Monday, May 28, 2012

May 28, 2012

Ty

Wow!!! I cant even believe it!!!!!! Congrats ty!!! Estoy feliz!!! Ahora tienes que prapararte para que puedas estar listo! No te preocupes voy ayudarte mucho cuando yo llegue!! Vamos a estar juntos cada minuto del dia!!!!!!!

Wow i cant believe it!!! Your going to be speaking español with me!! And san Antonio texas is the place where you need to be. How wonderful!! Congrats bro. i´m super proud of you. Just prepare yourself now, you have to read every single day, the book of mormon and preach my gospel and don’t worry when I get home I am going to teach you Spanish for two weeks!!! You are going to be a pro before you get out there!! Learn and read the teachings of alma. He was a great missionary. Follow his steps. Read alma chapter 26 and you will come to find out how the lord always helps! And how to be a successful missionary! Anything you want to know just write me, ask me questions, the best tip I can give you is don’t waste your time!! Get prepared. Study study study and get focused because it’s a big change!!

Familia!!!!


Well this week was great, the mission presdente came to yacuiba and so we were able to have interviews and conferences. It was spiritual. My mission president is a very inspired man. Then on Sunday we had a meeting with all the leaders and priesthood holders and we went over the ward councel meeting and how it needs to be done!! He is filled with wisdom and knowledge. He knows the scriptures like the back of his hand. We have been teaching the mérida family. Roberto, loeonor, Karen and wilfredo. They all went to church with us yesterday, it was special because is was mothers day so they were able to feel like they were lovedJ we are also teaching Carmen. Shes 20 years old and she is the daughter of the family that we baptized a few months ago, she wasn’t living here but now she is so we are teaching her, she loves church and she is going to get baptized the 9th of june.

I really just am super excited for ty!!! This whole week I was so anxious for Monday to see if he had gotten his call!! I´m proud of him!! He is going to do great!! There really isn’t much running through my mind other than that!!!

Things are going well here in yacuiba, its still cold and rainy every day. Were just getting by. The branch is slowely getting better. Sometimes my comp and I have to help out a lot with the leaders and the lessons and talks to get them all excited!! But it can be hard sometimes, there are so many returned missionaries that are inactive. What a shame right?? I don’t understand how somebody could serve a mission and then return and not live up the those very temple covenants and ordanances like elder Holland says!! But we´ve got work to do!!!

Thanks for everything!! Again, congrats to ty!!

Love you allllllllll


Love elder olsen

Monday, May 21, 2012

May 20, 2012

Family,
How are things going?? I´m super excited for ty to get his mission
call!!! Thats going to be a great day. I have been having thoughts
about the phillilpeans. I think it will be to some chinease, japonese
crazy asian land. Thats my guess. So this week went pretty well, my
companion got sick so we had to stay in the house for a few days and
that was boaring but I did get alot of reading and studying done. As
for Jever and Sulma, we are still in the process of trying to get them
married, they are really hard to get ahold of, we visit them about
once a week which isn´t enough. We also found Pedro Fernandez, he is
about 60 years old or so and we invited him to get baptised on the 9th
of february and he accepted. He went to church yesterday and loved it
so things are going well with him. This week i have been studying in
alma about him and amulek going to visit some less actives, the
zoramites. If we put it into todays world they are like less actives
who all had left the church to go somewhere else and so alma and
amulek helped abunch of them return to the gospel. Its interesting
putting the scriptures in todays world. The book of mormon is super
good. There are so many things that i learn from it.

Everyone is growing up. I cant believe that kessley is going to be 11
years old tomorrow. She is getting to be quite the young girly girl.
And it just keeps coming.

so a good way to start a talk is first an example, story, experience
or something to bring the idea into play, then relate it to your talk
by a scripture. explaing what the topic is about and how we can
relate it tow our lives. then finish with a testimony! those are
great scriptures that you get to use. its good to talk about how we
must continue forward with our life firm on the foundation of christ
with all of our decisions, i dont know how to help in english, i only
remember the scripture in spanish and would be able to help in
spanish.... so you´ll have to forgive me. so you finally got my
letter!! wow, that took for ever. oh well, i´m still waiting for
your letter that you sent.
so when ty gets his call, have him email me!! i´m excited, when he
gets it, have him say a personal prayer so that he can be happy with
wherever he is going. really its not the place you go, its what you
do. wheather it be in the united states or out. every missionary is
teaching the same thing and nothing different. just be happy and get
ready now!!! love you guys very much and i´m super proud of ty!!!

p.s. where did you get mordaki from.


HAPPY BIRHTDAY KESSLEY Y FELÍZ CUMPLEAÑOS.

LOVE eLdEr OlSeN

May 7, 2012

Familia mia!!

Whats going on!! So first things first, this Saturday i´ll be
calling to give you all the information so you guys can call me
Sunday!! TY SENT HIS PAPERS IN!!!!! DUDE THAT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!
I´M SUPER EXCITED!!!!! HE´S GOING TO GO TO SOME CHINEASE PLACE!!
THAT’S MY GUESS i´m super super excited for him to go!! Hopefully he
leaves after I get home, but if I get home and he is in the mtc i´ll
be able to visit him there!! I´m super excited!
So yenny is doing good, now were visiting Zulma and Jever, they are
going to get married the 19th of may and baptized the 26th of may!!
They went to church yesterday and absolutely loved it!! They are
progressing a lot!! So we had quite the experience this Thursday. We
were knocking doors, we were about to head home because it was getting
a little late, we knocked a door and a lady came out but said that she
was there alone, her family wasn’t there, there were only a few people
who were renting some rooms in the back. So we continued on and then
all of the sudden two people opened the door and shouted at us asking
us if we could come back. We walked up and Mary and Jose said that
they have been looking for a church, mary had just been in surgery and
is slowly recuperating, she said that she had been praying for a
church to go to because they had just arrived from santa cruz about a
week ago so they invited us in and we talked and taught and they said
they wanted to get baptized so we are working with them, the only
problem is that they aren’t married so it’s a little problem but were
going to help them get married and baptized!!! It was a great
experience because the lord sent us there at the right time, we had no
idea what was going to happen we just knocked the door.

