January 31st letter

Hola Familia!!!
Comó Están? How in the wonderful world of Disney are you guys doing!!
I´m doing absolutely amazing!! Well yes I got transferred but guess
what,… right next door, i´m still in riberalta but just in a different
area its like as if I was in wellsville and got transferred to hyrum!
And my companion is elder haws, from my group another American! From
Arizona he´s great!! Were doing really good here and it’s a little bit
tougher for us cause were both Americans and don’t speak the best
Spanish but its coming along great, we really have to work hard to
have success!! I´m not too familiar with this area but yesterday we
met an investigator that a friend brought to church, we went to his
has last night and taught him bautism and put a baptismal date for the
19 of February and he accepted!! Were doing pretty good as gringos!
It’s the raining season so its really really really coming down, like
flash floods basically pretty skizzy! Every p day we take our laundry
to some lady so she can wash it for us and yes of coarse its all by
hand! Most of the people have electricity and running water…no!!! you
cant use the water for anything, the all use wells, the only type of
running water they would have is for a shower if their lucky! But yes
us missionaries do have everything, it may not be nice at all but we
have it! We have whats called a pension where we eat lunch everyday
and the church pays for it and its just rice rice and more rice so do
me a favor, when I get home, don’t ask me if I want rice!! Ok ?? well
how are you guys doing!! How is school and all the kids doing!! Is
there still snow, is it cold or whats up with the weather doc.!! Sorry
I don’t have much time ever to write everyone but let them know that I
try and I atleast sent some letters!! But anyways that’s the recap on
this week, not too much because i´m in a new area but its going along
quite well!! Miss you all like crazy and when I get home….were goin
campin.!! Always remember that you have the truth and always always
always!....BE HAPPY! You´ve got eternal life, don’t worry about a
single thing and just live everyday like it’s the last!! I love you
guys very very much and tell everyone hello for me!! Por favor! I´m
doing great! Just be happy! Its super super hottttt here then it rains
and cools down then its humid then its hottttt then it rains, you just
never know what the temperature is going to be!
Love superman
Elder olsen

January 25, 2011 letter

January 25, 2011
Hola Familia!!!
Whats crackin in the valley of cache!! How are you all doing¬¬?? Well
guess what, we already have transfers and they are tomorrow!! Pretty
crazy huh, don’t know if i´ll be staying yet another transfer or if
i´ll be going! We will find that out tonight! How have you all been??
Whats new, I have a little bit more time today to write but I do want
to apologize for never being able to write you a good amount of what
i´m doing here in bolivia!! I´m still in riberalta like I said,
transfers tomorrow, we have about 8 investigators with a baptisimal
date in february, my Spanish is coming along absolutely positively
great! And my ability to teach is increasing tremendously. I have a
greater knowledge of the scriptures and what god wants for us! Its
amazing learning all this stuff, it makes me realize things that I
never would have realized! My thought s are far beyond my time right
now! Its crazy. I look at life a lot different now! So yesterday as a
zone we all went to this place called aquiles which is in the middle
of the jungle like 30 minutes from my area and its this open area of
beautiful spring water for swimming and canoeing, one separated from
the other, natural water to swim in with a diving board and a beach
and all sorts of stuff with beach volleyball which was super dope
sauce! And next to it was a small lake to take a canoe out and snap
some shots!! Pingpong, soccer field, tennis courts and anything you
need!! Twas the time of my life! We shredded it up with some beach
volleyball, took the canoe out, didn´t swim cause we cant! Took a zip
line across the lake!! A blast it was! Don’t worry i´ve got plenty of
pics to show you! It was amazing! Drank some coke and ate some turkey!
Got sunburnt and enjoyed every second of it!! Bolivia is still the
same except for one of our elders got kidnapped by a taxi and tried to
rob him and had a gun but the elder didn´t have any money so they beat
him up a little bit, no big deal but now he´s all good and safe, I
don´t really know much about it pretty much what I just told you is
all I know! I´m doing amazing here in Bolivia! I wouldn’t change it
for the world and I know this is where I need to be even though its
hard at times the blessings are beyond what I can imagine! I will
never ever regret the decision to serve a mission! Couldn´t imagine if
I chose not to!! Anyways how are you all doing, whats new? How is the
snow and the beav! Is let me know whats up dudes!!
love you all
elder olsen

