Querida Familia
Well let me just tell you how this week was. We have 4 people who are going to get baptized real soon. Maricruz, Christina, and the Romero Family!! We found the Romero family, mother and father and guess what, they came to church. It was wonderful, we had been teaching them about joseph smith and baptism and they told us that they will go to church to see how it is and they came, it was the best Sunday yet, the feeling of finding a family is so much stronger than finding anyone else because the family is where it all starts and you see the progression together. And you can see their lives changing. And Christina is having a lot of problems with her husband, he doent like the Mormons but she knows without a doubt that it’s the truth and she said she will always know it, so baptism is going to help her out a lot!! So get this, my comp is from Ecuador but some of his fam lives in utah, so he went to visit when he was younger and talks some English. The other day we knocked on a door and out came a new Yorker, not black, and we started talking and he was struggling a little with the Spanish and he knew who we were, he had done a lot of investigating about the Mormons and joseph smith, I was surprised, then I started talking to him in English and we got talking about church and he just wanted to argue and say that we are trying to earn salvation. And my comp asked him if we could sit down say a prayer and chat. So he let us in, and we taught entirely in English, my comp also. Wonderful. And he started saying that salvation is by grace, we don’t have to do anything, we aren’t going to be saved by our works and he says that we mormans think that what Christ did wasn´t enough because we have to work for our salvation but we showed him a bunch of scriptures but he refused to believe, then we started talking about the book of Mormon and he bashed that to the ground saying all sorts of incorrect information. Things about joseph smith being a freemason and a gold digger and he wrote the book of Mormon and all sorts of jibberish, but arguing wasn´t getting us anywhere, then get this he said that for him to be saved he has to get married in the temple and wear that funny underwear, and that really upset me, i talked to him very firmly saying that he cannot talk about the temple because he has no idea what they are and what goes on inside and told him to stop talking about that and to get his information correct the we ended it nicely saying, “ well why don’t you just read the book to see if what your saying is true or if what were saying is true” because he never has read it but was bashing so much and we told him he has no idea because he has never read it, and told him to just give it a chance, atleast read it so your information can be correct so you can actually know what it says. And he said ok, i´ll read it, but in English, so this Tuesday we are going to give him a book in English and give him time to read it!! I know that the purpose of that book is to convince so If he really wants to know he will be converted. Sometimes people can be really stressfull. But we ended it well!!! That’s about a wrap for this week. I´ll let you know how it went next week!!! I´m proud of all the fam for everything!! I sent letters and pics in the mail today so be on a watch out for them. i´m proud of ty and his talent, that is a gift from god and the new testament tells us what we must do with those gifts. as well as the rest of the family!!!! and guess what is coming up, christmas!! i´ll be gettin to chat with you all on the phone. rice is still on the menu and hand washing is what i do every monday morning, the clothes are fine because i can by new stuff here, there is a distribution center so if i ever need garments i just by them here!!! but thanks
love you very much
love elder olsen
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
October 17, 2011
hey family! thanks for the email. this week has been kinda frustrating. we had been doing alot of tracting but it seemed like nobody wanted to let us in. it was a good week weather wise, it rained all week as you can see in the photo, so atleast it wasnt hot. but the people finding part was a little hard!! we found another person named maricruz and now she has a baptisimal date for the 5 of november as well as christina for the 29 of october. so we are working with them and still trying to find other people. we have found a few people too that seem like they could be progressors. so get this a while back we found a dude named erwin but nothing really happened with him, we taught him like once or twice, but then recently we were passing by his house and he was outside washing and he looked at us and my comp and i knew that we needed to go to his house so we stopped by and he let us in and from that moment he just told us everything that is going on in his life. his ¨wife¨ is super sick and is on her death bed we could say, and in the hospital and they have a baby girl and its just super hard for him and her, he told us that they are straight up cousins and wants to know if that is bad, he told us how the parents of his wife pretty much hate him and he didn´t see his daughter for 2 years straight and he just wants someone to help him. and lucky enough we arrived and have been teaching him alot about the restoration and plan of salvation and he is learning so much and we invited him to pray to see if joseph smith was a prophet and he knows that he has to do it and he told us that he will. because he wants to have a spiritual experience just like we members have had when we prayed to know if its true!! its definately a spiritual experience teaching him, because we can only answer what the spirit tells us to say, some questions he asks are hard to answer about whats good and whats bad but thanks to the spirit and the mission president everything turns out great!!! my companion and i are still working hard and this next week we have done some great planning to try and find some new people to teach. sometimes it can be hard but its nothing to worry about, its life, its normal, but i just see the blessings day after day. in my personal study i started the book of mormon over again and i´m in 1 nephi, turns out nephi was a baller!! full of spirit. and he sure knows how to teach and be a leader. even when his brothers wanted to kill him. we must all learn from nephi. but not just by reading but by studying and really paying attention to the scriptures and what the lord wants to tell us. i promise you that if you say a short prayer before so the lord can help you understand that new pathways will be opened up even if you thought that there werent any!! but focus on the spirit and the teaching of the prophets. like it says in doctrine and covenants 1, ¨¨weather it be by my voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.!! how wonderful! i never want to leave the mission, i´m doing absolutley fine here and what more could i ask for, everyday i get to be guided by the spirit. thats not an everyday thing in the everday world! so i´m enjoying it while i can!!