Yesterday at church was great. It was fast Sunday, and the
testimonies were very great!! Its wonderful to hear how these people
came to know the truth. Time is flying family!! I have now completed
20 months in the mission. Its going by way to fast!!
Hope things are going well for every one of you guys!! I´m excited for
ty and for the rest of the family!! Sounds like the little ones were
able to understand what the Sabbath day really is!! Hope they have
learned something from that!!

Here are some photos. Thanks for everything, we´ll be talking this weekend
Love Elder Olsen

April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2012


April 2, 2012

¿¿¿¿¿Como están ustedes?????

Well as you all know, conference was incredible. I cannot believe how wonderful it was and I did not want it to end. The voice of the prophet is marvelous. There is nothing like listening to him talk to the entire world with such a soft humble voice. I think one of my favorite talks was by Jeffrey r Holland about envy. Should we really be upset for someone elses success. We should always be happy for the success of others. Another thing I absolutely love was when deiter f uchtdorf talked about how we judge other people because they sin differently than us. It was powerful. I am super excited to wait for the liahona so I can study it!! Well as for the antezana family, edith, the mother is not going to be able to get baptized this Saturday with the rest of the family. She is pregnant and is having some problems and she has to work every Sunday morning but the good thing is that she is certain that she is going to get baptized just another day when she can get another job or when she has her baby, but the rest of the family is going to get baptized this Saturday, hugo, the father is making lots and lots of changes and he knows that he is the head of the family and that if he gets baptized the rest of the family will follow his footsteps. Things are going good here with my companion, tomorrow we are gong to santa cruz again for another meeting with the zone leaders so this week is going to be pretty empty. We will be in santa cruz until thrusday. We are moving houses, the owner here is an old lady who is really impatient and has lots of problems so we found another house which is a lot closer to the church and its a lot better so today we are going to be moving.

So what are the plans for easter, you going to visit the family or the family going to come to the house, lots and lots of easter eggs????? Easter was always fun. I hope things are going well with the family. Seems like it is. Just always remember what elder Holland said,

Don’t get mad and upset when something bad happens at 10 o clock in the morning when the blessing is waiting at 5 o clock in the afternoon. Just be happy always and don’t worry about a thing. We are in the true church. But we must be converted and active in the gospel not in the church. I love you guys very much and I thank you for all of the support and love.

MOTHER!! THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!! IF YOU CAN APPLY ME TO UVU THAT WOULD BE GREAT. LET ME KNOW WHEN THEY START ALSO BECAUSE IF I COULD GO THERE I WOULD LOVE IT BUT IF I HAVE TO WAIT AND START WITH USU THATS FINE ALSO. BUT IF YOU CAN APPLY ME THERE AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO I WOULD LOVE TO GO THERE ALSO.



i´ve told dad and cindy that its their choice if they want to come and i did say that i do have to be there for that day and that they might be better off with staying home, just so you know my decision isnt´based on weather they come to get me or not. its only if its convenient for them and if its possible. but i´m going to school and if i have to be there for such a date i´ve got to be there. but maybe uvu starts a little later, and they will be able to come, but we´ll see, if you could figure out that info for me for next week that would be great. really mother thanks for everything you are doing, it must be stressfull but i really appreciate it. i´ll give you a gian hug when i see you and thank you for everything

love you, love elder olsen.

April 9, 2012

This week was horrible!! I really dont want to write it all down but i will. So the antezana family didn’t get baptized. We had already postponed the baptism because the first time hugo wasn’t obeying the word of wisdom. And we go to their house Friday night and hugo starts to tell us that he found a new job, they are quite poor by the way, and that this new job requires him to work everyday shipping things to and fro. He said that he has to work everyday but that Sundays are sacred for him and that he will be at church every Sunday. And keep in mind that his baptism was planned for Saturday. So he tells us that they wont be able to get baptized Saturday because of his work so we talked and talked and the result came to be Sunday after church we would baptize the family. He accepted we left and I was a little worried, it just didn’t sound very firm. This whole new job thing was really worring me. Then Saturday came and it was an alright day. Found some new people to teach and the day came to an end. We were going home about a block away and hugo comes cruising around the corner on his bike, I didn’t recognize him, we just kept walking then we hear someone calling us telling us to come. We turned around and saw hugo. And were surprised and happy to see him. As we got closer we notice he was having a hard time standing still then we approached him and found him completely drunk and chewing. Wasted outta his mind. In that very moment I felt like someone had just takin away all my hope and faith and just ran it over with a semi truck. I have never felt so used in my entire life.. he just went off saying how he told us he found a new job but it was to use us so he could have more time to ´try´and stop drinking. Really, I felt so horrible. I was so upset and just didn’t understand what was happening to us I wondered why the lord was testing us so much and asked him so many times what was going on. Then I found out that night that the branch president wasn’t going to be at church because he was in the temple and that I had to do everything. And that just killed me. I felt so alone. One of the worst weeks I have ever had. Then I remembered a frase that joseph smith says in the movie of the restoration. He says that sometimes the lord makes us touch the bottom befor lifting us up. And I thought about that for a little bit then just prayed and put all my trust and confidence in the lord knowing that something good was coming around the corner. Because yes, we did touch the complete bottom. And Sunday we found jenny in the church. She was a reference from a member. She had already gone a few times and loved it. We went to her house later that day and talked about how she needs to get baptized. She said, duh. That’s why i´m going to church. She accepted and now she is preparing for the 21 of april. What an experience. We still don’t know what to do with that family, we haven’t visited them yet but I can testify that the lord does sometimes make us touch the bottom.. its like what elder Holland said. We wake up in the morning and stress so much about something that happens at 10 in the morning when the blessing is just waiting at 5 in the afternoon. And that is true. I´ve experienced it. I know that it is necessary that there is opposicion in everything. And when something bad happens, that means that something good has to happen to complete the will of god.

