2.22.16

Hello!

Another great week here! (Sorry, pretty sure I say that almost every week. I will think about working on being more creative.) We have been busy this week which is good by me! Being busy is the best way to do missionary work. Here in the ward their is an investigator who has been working towards baptism for about a year. The reason he hasn't been baptized sooner is because he is on probation for somethings that happened over a year ago. Anyways, his probation ends this April and we have a date for him to be baptized at the end of April. The sad thing is that this last week he went in to report on his probation and pay his fine that he has to pay every few months or something like that and finds out that it was due on the 4th. For some reason he thought it was due on the 15th. So he is hoping to here back from them soon, but until he does here back from them we don't know if he is going to be arrested this week or if here is good. It is putting me through a bit of stress, I can only imagine what it is doing to him. The good news is he is still happy and go lucky. He is a great example to me on not letting my circumstances determine how happy I am. I am so grateful to work with so many amazing people!

K didn't make it to church again which we are sad about, we haven't been able to contact her yet to find out why. We are going to be meeting with her tomorrow. Hopefully we can help her understand the importance of coming to church a little more. We were also able to finish building her fence this week which was fun. I have to say that for what we had to work with it turned out pretty well. 

Yesterday during church I was being taught by the Holy Ghost about having more joy in life through focusing on the right things. Here is what I learned. When going through life there are ups and downs. Because of physics we generally go faster when we go down then when we go up. It takes work to go up. Now I am going to compare this to running. It is true that when running down hill is usually faster, but I want to focus mostly on the uphill push. Here is two ways to run hills. Either we slow down because up hill is hard, or we speed up because we enjoy making progress. The difference is the focus. When we slow down we are focusing on how hard life is. We are focusing on taking one more step at a time, just doing our best not to stop. No matter what we do, as we go through life we will run the hills like this at some hills or even just some parts of some hills. That is ok. Sometimes the best thing to focus on is making it one more step and one more day. Sometimes this all that we can do. The other focus is on how much we enjoy making progress, how much we enjoy the journey. Because running up hill is the hardest part of the run, it can also be the most rewarding. For that matter there comes a certain energy and excitement from running up hill that can make it so you push a little bit beyond your usual speed. When this is our focus, what is the hardest part of the journey also is the most rewarding. The time that we can find more joy and satisfaction.

Have a great week!

Elder Olsen

BONUS:

I received some texts from members this week!

February 15, 2016

Sister Smith

Your Elders gave us the BEST lesson for family night! Elder Olsen and Elder Weiss

Me the mom

Thank you so much. Great picture and I love hearing that

he is doing just what he should be and obviously enjoying.

Then in a separate text Sister Smith:

Your son is the BEST Elder that has served in our ward!! He has been

our favorite since the first time we met him! He literally glows with light and 

goodness! 

Me:

You made my day and I'm a little teary. It makes me so grateful t hear

he is touching lives. Thanks for loving him. He loves Ellsworth.

February 19, 2016

Having a great time with the Elders...They are happy and healthy! Good food...good times and now a lesson (thumbs up)

2.15.16

Hello Y'all! Life is great here! I am doing great! His last week I got
a new companion and his name is Elder Weiss. He is a great guy from
Washington state he came on his mission a transfer before I did. It is
pretty different to be with a missionary that isn't brand new because
that is what it has been for the last 7.5 months. Let's just say it is
a good change. He is a fun guy and it has been really fun to show him
around the area.
We had a chance to help someone build another fence, I have to admit
definitely not a professional, but it wasn't too bad. Especially for
what we had. The investigator that we have been building the fence for
is K. She is a referral from a less active in the ward next to us.
We are pretty pumped about her. She was supposed to show up yesterday
for church but she didn't. Sad day. But we will go and find out why
tomorrow. We will probably also finish her fence.
So back in my last area about five months ago we were helping this
member family with some remodeling on their house. Hey hired a guy to
do it but needed the extra help. The guy that they hired to do it is a
non-member, his names is B, and he was a really cool guy. We went
and worked with him a few times. So a week back we were riding through
Holopaw and we stopped to talk to this guy that was taking out his
trash. And what do you know, it was Bob! It was crazy, we were working
on a house that is 100 miles away. How in the world would we find him
out here? It was pretty cool. We went and did some service for him
last week and we'll be back this week to talk some more to him.
Well the work is great and I love it! Serving the lord is the place to be!

Elder Dane Olsen

2.8.16

So, this week is supposed to compensate from last week. I am just sayin' this had better be good! 