love you all very very much
love
Elder Olsen
love you all very very much
love
Elder Olsen
October 10, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEC
dude dont worry i made you a homeade card also. but just need to send it!!!!! holy shnickeys, i cant believe that dude is 15 years of age. and almost sixteen when i get home, yeehaw!!! well this weeek was a crazy one, not much to say because we barely worked, wednesday were transfers and me and my comp stayed and were zone leaders so we had to do alot of sending elders to their new areas and getting them from airports and so we spent all day thursday in the airport until 930 at night, then the next day we had a conference all day as well, and we barely found anytime this week to teach, but christina is still progressing, she is super excited to get baptised, she is set now and knows that she wants to do it. she is getting to know some members and things are woriking out just great!! we also have a bunch of families that we are teaching but they arent going to church and not wanting to progress so we are trying to find these people who really want to go to church and get baptised!!!! but seriously that is about all that has happened this week, i´m still here in bajio with elder fuentes, its super hot here and very humid, there is sand everywhere like i explained before, its not dirt, its sand and nothing is paved but hey, thats bolivia for ya, its pretty gnarly. were finding alot of people and praying alot and working our behinds offfffff but the lord is the person that helps us alootttttt!!!
so hows the fam, hows ty, rebekah has how many kids now, 20?? dude whats new with you and bob, how are things going, hows oakley, does she know spanish fluently yet, if not now, very soon i´m sure, hows kessley and hayden and lauri and alec!!! i wanna see some up to date pics of them all!!!! well i hope that by this next week i have alot more to say, but hey what you can do is ask me a bunch of questions then i´ll have something more to write about!!! take care, i love you all, i´ll be sending some stuff in the mail shortly so be looking for it!
i love you very much!!
love elder olsen
dude dont worry i made you a homeade card also. but just need to send it!!!!! holy shnickeys, i cant believe that dude is 15 years of age. and almost sixteen when i get home, yeehaw!!! well this weeek was a crazy one, not much to say because we barely worked, wednesday were transfers and me and my comp stayed and were zone leaders so we had to do alot of sending elders to their new areas and getting them from airports and so we spent all day thursday in the airport until 930 at night, then the next day we had a conference all day as well, and we barely found anytime this week to teach, but christina is still progressing, she is super excited to get baptised, she is set now and knows that she wants to do it. she is getting to know some members and things are woriking out just great!! we also have a bunch of families that we are teaching but they arent going to church and not wanting to progress so we are trying to find these people who really want to go to church and get baptised!!!! but seriously that is about all that has happened this week, i´m still here in bajio with elder fuentes, its super hot here and very humid, there is sand everywhere like i explained before, its not dirt, its sand and nothing is paved but hey, thats bolivia for ya, its pretty gnarly. were finding alot of people and praying alot and working our behinds offfffff but the lord is the person that helps us alootttttt!!!
so hows the fam, hows ty, rebekah has how many kids now, 20?? dude whats new with you and bob, how are things going, hows oakley, does she know spanish fluently yet, if not now, very soon i´m sure, hows kessley and hayden and lauri and alec!!! i wanna see some up to date pics of them all!!!! well i hope that by this next week i have alot more to say, but hey what you can do is ask me a bunch of questions then i´ll have something more to write about!!! take care, i love you all, i´ll be sending some stuff in the mail shortly so be looking for it!
i love you very much!!