So that’s a little story of what happened this week. Things are going good now, we did get a new house and its better. Were nice and cozy and ready to keep working. How wonderful it is to continue strong through a trial. The lord loves us. Let us love him.

so mom i think that i might have to go to usu first because i dont know if i have enought to go straight to uvu. but that would be nice staying with hayden and lauri. i wouldnt mind it at all. i just have one question for you. do you think that its really important for me to go to college this semester.. on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely important. how would you rate it. i just want to see what you think. have a great week. and remember that were on the lords side.



love you guys

love elder olsen

April 16, 2012

Familia!

Whats up?? How did things go this past week?? Things here are going
good. The branch is really improving, there isn´t really anything
new, no new people other than jenny who is going to get baptised this
weekend. We have been knocking alot of doors and finding alot of
people but they all turn out to be one hit wonders. There rarely is a
second lesson. Were trying to find the people who are looking. But
yesterday was great. Our new branch president is really showing a
desire to improve the branch. He is willing to do alot of things to
help every organization. Yesterday we had a branch councel meeting
and we put alot of goals on how to help less active families, and
newely converts to stay in the church. It was actually quite
poweruful. We also had a spiritual lesson with jenny, we went with
the branch president and his family and taught her about the
restoration, joseph smith and the book of mormon and it was super
spiritual because it was a house full of members and she was pretty
much obligated to feel the spirit, and welp, she did. She cried, she
always cries because she knows that this is the true church. She
feels the spirit every single time we are there. Were pretty excited
about this one. Things are going great here in the zone, there are a
few elders who need to work a little bit harder but there good elders.
I am learning alot in my personal study, i encourage you to study
deeply alma 12 and let me know what you thing and what you get out of
it. Also today i learned alot about the atonement and grace. A talk
given by david bednar in the april liahona of this year. Its
interesting really, he tells us how we need to pray not to
circumstances change but to have the strengh the change them. There
are alot of scriptures that back it up on how the prophets in the book
of mormon dont ask the lord to stop the problems, rather they ask him
to give them strengh the be able to overcome them and thats how the
lord works, he doesnt change the problems etc, he just gives us the
strenght to change them ourselves. I really like that, never thought
about it that way. There is another thing that i learned that
probably has change my character. And that comes from the book
“teachings of the prophets george albert smith” i encourage you to
read it and ponder it and to put it into action. Its the chapter
called, the power of kindness. Its so true. Be what they may the
insults and fights, be kind. Thats the person who wins. Its
contagious. I have notices alot in these last few months, i dont
know how many people try to bash on us and tell us that we are wrong
and swear at us and are straight up rude. The only thing we can do is
say “ your a great person and we admire the things you have learned
from your church, i we know that there are great things they teach you
in your church” then we start to ask them why they like to go, they
answer the question and we say “ how wonderful, we are so happy to
hear that you have the desire to follow the savior, we are here to
help you guys learn a little bit more, things that we have learned
that make us happy that we know will bless your lives” and right
there is when they realize that we only want to help, and from a
yelling start, thats what makes it turn into a laughing end. Just be
nice, i doesnt matter who hates you, just remember one thing in the
celestial kingdom there is no such thing as envy, zeal, hate, grudge
so i guess you can say that one day enemies are going to become best
of friends. Why not start now.

i dont know mother. i have been praying alot and when you tell me
all of this great information about school i feel good, but when i
pray about what i should do and have spiritual experiences i feel even
better. i´m feeling that i should just finish in september like i
need to, find a job and then start the next semester, i dont know,
starting a week after i get home just kinda makes me wonder if its a
little to fast, i dont know, like i said i´ve been praying everyday,
you tell me some new news pretty much every week about school and i
feel good, then i start to think about it and start to have spiritual
experiences throughout the week and feel better about staying. its
like a scale that is balanced out. sometimes it falls on the school
side, and other times it falls on the waiting side.

what do i do?? but the biggest question is, if i stay here, when
will i be able to start school?? will i have to wait an entire year,
or just a few months, that is the biggest question. let me know the
answer to that!!

love you guys and thanks for everything.

love elder olsen



April 23, 2012¿Como Están Mis queridos hermanos, hermanas y familia?