January 3, 2011 letter

Whats up Familia! how in the world are you all doing!! its been two crazy weeks since i have talked to you all! but it sure is great to get your emails!! so you wanna know why i didn´t write you guys last week!!! well, we were on lockdown for three days straight and couldn´t leave the apartment. none of the missionaries in santa cruz bolivia! something with the government and the people go crazy here, up and down the streets and almost fought with one of our missionaries insulting him like crazy, " you mormons are worthless, you pay the taxi´s 2 pesos" pretty gnarly!! but christmas was just like any other day! nobody really decorates for christmas, its not big at all!! but it was nice because either everyone was gone or everyone was home with their families so we taught alot of families! my comp and i just bought some food and took pics and had a good ol time, as well as new years ever, we actually stayed up till 12 ssshhhhh took pics of fireworks and had a blast!! it is going great here in bolivia weve got some investigators that are improving! we put a baptisimal date on 2 investigators for the next couple weeks! should be great! my spanish is coming along super duper skizzy! still improving tho! but it sure is coming! sounds like you guys had a blast at christmas and oakley sounds like a big girl now! thats crazy, when i get home she is gonna be like a teenager!:) good to hear that you all had fun and were together with family! and yes alec told me that rozy is preg.) but hey, your already a gramma so who gives right! great to talk to you all!!! i sent a letter with some pictures in it so you shall be getting it soon! so so glad to hear your all doing good! its the same here, i´m improving everyday and its amazing! the jungle is crazy! my comp is chilean and is awesome! were having a good ol time! love you all a super amount and tell everyone hello for me and enjoy the snow while you can!! and enjoy the ride!
love you muchisimo y les amo
love elder olsen

December 20, 2010 letter

well hello family!! first things first, i got another package but i have no idea who its from so if its from some relative of mine, thank you very much!! another crazy week in bolivia, my trainor got transferred and i stayed here in riberalta! pretty crazy my new comp is another chilean but is not the best! i´m basically the senior companion and had to take charge of everything! i don´t know spanish that well and i´m not familiar with the area that well and he doesnt know the area at all and doesnt want to work that hard! so i just jumped in to gear and took the iniciative and work work work because its so stressfull but when were at an investigators house, i feel so much better because of the love i have grown for them! its pretty stressfull, not gonna lie! but its coming along! i miss snow so much!!!! but also something important!!! this tuesday or wednesday i am going to call you in the morning sometime only for 5 minutes to give you my number so you guys can call me this thursday i believe it is! so be home tomorrow or wednesday in the mornings so you can recieve my phone call! well not much happaned this week because of transfers but i´ll be talking to you anyways soon!!!!! love you all
love elder olsen

December 13th letter

well hola familia!!!!
sounds like everything is going pretty good!! what a shame to hear the snow melted that makes me sad!!!! but if there is one thing i want, its pictures of everyone and utah and the temple and just home!!! i didn´t realize how amazing logan was until i got to bolivia!!! but about the people, their just poor and lazy and dont want to brush thier teeth! but the mission actually tells us not to have our family send charity stuff to the people so sorry mother, but thats sure nice of you!!! so we had another baptism saturday, a 17 year old girl named Glesia Yuamona Antelo, it was amazing!!! its still super duper poor here, nothings changed yet! my spanish is coming along alright and i´m learning alot! i´m sick of rice i eat it everysingle day! so its good to hear that your keeping in touch with michelle and her family! she always tells me that she talked to you and she says your so nice and cool and she wants to hang with you!! what a mother i have!!! so all the kids sound like they are doing good!! congrats to ty with swimming and jake with band and alec for being so bored!! if you think your bored, come to bolivia, then you´ll really be bored, there is absolutely nothing to do in this town that i am in! just do whatever you think is fun and have fun doing it!!!! i want some pictures so bad!!! but hey i got your package! just to let you know the packages are guaranteed to get here and it takes roughly a month! it comes straight through the pouch and to the zone leaders house then i go pick it up!! its guaranteed to get here so dont worry! and thanks for the candy and letters and gifts! loved them! so ya jake has been out over a year, his year mark was december 2 and austins year mark was november 18 pretty crazy!!!!! well bolivia is going good and were teaching lesson after lesson after lesson!! we have transfers on tuesday so we´ll see if i´m staying or going!!! thanks for everything mother. i love you muchisimo gracia por cada cosa que haces! es bueno que te mejores y esporo que tengas mas fuerza para que puedas hacer cosas que necesitas! te amo madre mucho y gracias por su amor! ojalá que mis hermanos sean ejemplos a los demas!!! estoy animado y les extraño muchisimo! pero mi tiempo vendrá! les amo
love elder olsen

