most of the time it is
between us, God, and many others. The more each commandment deals with
someone, the harder it is to repent of. Take a look at the two of the
biggest commandments "Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit
adultery." Two things that severely affect others. The gospel is all
about relationships, namely the family. All people are in the family
of God. Missionary work (especially member missionary work) is simply
making friends. That is what missionary work is. Making friends,
seeking to sincerely help others.
In the first few weeks here I bought some really cheap hair clippers.
They only cost $7 super cheap. But I was thinking "well, even if I
only get one hair cut out of it, I'll still save money." So I cut my
hair once with them a while back and then I pulled them out the other
day to give myself another hair cut. These clippers have been making a
ton of noise, it sounds like they are going to rattle themselves to
pieces. So Elder Smith and I decided that we were going to take it
apart and see if we could fix it. We were able to fix it, and it only
took a little bit of duct tape and a few water balloons. It works
great now! Haha
I can't remember if I wrote about it before or not, but a little while
ago a member gave us an ice cream freezer! It was so awesome! But we
didn't get to making ice cream till yesterday. I love homemade ice
cream. So good. :) though I am missing just already having the raw
milk, cream, and fresh eggs. It's a lot easier to make ice cream when
those are readily available.
So there is this awesome sign we found a while back but we didn't get
to taking a picture with it till yesterday. It is pretty great.
Love you all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Dane Olsen

11/3/14

Hello Everyone!
This week has been great! We have been able to get in with several
people that have been hard to get a hold of. That is always amazing.
We do something that most missions don't, we count the member lessons
we have. So if we meet with a member family and share a spiritual
thought it is counted as an active lesson. That is what we do most of
the time because we have basically tracted everywhere we are somewhat
aloud to. ;) We are always working for more people to teach, and we
kinda have a hard time getting people. At this point there isn't much
we can do but work more with members. (Though we are still trying to
find new ways to do our own finding.) it is so much fun to get to know
people. I am really enjoying getting to know the ward better. Though I
wish I was better at connecting with people. One thing that made this
week is we had three investigator lessons, with three different
investigators that we have met with before, R, K, and M. It
was so fantastic! K wasn't able to make it to church again, and she
is going on vacation for the month of November. But she loves the
church, and loves going to church. So we will hopefully be teaching
her through facebook while she is gone. It will be neat to see how
that works. R is still so awesome. We haven't caught him at home
since the last time I told you about him and how he read the
scriptures and felt the spirit. This time we didn't get to do much of
a lesson but towards the end we asked him if there was anything we
could do for him and he said "Nope, you came we talked and I feel
really good now." He is so amazing at recognizing the spirit. If we
can just meet with him more often he will progress. M is also
awesome. He has an interesting story and he just wants to find out
more about building his relationship with God and how he can recognize
the spirit more. We invited all of them to church and another man and
his wife, but they didn't make it. They were trying to come last week
too, but he said that he couldn't find the church, we described it and
he said that he drove past it three times. Sad day, and then he didn't
make it this week. The work is starting to go forward more here though
so that is super exciting!
So, you remember the mission leader that has a Scottish accent? Well
today he took us golfing. We played a full 18 holes and it was so much
fun! It was also really interesting to learn more about it, and I did
reasonable for my first time golfing. We also messed around quite a
bit it was great! We practiced skidding sideways to a stop and sling
shoting the person in the passenger out of the golf cart. It was best
when we rolled after jumping from the cart. The golf course we were in
is surrounded by a community (infact the course is part of a gated
community) so most of the course is surrounded by houses. I think
Elder Smith hit as many as twenty houses. Haha We are very grateful
that nothing broke (as far as we know).
So Elder Smith also did a lot with speakers and such back home so we
helped an inactive brother (who is about 22) install a subwoofer. It
was pretty great and it was cool to sit in the back seat of the car
and feel it kick.
So I am officially done being trained. Usually at the end of training
(the first twelve weeks) a trainer and his trainy will be split up.
Generally the trainy stays in the area and the trainer is transferred
somewhere else, we got transfer calls Saturday night and we are both
staying. It's pretty weird but it should help us get this area moving
more.
So the things that we share with members most of the time is some
scripture that relates to member missionary work. Lately we have been
using a scripture I found in my personal study. It is 1 Nephi 7:4-5 I
it Nephi and his brothers are going to get Ishmael and his family. It
says that the very first thing they did when they got to the house of
Ishmael. They first 'gained favor in the sight of Ishmael' and it says
that they gained so much favor in the sight of Ishmael that they
shared the word of the Lord. It is often so easy to forget that the
first part. We are to first become friends with them. Then once they
trust and respect us enough we can share the gospel.
Go make some friends!

Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Dane Olsen

Christmas Cards or Packages

We just received a letter from the mission office requesting that we plan ahead so that all packages and cards for Christmas are received by the mission office (address on side bar) by December 8.  They should be sent by USPS and then the office forwards them to the missionaries so they need time for that process to happen.

Also they would like every missionary to receive something for Christmas so they suggested that in sending anything you include a little something for the companion. Suggest not sending perishable items as they may not be received fast enough.

I am not asking for you to send anything.  This is more a FYI in case you were already planning a card or something.  Wishing you all a very happy holiday season of giving thanks and giving love

Missionary Mom