This week was good we finally had a baptism. Yenny muñoz, shes about 55 years old and thanks to her friend, a member of the church she was able to become a member of the true church. She´s super excited and she has a lot of support in the branch. Yesterday went well, however nobody came to church, who know why, I guess the lord is the only person . but we will see this next week who goes. Yesterday my companion and I had the idea to have a movie night at the church, we watched joseph smith, the prophet of the restoration, yenny came and abunch of members. We had popcorn and juice. Super duper. We have knocking a lot of doors and I just doesn’t seem to work but we have been meeting with the branch mission leader. We have been talking to him to see what we can do to excite the missionary work in the branch. Were improving little by little. We really don’t have anyone right now that is progressing, we literally have been knocking doors all day pretty much everyday. Now that yeny is baptized were left with nada, zero, zilch, nothing, zip. So were going to get to work this week. I have also been learning a lot about the organization of the church, with the manual of instructions trying to help the branch president and its helping me out a lot, it will be great for future callings in the church, speaking of callings, do you guys have one??

Well i´m glad to hear that ty is that much closer to becoming an elder and getting his mission call hopefully soon. So I made up my mind and i´m going to stay here and finish in September. Thanks for the help and advice, and its right, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I need to become less selfish and think about what the lord wants not what I want. But that’s my decision. I´ll be coming home in September. so mom, if you could put all of that on hold that would be great.



mom, i was also wondering if it would be possible to find out the information to be a teacher in the mtc, if i went to uvu and would able to work their teaching the new missionaries???? figure that stuff out because i want to know if its even possible.. thats my last request. but that would be wonderful. i love you guys very much and thanks for everything

love elder olsen

April 30, 2012

Familia.
´just a Little of whats going on in the mish´

There isnt much to say other than i just started typing half of this
letter in spanish and realized that i was typing in spanish and had to
transfer it to english. Its pretty crazy , its come to the point
where I don’t pay attention to weather its Spanish or English. Weird
huh. This week was great. Its cold here, the coldness has arrived
and we are in suits and sweaters its like a nice winter in Utah but
without snow. Yesterday was a great Sunday other than the people who
we teach just don’t want to come to church. Its hard to accept the
fact that everyone still has agency and can decide for themselves,
and they chose not to go after all we have taught. But I think that
in the mission I have really understood what the Sabbath day is and
how we need to treat it. My mind has really opened up while here in
Bolivia. It comes to the point where we feel like we teach so well,
or I guess we could say that the spirit testifies so strongly, because
really, its not us, it’s the spirit, and still, they just don’t want
to go to church. But that’s where we have to put ourselves in their
shoes and wonder how it would be if we were them and what would we
want the missionaries to say to us.
Well yenny is doing very good, she´s super excited, comes to church
and is having fun, we found a family that needs to get married and
they accepted a date, may 19th their names are Jever and Sulma,
they have 2 youngsters and they have always wanted to know how the
mormons are. And now they are getting to know. So as for now we are
teaching them as well as Rigoberto, hes 23 years old, he has gone to
church twice and he´s really starting to get more familiar with the
gospel and is starting to accept more and more but he still says that
he feels like hes not ready to get baptized but one thing I learned is
that the no´s are good, when someone says no and it’s a challenge,
it’s a good thing, I have learned that the harder it is for them to
accept, the better they become as converts to the church, because
they really analize things and take a firm decision without falling
away and they become the best converts to the church who are very
dedicated. And I feel like Rigoberto is going to be one of those.
Well being 1st counceler gives me a lot more work to do, and other
than that our branch president is a newby also, he´s only been a
member for a little over a year, we are helping him out a lot with
the organization and order in the church and he is helping us out in
return. He´s a very dedicated branch president who magnifies his
calling and that helps me work even harder as a missionary so the
investigators can get to know him and the branch. The only problem is
the assistance, yesterday we started our sacrament meeting with 5
people, yep pretty empty but they usually arrive after the sacrament
and we usually reach 60 or 70. I´m learning a lot, the zone is doing
well, my companion and I are doing our best to be good zone leaders,
the lord is blessing us a lot, i´m excited to continue working as
hard as I can. I learn everyday from the book of mormon. It truly is
the word of god, to think that joseph smith wasn’t a prophet is just
nonsense. Strengthen your testimony every day by reading the book of
mormon and I promise that you can come to know all of the gods
mysteries.

i´m super excited for ty, i remember when i was ordained, it was a
very unforgetable day. keep it up dude, i´m happy for you and know
that you are doing the right thing. i am very proud of you. i hope
to see you befor you leave so i can just tell you all about the
mission. the family seems good and i´m happy. kessley need to keep
playing the violin because i want to play guitar with the violin, it
sounds very beautiful, as well as with the cello so keep playing it.
if you quit now you will regret it for ever. please mother. make
your children learn the piano. its so necessary. make them and if
they dont want to tell them they have to because i said so. i promise
the will regret it in the future and will have whished that they knew
the piano. or any other instrument.

