3.28.16

This week has been a great week. We stayed busy and have had some great things happen. One cool thing is we were able to teach Terry. Terry is a roommate of a recent convert here in the ward and we had talked to him once before. When we sat down with him he was pretty set in what he believed and didn't think there was any way that we might be right. It was super neat to watch as we kept talking to him that he went from being closed and hostile to being open and receptive. It was such a dramatic change. As we started talking the spirit came in and he couldn't deny it. At the end of it he asked us to come back and said he would like to come to church sometime. It is awesome to see how the Lord works!
My Easter here was great! We were even able to go to an Easter egg hunt that one of the members in the ward held. It was fun to be there with a bunch of families that are just happy to be together. 
Ray, one of our investigators that will be getting baptized on April 23, had some struggles this last week. We hadn't been able to get a hold of him in almost a week and he hadn't shown up to church. We stopped by on Thursday and found him at home. One of the first things he said to us is "I don't think I am ready to get baptized." I was taken aback by that because every other time we have talked to him he is just pumped to get baptized. So we were really wondering what was going on. As we got talking we found that he had asked some of his coworkers if they thought he was ready to get baptized and other people he was talking to and they told him they didn't think so because he still lost his temper sometimes and such. He most have been hearing it from a lot of people because it was getting to him. He was really worried and didn't think that he could get baptized because of that. We talked a lot about how we can't be perfect in this life and especially before baptism. We sometimes get ourselves into thinking that we are the only ones in the church with problems. The only one that loses our temper or has impure thoughts. When we think this we we make ourselves lonely and we lose hope. When we told Ray that we still had impure thoughts and had to redirect our thoughts all the time he was so relieved. We all struggle, we all have temptations. The question is, what are we going to do when we are faced with those things? Are we going to lose hope because we make ourselves feel like we are the only one with this problem? Or are we going to look to Christ and find hope in him? It was so incredible as we sat next to Ray at church and heard a talk on over coming these kinds of things through the Atonement of Christ. It is so incredible how God will make special things happen for an individual when there are so many of us. 
Anyways, hope y'all are pumped for conference! It will be great! I know I am excited for it. Also, I found out that I am getting transferred! It is bitter sweet. It will be nice to have some change and such, but I am going to miss this area and these people so so much! I have had such a privilege of working with so many incredible people here and I am going to miss them all! 
So I am leaving up to Deland tomorrow. Crazy thing is I am going to be with Oxborrow again! I was companions with him last year starting at April 21st. It has been almost exactly a year since we got put together the first time. I am pretty pumped it will be a blast! 

Enjoy Conference!
Elder Dane Olsen

3.21.16

Hello!
We had a pretty good week here. We were able to meet with he Hogans
who are a young family that was baptized over a year ago. When I first
got here we tried visiting them and teaching them. They basically told
us we couldn't do lessons but we could still stop by and check in on
me which we have been doing. We went by this last Tuesday and asked if
we could share the Easter video Hallelujah. They said yes! Which was
awesome! We were able to share the video and bare testimony of Jesus
Christ and all that he has done for us. That was really neat.
Transfers are a week from tomorrow. I have been here for 6 months now
and there is a good chance that I will be transferred. I will be sad
if I get transferred. I love the people that we work with here so
much. The members, recent converts, and investigators are all awesome!
I have sure enjoyed being here. On the other hand, the amount of
people in the area is incredibly small. It has been a bit of a
struggle and a change there will be nice. Either way I don't know for
certain till Saturday.
Here is a picture of most of the zone at the Deseret Ranch Rodeo that
was on Friday. We were in charge of the concessions at the rodeo so I
actually didn't get to watch any of it. Which was kind of a bummer.
Especially since I knew over half of the participants. On the other
hand it was a lot of fun to run the concessions! We were running are
all night. They boiled  1000 hot dogs and smoked 1300lbs of brisket.
By the end of the night there was nothing left. (Towards the end the
price went down though.) It was really cool. I was even able to see
some people from each of my previous areas that was really cool.
During the wild cow milking event one of my recent converts here, Jean
Louis, got smashed between the cow and a fence. He was hurting but it
didn't hurt really bad till after the rodeo was all done. We knew
there was an ambulance coming and we thought it had already gotten
there, but when we went over it still hadn't showed up. He was laying
on the ground and his brother Francisco and his dad were holding him
and trying to calm him down. He was going into really bad shock and we
didn't know what was actually wrong. He was shivering, shaking, and
breathing really hard. When we got over there we asked if anyone had
given him a blessing and found out that no one had yet. So me and
Elder Weiss gave him a blessing. It was incredible. As we were giving
him a blessing he started calming down and at one point in the
blessing it left me wondering if he was still alive because he wasn't
moving. (When we first placed our hands on his head he was still
shaking really hard.) Shortly after the blessing he could talk again
and was trying to get up, but his dad and brother wouldn't let him get
up. We had to leave because we really had to to get home. We didn't
find out fully what happened until the next morning. When the
ambulance got there they checked him and they couldn't find anything
wrong. He ended up not even going to the hospital. Talking to him on
Sunday he said he was still soar but that was it. It was a miracle.
One neat part about it was his dad and mom are not members. They were
both there and saw what happened. It will be interesting to see how
that effects them.
The church is true. God's authority has been given to man to do God's
will,it is called the priesthood. He loves us and cares about us and
is constantly aware of what is happening in each of our lives.