Alright so to start off, food. So I was looking for something to eat one day and we had some cooked rice siting in the fridge and I thought to myself "Self, it has been a very long time since we have had rice pudding. So self said to me "Indeed it has, perhaps we should try making some."  So that is what we did. I didn't have a recipe, but I would have to say it turned out pretty well it was thick tasted close to right, it was sweet, it was creamy, and the right consistency, only two things were off, I didn't have any nutmeg only cinnamon and I only had some random freeze dried fruit from grandma Peterson not raisins or craisins. It was still pretty good though! Next food adventure, so there is one restaurant in my area and it is next to the only gas station in my area (Speaking of which when you get a receipt from the gas station it reads "Holopaw Citgo, On the Corner of Nowhere") and the restaurant is called "The Restaurant" It has been there for 60 years. Anyways, last time I was there I order a bacon cheese burger and it was pretty good, so I thought I would really go for it this time, so I ordered a pound of frog legs. Yep, you heard me, frog legs. It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping but it was still pretty good. However cliche it sounds, it did taste like chicken, though it had a finer grain. Here is a picture of them. 

So this last week I got bit by a dog! It's about time really. There are dogs all over Holopaw. Ok it wasn't anything but I figured I might as well bring it up. So the other day we were riding by and we saw this dog that had just gotten out of the fence and a little boy that was trying to get the dog back in. So we stopped and helped him get the both in and in the process of doing so we met the boys dad. We were able to talk with him and teach him some and we are still trying to meet up with him again. We have ridden by several times since then and one of the times, again nobody was there, the dog got out. And he wasn't really sure of what he thought of me riding a bike, I guess it was kinda weird for him, so he thought about biting my ankle. He reached real quick for my ankle, touched the skin, and then let go. Didn't even come close to breaking the skin. So I got off my bike, picked up the dog and put him back on the other side of the fence. Then as we were leaving the dog went under the gate again! So I got off my bike again and started toward the dog, it was starting to catch on, it stopped looked at me, and when I told him to go back under the gate, he did. So it was in reality pretty boring, but I figured I might as well try to get a good story out of it. The man that owns the dog is Anthony and I will keep you updated once we actually start teaching him. 

So as I was reading in Mormon chapter 5 verse 18 really caught my eye. I started thinking about it and this is what I learned. Mormon is lamenting over the state of the people. He says that "they are led about by Satan". He goes on to explain what it looks like to be led by Satan. The first thing "as chaff is driven before the wind". When you are threshing wheat you are trying to get the chaff separated from the wheat and get the wind to blow it away, you don't really care where the wind takes it, just take it away, there is no direction to it. The second thing "as a vessel is tossed about on

the waves". So to start off the vessel is tossed about with no direction. It goes on to give a few reasons why. "Without sail" the vessel has no way to be propelled. "Without...anchor" the vessel has no way to stay in the same place, to hold its ground. "Without anything wherewith to steer her" the vessel has no way to steer it, no way to control where it is going. When we follow Satan this is what happens. We have no direction, we have no way to stay where we are, we have nothing pushing us forward, we are simply tossed about wherever, having no control, and now steering. When Satan has gotten us to do this, he has won. He is in control because there is no control. God is a God of order, chaos comes from Satan. When we don't have direction in life, we are being taken over by Satan. When we can't steer where we are going, we are being taken over by Satan. When we aren't making progress towards something, we are being taken over by Satan. When we can't even anchor ourselves and stay where we are, we are being taken over by Satan. This is why it is so dangerous to go through life not having purpose, direction, and steadfastness. This is why people get in more trouble when they are simply surfing the web then going with a purpose. Or trying to burn time. Or whatever else is lacking in all of these areas. Satan would have us be purposeless, directionless, unmotivated, wavering, and so on. God has a plan and his plan gives us purpose, direction, motivation, drive, and steadfastness. It was an incredible one verse lesson for me. 

Have a great week and live with a purpose!

Elder Dane Olsen

P.S. I Passed my 18 month mark last week and the sisters that came out on the mission with me are going home this week. Crazy! I may have done the burning tradition. Don't worry the pants had holes in them from when I crashed my bike awhile back. 

​And yes I might have played with the WD 40 a little bit. But don't worry, it was safe....ish. Haha It has been a great 18 months!

2.1.16

Next week he owes me a good letter. This does not count except that I do know he is alive. ;)

Hello!

Welp I have no time. I was helping our facilities rep look for a mic cord. so we gotta go to dinner. 

Life's good, the work is great! I love it. Take care!

Elder Olsen