i love you guys
love elder olsen

February 27, March 4, 12, 18, 26th of 2012


February 27, 2012

Well hello family

So i wasn´t able to write you guys last week becuase we were all stuck
in the house for three days straight. Like last year, there is
something here called carnival where the people go crazy and party for
days straight so they didn´t let us leave the house for three days.
But now were all safe and sound and ready to work again. So
yesterday every single person that has a baptismal date came to church
and they all had their interview and so this satruday we are going to
have 5 baptisms. Everysingle one of them is so excited and its going
to be a good Saturday. So get this. There is the 12 year old kid
that comes to church every single week, he never misses, he isn´t a
member and we cant baptize him because he´s too young and its much
better to baptize him and all of his family. So yesterday we met his
mom and invited her to church, and she came and she loved it!!!! She
didn´t want to leave, she learned a lot, then that night we went and
visited the entire family, all 5 of them and the father was also
there, he has gone to church a few times but he has a problem with the
word of wisdom but yesterday they all told us that they have always
liked the church. We invited them to get baptized the 24 of march and
they accepted, but thanks to this little kid, he has been sharing
with his family everything that he has learned, his mom got excited
and decided to go to church and now she feels the same way!!! What a
miriacle. And I don’t know if you remember me telling about Milton,
he´s the 27 year old that we found the first day I got here, he went
to church every single Sunday after and has had his interview and now
is going to get baptized, he just has been progressing since day one!
Literally. The mission is amazing, all of the miracles there are
every single day. I absolutely love it. I cant believe how much the
gospel really does change the lives of these people.
so ty sounds like a maniac. he´s just having some fun!! thats so
awesome that his papers are already in!! i cant believe it!! i´m
super proud of you dude!! and alec, have some fun in tryouts, all you
gotta do is be super aggressive, thats all gurney wants. just run and
run and run and dont stop and you´ll be fine!! but wow, bob is going
to be 50, what a youngster!! thats pretty cool, brett is already
going, that surprises me!! i cant believe that he´s already 19!! and
of oakley, glasses, ha thats cool!! you´ll have to send me a
picture!!! well mom thanks for applying me to usu, i guess we´ll see
this next week or so. thanks for everything!!!
love elder olsen



March 4, 2012

Querida Familia!

How are things going back at home?? This week for me was wonderful,
we were able to have 5 baptisms!! And everything went super great!!
Cecilia, Miguel, josseline, Milton and lupita all were baptized and
confirmed!! So we had a little spiritual experience with lupita, so
her family got baptized like a month ago and she was going to as well
but the day of her baptism she got scared and chose not to get
baptized so we had been working with her a lot and she finally had
made the decision, and wow does satan work hard or what!! So her
parents have recently been separated and her dad has been arguing a
lot with her mom and has been reeeeaaaly hard on her, she just would
cry and cry, and one night he was there and she was in her room just
bawling away and she said that she was so sad that the only thing she
could do was say a prayer and the moment she finished her prayer, her
phone was ringing and she answered it, and well it was me. I had
called that moment without knowing, just to see when we could pass by
her house to visit them, I had no idea but I guess the lord knows what
he is doing right!!! Very interesting!!! The next day we went to
their house and she shared that story with us. She was sad still and
well, I guess the lord knows what he does because I was able to bare
my testimony and tell her that everything was going to be a.o.k.
because I had passed through the same thing but now i´m the happiest
person alive!!! Cool eh?? And as for the Antesana family, I don’t
know if I told you but the first time we met the dad he was drunk
outta his mind and now he is super excited to get baptized with all of
his family, yesterday all 5 of them came to church and then we went
later that night and taught them about repentance and baptism and
confirmed the baptisimal date for the 24th of march and he got
excited, both him and his family!! So we are working hard with them
because they are wonderful people. Yacuiba is super beautiful!! You
have to see it!! But i´ve been trying to send photos through e mail
and its not working very well so i`m going to print a bunch and just
send them to the house!! Things are going well with my comp Elder
Lines!! Hes super cool, a great companion. Just your typical
Idahoan!! Were having a lot of fun here!! Were finding a lot of good
people!!

so i have been accepted to utah state huh?? sweeetttttª!!! now what
do i have to do? do i have to sign up for classes or how does that
work?? well i told dad to talk to you about $ so you can apply me to
the other universities. let me know if he says anything!! so kessley
got glasses, i thought it was oakley for some reason that was going to
be getting them!! but wowsers, oakley is going to turn 4!!! the same
day as one of our investigators, this saturday were going to go to
their house to eat cake so i guess i´ll celebrate oakleys birthday
there too!! and as for you too mother, very soon its coming, what, 28
years old now right??
well thats about all for this week, i´ve been studying alot from
mosiah, and king benjamin, wow there is alot of doctrine in mosiah 3!!
read it and enjoy!!

love you guys
love elder olsen
p.s. let me know what i have to do to sing up for classes.



March 12, 2012

Helloooooo family!

This week was a Little bit of a rocus. There isn´t much to say
because all of the zone leaders had a reunion in santa cruz so we
took a plaine and went to santa cruz Tuesday to Thursday, then
president calderon came to yacuiba Saturday Sunday and Monday and we
had more reunions with him so it was kind of a busy week. But I
guess I could say that I have learned a lot from my mission president
he is very very spiritual. Everytime we meet with him he brings the
spirit in so strong. Its nice to be around him. Well as for the
Antesana family, everything is going well, we visited them yesterday
and they are more and more excited, we just have to keep helping the
father, hugo, with the word of wisdom but he is already trying super
hard, from the day we taught them he hasn’t taking one sip of alcohol.
What a miracle because the day we met him he was drunk outta his
mind!!! But it seems like that was his last one! Things are going
well here in yacuiba, the members are good, the branch president is
good, a little new and is still learning but he´s trying his hardest.
Church here is nothing like the states, its completely different, but
i´m way to used to it here. Its going to be different when I get
home! The zone is doing good, there are 8 people in the zone and we
are all best of friends, today we are going to play soccer like we do
prettymuch every single p day. Its always interesting flying in an
airplane here. The airline is called aerocon and its super super
tiny, like 20 seats but its quite the experience, I love it,
everymonth all of the zone leaders meet in santa cruz with president
calderon to see how the zones are doing and what we can do better, and
so for the next month my comp and I are going to see if we can go to
santacruz on a train!!! That would be quite the experience. It
takes about 10 hours if we go by train but I sure would love it!!
Things are moving along. You have to read the liahona from November
of 2011, the talk called ¨love her mother¨by sister Elaine S. Dalton!!
It is super amazing and it will help out any person that has a
family!! I´m excited to put it to practice when I get home!!
so as for USU. sign me up for the generals, i´m not sure what that
consists of but all i know is it would be good to get them outta the
way. and a spanish class. because i am going to minor in spanish!
when is the deadline to chose classes?? would i be able to do it the
begining of august or do i have to do it before?? i will be able to
finish the begining of august. but thanks for everything, seriously,
keep finding out things about college, your doing a great job. i
think for the first semester i´ll just be taking the things that i
need to, then i´ll be chosing classes reffering to my profession,
whatever that may be!! thanks mom, seriously thanks bob for the note!!