3.14.16

Hey Y'all!
We had a decent week here. Not quite as good as we were hoping so that is why we have a great week planned for this next week! It should be a great one. We still had some great things happen though.

We have been meeting fairly regularly with Jean Louis and Francisco the two brothers that were baptized back in October. They are both awesome! They are 18 and 21 and honestly, I just wish we could go hang out with them and go hunting or something like that. But hey, there is nothing better to talk about then the Gospel. It is such a blessing in every way. it has been really neat to see the gospel change them as their focus and what is important to them changes. It is really incredible.

On Thursday we had a Zone Conference down in Vero Beach. It was about an hour drive for us and we had to be there by 7 so it was an early morning. Cool thing was is we drove down A1A to get there. A1A goes right down the coast and for most of the drive there were a bunch of ocean front houses on the one side and the Indian River on the other side. There was a bridge that we crossed at the Sebastian inlet and that got us up high enough to see the ocean and the sun a little over half way out of the water. It was super pretty.

MIssionary work is a fun wonderful thing. My most favorite (and in a way least favorite) thing is the people. Now there will always be people that swear at you as they drive by and say they love Satan. On the other hand you get to meet some of the most amazing people that just have pure desires to change and grow closer to God. I absolutely love talking with some of the recent converts here in the ward and talking with them about the gospel. Their new found love for the gospel is so incredibly powerful. I love it so much. It reminds how much I love the gospel. It is so incredibly awesome!
Anyways I hope y'all have an amazing week!

Elder Olsen

This is my companion.... Haha He sunk himself down into the sand but in the picture it looks like he is coming up out of the water.

So, the matching sweats. Me and two other elders in my district found them at Ross. We decided we all had to get a pair and wear them to the beach.  Haha probably one of the ugliest articles of clothing I have ever worn. But hey, we almost matched the sunrise. 

3.7.16

Hello!
It's been a great week though Sunday wasn't the best. K didn't
make it to church again. It was a bummer. When we went over after
church we found out that her and her roommate are sick. So at least
they had a legit reason. We are still really hoping to get them both
to church next week though. It seems that just about everybody that we
invited to church whether they are investigators or less actives were
all sick. Kinda a bummer. Other then that it has been a great week!
Some awesome news, we were able to attend the temple this week as a
zone! I love going to the temple so much. It is interesting how
incredibly powerful the spirit of the temple is and how it carries
with you afterwards. I don't always get lots of direction while I am
in the temple but over the following days I get lots more direction.
Pretty incredible!
Another fun thing, we were able to go past Bill and Gilda Curry this
week and help thin clean some oranges. Then we had some of the oranges
and grapefruits that were just picked and they were amazing! Well I
don't have a whole lot else to say so here is a pic.

2.29.16

Hello! This has been a great week here! So the investigator that I was talking about last time that had an issue with the probation office. He is clean! He is all good for his baptism coming up in April! A lot of prayers went in and it is definitely a miracle. We are super pumped about that and he is. It is incredible to see his knowledge of the gospel grow and increase. When we learn the gospel there is this powerful influence that inspires us to become better. It is such a wonderful thing!

K is doing alright. We had a plan to meet with her at least twice this week and to get her to church. We met with her once and she didn't make it to church. Talk about a sad day. Especially sad because she promised us on Saturday that she would come, but she didn't. The good news is when we were able to see her we had a really good talk with her about the gospel and she still has desire there. She is also very grateful that we were able to build a fence and stop by and see how she is doing and such. She was really excited about coming to church and we still don't know why she didn't make it again, we should be seeing her tomorrow and we will find out more then. 

We were able to go on two exchanges this wee, which are always exciting. On one of them I was with Elder Figgens and he is a runner. It was fun to talk about running, cross country, track, and ragnars. We even went running in the morning. Tell you what, I am not in shape. I ran alright and the run itself was fine but I was soar for a good 4 days afterwards! haha I need to find a way to get more running in and get back into shape that way. 

This last Wednesday we were able to go and do some service at this homeless help place. They provide a change of cloths, toiletries, and a shower to anyone who signs up that day for them. It was fun to be able to serve in that way and help them order some things in their storage room. I have decided it is pretty neat that so many people have such a desire to serve. There was a lady that we talked to there who moved to Florida several years ago and as soon as she got here she looked for a place to do service. Ever since she goes twice a week to help out at this place.

On the topic of service I have been thinking a good bit about it lately. I had a principle shared with me that taught an interesting thing about service. When we are trying to heal our bodies whether it be a sickness, a broken bone, or simply a cut we always focus inwards. We try to take care of ourselves to help ourselves heal faster. This is really the only way to help yourself get better, focus inwards. On the other hand what happens if our soul needs healing? Well the only way to heal the soul is to focus outward. When we focus outward by serving others it does something for our soul that can not be accomplished through any amount of focusing inward. That is why it is so important to serve. That is why it is so necessary to focus outward, other wise our soul can never recover from the sicknesses that day to day living brings to our souls. It is absolutely essential for us to serve in order to maintain a healthy soul. 

Go serve some child of God!

Elder Olsen