love elder olsen
October 3, 2011
I have oficially been blown away by the spirit!! I dont know how many prayers have been answered and how many questions have been answered!! All i can say is the prophet is a spiritually minded man and knows how to please god! So what i really had been wondering these past few months and days is what the prophet malachi says in the last two verses of the old testament. “ and he will turn the hearts of the children to their fathers and the heart of their fathers to their children” i had been wondering alot lately about what that really means and sure enough the apostle David A. Bednar answered my question. If we read what he says by sending elijah the prophet before the second coming we come to understand that its the sealing power of the priesthood that he gave to joseph smith and oliver cowdrey in the temple. The power to seal, the power to baptise for the dead. The temple work. I just hit me that gods plan is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and how can he do it for the people who never had the chance to get baptised or sealed?? Temple work. We have the opportunity to seal and baptise our ancestors and turn their hearts of gratitude to us, and we have the opportunity to seal and baptise our children and turn their hearts of gratitude to us!! I never new how interested i would be in family history search! When i get home we are all doing family history search and we are going to go to temple and turn the hearts of our ancestors to us, their children!! I absolutely loved conference!! So much revelation. Another frase i loved from the prophet that really helps me be more humble is “I acknowledge gods hands in all things” in small and simple words, we are nothing. Everything we accomplish is thanks to god. We accomplish nothing save it be by god. I love the prophet and one day my goal is to hug Thomas S. Monson and tell him thanks! It will happen!! I hope each and everyone of you have learned something new and are applying it to our lives, because it does no good unless you apply it. Its like money, its no good unless you use it!! May the lord open your hearts and minds and may the treasures of god be opened up to you!! Obedience is the first law of heaven!
i cant believe how fast my family is learning and growing up!! i`m super proud of ty, i always tell people how good of a swimmer he is because nobody here knows how to swim so they are all amazed, and alec as well. kessley is going to be a teenager by the time i get back, she is growing up way to fast! and oakley, i´m serious she is a prodigy, she is going to be someone famouse when she gets older i just know it. i cant believe she already knows the articles of faith and wow, even spanish she is learning. to ten, now try to twenty... uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciseis, diesisiete, diesiocho, diesinueve, veinte!!!! try that out!! and how great to hear that star valley is going to have a temple!!! yee-haw!! the prophet is funny. lets all learn from him!!! love you all very much
love elder olsen
i cant believe how fast my family is learning and growing up!! i`m super proud of ty, i always tell people how good of a swimmer he is because nobody here knows how to swim so they are all amazed, and alec as well. kessley is going to be a teenager by the time i get back, she is growing up way to fast! and oakley, i´m serious she is a prodigy, she is going to be someone famouse when she gets older i just know it. i cant believe she already knows the articles of faith and wow, even spanish she is learning. to ten, now try to twenty... uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciseis, diesisiete, diesiocho, diesinueve, veinte!!!! try that out!! and how great to hear that star valley is going to have a temple!!! yee-haw!! the prophet is funny. lets all learn from him!!! love you all very much
love elder olsen
September 26, 2011
Wow!!
Thats all i can say, this week was stressfulllll!! Well, we did baptize 4 people and the zone baptized a total of 20 so we did really good, the stressfull part is trying to control everyone so everything works out good, doing finances here is a lot of work, we were up until 1 last night figuring out how and what and where is all the money that we have to handle as zone leaders. Its really a lot of work but it all pays off!! So the mother of ketty got baptized with her two kids, she still hasn’t tolk ketty, you know the girl who moved to the states, yeah, she is going to surprise her!! How wonderful. And also olver got baptized, hes 20 and super excited and progressing muchisimo!! We had been working very hard to get that family in the waters of baptism!! And as you can see the lord helped us a lot!! I am studying the scriptures deaply and trying to understand every single line!! Its pretty cool, nephi is smart. That’s all I can say, and I have come to realize that the book of mormon is a book of miracles, all the commandments the lord gives to the prophets that sound crazy and imposible, but youll notice at the end of every chapter it tells us how they completed everything the lord commanded. Miracles in movement!! So jake and Austin are doing really good and are just about on the plaine home”!!!!! that’s a little crazy!!!, eric vanderkuyl is getting married!1 how crazy, is it a girl he met out in his mission???? How did he meet her, how is he doing???? This next week is going to be good because we have a conference with all the elders and also general conference. I´m super excited for conference!! I cant wait to hear what the prophet has to say this time!!!!! I love this work, even though I am as tired as can be. Its so worth it and my dream is to see all my younger brothers following my footsteps and going on a mission!! The lord has a never ending love for the people who are willing to serve!!! Just do it!! i love you all!! cant wait to see how big oakley is when i get home, she sounds like a prodigy!!