LOve you guys
Elder olsen



March 18, 2012

Well i´ve got alot of news for you this week!! During the week, everything went very well, lots of contacts and visits, the antezana family passed their baptisimal interview and they are all ready for this Saturday, hugo is doing very well, as well as the rest of the family. They all went to church and well things went great. But now the fun kicks in, do you want to know how my Sunday went, because I can assure you that you have never had a Sunday like I had yesterday. So my comp and I arrive at church at about 8 30, and the district president (because its not a stake, it’s a district, a little bit smaller) shows up and says, “did the mission pres talk to you guys”? we told him no and he took us to a small room and said, well we are going to release the branch president, the new branch president is going to be brother Nava, and you Elder Olsen are going to be the 1st counceler and my comp is the secretary!! Dude, I am the 1st counceler in the bishopric, get a load of that. So we went and sat up on the stand and my companion prepared a talk while the district president was talking because the person who had to give a talk didn’t know she had to give a talk (ya welcome to Bolivia) so he whipped something up about tithing, and while he gave his talk, the branch president gave me the manual to teach the Sunday school class, so while he was talking I whipped something up for Sunday school, it was about baptism and the doctrine of Christ, and so while I was giving my class, my companion had to whip something up for priesthood class, so you can say we got a load of church yesterday. Lots and lots of work, then afterwards we had to do things that a bishopric does, like tithing and printing stuff etc. yeah, quite fun. But I guess you could say that it is quite the learning experience right????


so Happpyyyy ¨Birthdayyyy!!!! dont worry you are still young!! i sent something in the mail so it should be there probably this week!! love you thanks for everything!!!!! hope you had a great birthday as well as oakley!!

so just a thought, when does SOAR start?? isn´t it like a week before classes?? so my release date is july 26th which means i would be home about the 27th or 28th so i´ll have all of august i believe!

mother, thanks for everything you have done and are doing!! love you very much. but just to be sure, i am registered and i will be able to start classes without any problems right??

Love Elder olsen



March 26, 2012
Familia MIA!

How are things going??? This week has been a little stressful for
us. As for the antezana family, they weren’t able to get baptized
because the mother is pregnant and is very sick and wasn’t able to
even stand so we had to postpone it until the 7th of April. We have
been working a lot with them, Hugo, the father as fallen a few times
in the word of wisdom and we have had to teach repentance a few times
and it kind of gets a little stressful when they don’t do what we tell
them to do. But the good news is that they will be getting baptized.
This past week we had transfers and of course I stayed here with my
companion and we are excited for this next transfer. We have found a
few people to teach, one of which is Selva ¨Veliz, she has heard a
little bit before about the church and we went to her house yesterday
to teach her and she was very interested and asked very good questions
so I think that she might be a candidate. Not too much has happened
this week because of transfers we have been running all over the place
to get the elders situated but I am reading in the Old Testament about
Joseph in Egypt. It’s quite interesting because in my patriarchal
blessing it says that I need to learn a lot about him and his family
and be like them because of the love they have for the lord. So I’m
going to put it to the test. I am also reading in mosiah, the story
of amalekí and Alma. It’s crazy to know that someone would give up
their life for the lord like amalekí did. He totally wouldn’t deny
anything. And so they burned him and well that’s quite the story
isn’t it. But as for that like I said there hasn’t been too much that
has happened, next week will be a little better and more interesting,
things are going good in the branch where we are at, were helping out
the branch president a lot and we haven’t had any problems yet so I’m
enjoying it quite a bit.so how is the family doing, whats new with ty, has he sent his papers
yet or whats the hold up?????? hows alec, kessley and oakley and
hayden doing, have you got my letter yet?? is it possible to arrive
late to soar or do i have to be there on august 2nd. let me know!!!!!
tell everyone hello for me love you very muchhhhhhhhhhh

love elder olsen


February 5, 13 of 2012


February 5, 2012Sup family!!

This week has been great. We had a conference with president calderon and all of the zone leaders and it was so wonderful!!!! President calderon is the best mission president there ever was. He´s always super excited for the work and that gets us excited.