Letter written home by Brady on November 22-sent from Bolivia, received 12/6/10

November 22, 2010

Hello mother and family. How are you all doing? Let me know when you get this letter so I can know how long it took to send to the USA. OK? Sweet! So I'm here in Bolivia and yes it's super crazy poor! I'm here in Riberalta, which is ghetto poor, about 2 hour from Santa Cruz by plane. I'm in the jungle literally it's the Amazon here. Like monkey's, tigers, gorillas. All sorts of crazy animals. And right in front of the jungle is the Beni River. It's pretty huge. It flows from Peru and Brazil. There are crocodiles and pirannas in there too. Pretty gnarley! Well, I had my first baptism 2 days ago it was amazing. I baptized two little brothers named ENRIQUE LIMPIAS MUELLER and DANIEL LIMPIAS MUELLER ages 8 & 9 and my comp Elder Navarro baptized a 14-year-old girl names THEODORA MACHICADO CALLE. They all went really well! Bolivia is pretty crazy and it’s super hard to adjust to this culture/lifestyle because of me coming from such a rich country which has everything, literally everything you need. Trust me, we Americans are extremely blessed and lucky, people here are so, so poor. Some children don’t even have clothes and all the teenagers are either pregnant or have a baby and it’s crazy. They all breast feed no matter where their at. If their child is hungry they whip it out. Like in the middle of a bank or a big group of people, and even in church it’s definitely a lot different than the states. Nobody has teeth or if they do they’re all chipped and rotted. They don’t shower, they only wear sandals and their feet look like dead road kill and bugs crawl up and down them so yes it’s definitely not Utah! But I’m adjusting. The people are extremely humble and everyone loves talking about God. We teach so many lessons a day! Basically everyone we talk to lets us in! The juice here is so dang good. It’s all freshly squeezed and wow it’s good. As well as the ice cream. There’s no freezers so they make it all fresh. Mmmm mmm good. Every single lunch starts out with a bowl of soup. Then rice and some sort of meat. It’s usually pretty good. The milk comes in bags. It’s perfectly fine to sit out until you put it in the fridge. The language is slowly coming. It’s really hard and the first week or two I was struggling really bad!!! But it’s moving along pretty good. I’m finally getting more comfortable with the mission and it’s getting better and better each day. My comp helps me out so much. He’s a great trainer and keeps me motivated. So I wont lie, the mission is super, super, hard! But the blessings and watching the Lord change people’s lives is definitely worth it! I know it’s just cause I’m still new and it was a bit overwhelming at first but now it’s getting so much better, I’m getting a lot better and can finally speak some Spanish and teach! The Lord really has helped me a lot! Now the days just fly! Well how are all you doing? I’ve been praying for you all! How was the surgery mom? Well, I love you all and miss you all a lot!
Love,
Elder Olsen

November 29th letter

well hello mother and fam!!!
i have much more time this week and the internet is functioning for me!!!! sounds awesome that you guys have snow, boy do i miss the poop out of snow!!!! its like a hundred degrees here everyday! i miss my snowboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so the package is perfect, you send it to the address that says something like c/saavedra, empresarial, something with those words, but we changed the building to piso 7 instead of piso 9, its the same building just different floors so its ok if you still send to piso 9, i´ll still get it! but you can still write me through dear elders if you want, it will just take a little bit longer to get here! well bolivia is crazy!!!! someone has already tried to rob me! a crazy drunk man came up to me and said Dame cinco pesos which means give me 5 pesos and i said no, no tengo dinero para usted which means no i dont have money for you, and my comp and i just ran off! pretty dope sauce!!! so ya its super duper hotttttt here and its rainy season so like everyday it rains and it rains alot!!!! we teach alot of people and contact alot of people!! its super hard but its coming along pretty well, the spanish is coming along alright! send me some pictures if you can, just through internet, i wanna see how everyone is doing, and send me some pics of the snow!!!! i miss it!!! well not too much has happened this week other that teaching alot, we had our first baptisms last week i think i already told you about! they went great!!!!! my comp is chilean, elder navarro is his name, he is pretty sweet and super good at teaching! well we have transfers this next week and i am pretty sure i´m getting transferred to a different area, so wel´ll see! i love you all sooooooooo much and miss the crap out of you!!!! thanks for the letters and love
love you
love elder olsen