Well Jaime did get baptized and he is super happy, he came to church with his shirt and tie and is looking good. Rosa and Erica are also super excited, we weren’t able to visit her at all this week because of all of the conferences and stuff and when we went to her house yesterday to pick her up for church, she was already ready. How wonderful is that!! She has already gone three weeks in a row and is so happy and ready to get baptized with her 8 year old daughter!! My companion elder Packard and I have been working really hard to try to find new people. We have been knocking a lot of doors and I guess you could say that we have found some good people, although in the moment it seems like we haven’t found anyone, then Sunday night comes along and we realize that yes, we actually have found some great people so I guess we cant complain. So elder packards brother got his mission call and he is going to Ukraine!! Pretty cool huh, today we just read it and he is super excited because he has an older brother who went to Russia so they both are going to speak Russian. Cool huh, now ty just has to get his!! But NOOOOO I want to see him before he goes!!!! Maybe he´ll atleast be in the mtc when I get home then i´ll be able to visit him there, because elder packards brother leaves the end of april!! But i´m just happy that he´s going to go!!! So here in the mission I have learned alottttt!! Even though I still have about a half of a year left, I still feel like i´m new, everyday I learn something new that helps me better my teaching!! But the biggest thing that I have learned are deffinately the attributes of Christ, and it would have to be the patience!! These people here don’t know anything!!! Seriously but we try so hard to help them understand and as it says in doctrine and covenants that when two people understand eachother, its like a light turning on, they both are happy, I don’t know in English but in Spanish it sounds much more spiritual.!!!!:) so yes, i´m still here in campo rosa, 6 months but we do have transfers this Thursday and its most likely that i´m going to be transferred even though I don’t want to! This area has been the best one in my entire mission!! I´ll never forget this area!!so you already applied me at utah state???? and yes, feel free to apply me anywhere else, the more the marrier!! but i think that utah state is the top of my list for right now, but i dont know when the dead line is so if you have any problems, just call elder sainsburys mom because she works there!! but yes, jake is at the university of utah!! but you can apply me to anywhere else also, that would be great, just in case!!thanks for everything mom!! hope oakley is ok, alec is probably huge!!!!! and ty, i´m super happy for him!! say hello to bob and the rest



elder olsen

February 13, 2012

Hellllloooooo!!!!

Well family, i got transfered, i am no Longer in santa cruz. They sent me to YACUIBA!!! Its at the very very very very bottom of Bolivia, and my limit is argenting, everyday I see argentina, its pretty cool so the area where i´m at right now is full of argentinos. But this area is so beautiful, its got mountains and rivers and its super greeeeeeennnn!! I absolutely love this area. I left Thursday at 5 in the morning, took a flight to Tarija, then another one to yacuiba!! My new companion is elder lines from boise Idaho. Hes super cool we already knew eachother so we already get along!! I sure had a great welcome here because when I got here they already had 6 people with a baptismal date that are super excited and the very day I got here we found a new person named Milton, we taught him the restoration and gave him a book of mormon, he came to church Sunday and Sunday night we all watched the testaments and he came also, he´s getting to know pretty much all of the members and is super excited!! All I can say is that yacuiba is the best!! I am going to love it here and i´m happy because the zone leaders always stay in their area for 6 months or more so I think i´ll be ending my mission here!!! There is this one river trail that is at the foot of the mountains, next week we are going to go hike it, it’s the entire boarder line of argentina and Bolivia, so i´ll be taking a lot of fotos to send to you guys!!! Don’t worry i´ll be sending!! So i´ve got a question for you?? The people here don’t get married, they just move in together. We go and teach them the law of chastity and tell them how big of a sin it is and you have to keep in mind that these people have been living together for 10 to15 years and have 2 to 5 kids, it’s a normal looking family but the only thing is that they don’t get married, so we teach them and then invite them and they always always always say the same thing. …….. “you have to think a lot about that before getting married” “ why am I gonna get married if tomorrow we get divorced” etc. and these lines are coming out of people who are older than you and have living with the person longer than necessary. What can we teach, how can we teach them, are there any pointers you can give us, because were not married and you are, you know how it marriage is, so whats the best thing we can teach about marriage, what can we teach them that will get them super excited that they´ll say “ok, tomorrow we´ll get married” we need something like that!! So if you have any pointers or anything about anything, a testimony about tithing, Sabbath day, word of wisdom, prophets, whatever, I would love to have another hand in this work!! And its always more powerful and spiritual if we share testimonies from our family members!!
so ty, i´m super proud of you but i really hope i get to see you before you leave, if not, i´ll be able to stop by the mtc and wish you luck!! you get those papers filled out and get out here, we need your help. this world is crashing!! kneel down everynight and ask for strenght and preparation because you have to start strong!! love you bro. i´m super proud of the decision you have made, you will never ever in your entire life regret it!! take my advice. i love the mission and wish i could stay here for the rest of my life because i dont have one single worrie!! its the best. you´ll love it!!

mother, just another side note, let me know if utah state has accepted me, i need to know soon. thanks for doing everything for me!!

love you guys, i´m learning portuguese also, pretty cool

eu sei que a igreja de jesus cristo e a verdadeiro, e uma bendiçao estar aqui na missáo.

i llove yyyou guyssss

love ELDER OLSEN

January 16, 23, 29 of 2012


January 16, 2012

Hello family!!!

how are things going?? this week went great for us!!! we found another person named selmi and she is going to get baptised on the 4th of february!! she is super excited, her mom was a member but has passed away and now she wants to join forces with us!! so yesterday i had quite a spiritual experience!! we had to interview 5 people so they can get baptised, the first person was super excited and ready to get baptised, then his mother was also so excited because she had found what they were missing in their family and then came the other son named alejandro!! we sat down and i asked him how he was and how he felt and he told me straight up that he does´t believe in joseph smith!! he told me that he doesnt believe that thomas monson is a prophet, so i started with a prayer and we started to talk about prophets and their role in this life and what they do etc. he was able to understand much better, then i continued with the baptisimal interview questions and we finished all of them, he is so ready to get bbaptised but the only thing is that he doesnt have a testimony of josph smith. i told him what i felt and bore my testimony of how i know he was a prophet, my experience etc. then i asked him to kneel down with me and say a prayer to ask our heavenly father if joseph smith was a profet, he accepted, we knelt down and he started off with his prayer, in my mind i was begging and begging god to let me feel the spirit and to let him feel it to, and in that very moment the spirit came very strongly and i was able to feel the power of god and his spirit testifying to me that yet again, jose smith was a profet, and after he finish we sat down and i shared the experience with him and how i felt the spirit, i dont know if he had felt the same way but i know that the spirit was there, and after that he told me that he is going to keep praying and praying in silence to try and meditate better before saturday because that is when they all are going to get baptised. for me it was a spiritual experience and i know i did the right thing because it might now have been spiritual for him but it helped me strenghten my own testimon and now i know for sure that these things are true and what im doing is true!! i´m doing what i need to be doing.

well, hows things going in the home, whats new with the children?? and you and bob?? hope things are well, you need to tell jake and austin how i´m doing because i´m not able to write them, but tell them to keep writing me to let me know how things are going and things like that!!

mom, i have something IMPORTANT for you to do. right now i´m in the last part of my mission and i´ve got to start thinking a little bit about college, i dont want to think too much about it but i need you to do something for me as soon as possible to help me decide what i´m going to do. can you please apply me to utah state, university of utah and brigham young university. as many as you can, i need to make a decision right now so i can start studying when i get back but i think now is the time when i need to apply to see who accepts me and where i´m gonna go!! its requiring lots of prayers but if you could please do that for me to those colleges please as soon as possible and let me know when you do it and what the results are??????? please!! thanxxxxxxxxxxx

i love you very much and thanks for everything you are doing for me!! time is flying fast!!

love

elder olsen



January 23, 2012

Familia!

Well how in the world is it going????? This week probably was one of the hardest in my entire mission. I don’t think that I have every heard so many people say that they were busy in one week!! My companion got a little sick so we had to stay in the house so we weren’t able to work very much this week!! But now hes a lot better. So selmi is not gonna get baptized now, she called us and said that she is not going to be able to do it, kinda weird but its her agency and were trying all that we can. But we contacted so much that we actually found someone. Here name is rosa, and she has 3 kids, she is married but her husband is a drunk and she is about ready to leave him, but we came along and are really helping her out, her husband still doesn’t want anything to do with us be her and her kids are loving the church, they went yesterday and they are going to get baptized on February 11th so we are super excited about that. And Jaime is going to get baptized this Saturday, he passed his interview and he´s ready to get baptized.

so ty is pretty much a trooper!!! thats super sweeet.. what a talent he has!! i´m proud of him, that awesome that he is going to go to state. oakley is such a poop head, she needs not do that!! i wonder why?? what could be the problem?? and as for alec!! dont get too far ahead of yourself!!i know that you know that the church is true, you just dont understand everything so that makes you confused but i promise you that you will be just fine!! but it makes me happy to know that you want to have your own testimony becuase that shows you arent just believing in what people tell you. all i can say right now is the only thing you need to do is gain your own testimony and you know how you can do that?? keep praying to know if joseph smith was a prophet and keep reading the book of mormon and praying to know if its true. i can promise you that you will get a great feeling and you will know that its true!! but dont worry because i still dont know everything but everyday i keep learning!!!

MOTHER!!! I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thanks.... the toys were perfect, i gave some to a bunch of little niños!! i gave some to Irma´s (my pension, where we eat everyday) grandchildren and she says thank you thank you thank you!!! they really love it and the want you to know that they are very grateful for you and the toys!!!i think that i want to go to either USU or University of Utah. one of the two, so if you could apply me to those schools, i´m thinking about either engeneering or business, and of coarse minoring in spanish and foreign language!!

love you mom. your the best

love elder olsen



January 29, 2012

Suppppp!!

Welp!! We had a baptism. Jaime Rosales got baptized Saturday. And confirmed yesterday, it was one of the calmest baptisms that I have ever had in my entire mission!! This week was a fast one. We had a lot of stuff to do. And yes, rosa and her daughter Erica both came to church. Its been real good. Real good. The baptism was really nice. Rosa is excited to get baptized the 11th of February. My comp and I had to go to another area to make sure that the baptism went through because the elders aren’t there anymore, but I have learned a lot this week. My comp and I have been working hard, we are already finishing up this transfer, this is the last full week then I am pretty sure they are going to send me to another area, I don’t want to, this area has been the best in my entire mission. But as the teaching part, there really isn’t much to say because we haven´t had much time this week to find people or teach. But we were able to have a baptism, I was able to do it and my companion confirmed him yesterday, it was cool because he came with a shirt and tie and he looked like a normal member. And we also were able to visit rosa. She is excited but is having a hard time with her husband who is a drunk. But supposedly its getting better, he got a different job totry and stop drinking so much because he always would come home drunk because of his job. This week I have learned a lot about repentance and how its supposed to be done!! Its so amazing to know that through the atonement of jesus Christ one can become cleansed from all of their past sins. How wonderful. so ty is flying in the water is what it seems to me!! its sweet!! i´m excited to hear that you are starting your papers, get a move on them, pretty soon you´ll know where your off tooooo. elder packards brother is waiting for his call at this moment!! whats new with alec, everything good!?? and kessley and oakley sound like girls,, oakley still have ppooooppieee pants or what??????????? hows bob?? things going good with you guys?? when was the last temple visit??

so, any news on the college thing?? have you been able to apply me to atleast utah state?? i dont want to make things hard on you but i need to know soon because if so, i might need to come home a transfer early to start school because the classes start the end of august!! but that is if i´m accepted. but i would really like to be able to start right away!! let me know how things are going with that!!! everyone says hi, especially my converts!!

thanks for everything!!! you is the bestest!

love elder OLSEN