love elder olsen
Thats all i can say, this week was stressfulllll!! Well, we did baptize 4 people and the zone baptized a total of 20 so we did really good, the stressfull part is trying to control everyone so everything works out good, doing finances here is a lot of work, we were up until 1 last night figuring out how and what and where is all the money that we have to handle as zone leaders. Its really a lot of work but it all pays off!! So the mother of ketty got baptized with her two kids, she still hasn’t tolk ketty, you know the girl who moved to the states, yeah, she is going to surprise her!! How wonderful. And also olver got baptized, hes 20 and super excited and progressing muchisimo!! We had been working very hard to get that family in the waters of baptism!! And as you can see the lord helped us a lot!! I am studying the scriptures deaply and trying to understand every single line!! Its pretty cool, nephi is smart. That’s all I can say, and I have come to realize that the book of mormon is a book of miracles, all the commandments the lord gives to the prophets that sound crazy and imposible, but youll notice at the end of every chapter it tells us how they completed everything the lord commanded. Miracles in movement!! So jake and Austin are doing really good and are just about on the plaine home”!!!!! that’s a little crazy!!!, eric vanderkuyl is getting married!1 how crazy, is it a girl he met out in his mission???? How did he meet her, how is he doing???? This next week is going to be good because we have a conference with all the elders and also general conference. I´m super excited for conference!! I cant wait to hear what the prophet has to say this time!!!!! I love this work, even though I am as tired as can be. Its so worth it and my dream is to see all my younger brothers following my footsteps and going on a mission!! The lord has a never ending love for the people who are willing to serve!!! Just do it!! i love you all!! cant wait to see how big oakley is when i get home, she sounds like a prodigy!!
love elder olsen
September 18, 2011
Que tal familia.!!!
Como están, que ha pasado! Parece que todos están bien y felices.
This week was a busy one. So yeah kety is baptized and she has left, she is in texas right now and you know how we have been working hard with her family. Trying to do everything possible to get them baptized. We had been calling them every night and asking her if she prayed to know if she should get baptized. And finally last night we asked her if she prayed and she said yes, and we asked her if she was going to go to church and said yes, so the next day we were anxiously waiting for her in church and guess what she said. Hey, elder this weekend is when were supposed to get baptized right,? I told her yes and she said, ok, we can get baptized.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude it was sweet, and I knew that she would say yes, also olver melendres has been getting really excited for his baptism this weekend also. Hes 20 years old and ready to enter into the waters of mormon! Me and my comp have been really busy this week babysitting these elders. Some are obedient but others aren’t. sometimes I ask myself why these people are here if they don’t want to even work. But its their deal, not mine!!! We had been contacting a lot of pastors and people from other churches, and i´ve come to find out just how much they don’t know. They are so ignorant and have no idea what this life realy is about. How can someone actually think that believing in god is enough. And the other things they say are just so ridiculous. All I know is that we have the truth and thanks to the restoration we know the answers to all of those questions. Life is simple and organized. You just gotta follow the recipe. Time is flying, I cant believe it. Austin will be coming home in November and jake in December. Isnt´that crazy.!!! Well for ty. You have to get excited about the mission. Nothing in the world is worth more than the mission. Youll find out who you really are when you step foot in the mission field but yes, I want to atleast be home before you leave. You can still start your papers and get them all ready so you can send them off asap. But I have to be home to give you some pointers!!!! You´ll love it! Sounds like the family is growing up and becoming grownups.!! Cant wait to see everyone again!!
Bueno les amo y espero que estén bien. Yo sé que el señor les esta bendiciendo bastante. Solo hay que sequir sus mandamientos, nada mas!!!! Cuídense
Les amo
Elder olsen
Como están, que ha pasado! Parece que todos están bien y felices.
This week was a busy one. So yeah kety is baptized and she has left, she is in texas right now and you know how we have been working hard with her family. Trying to do everything possible to get them baptized. We had been calling them every night and asking her if she prayed to know if she should get baptized. And finally last night we asked her if she prayed and she said yes, and we asked her if she was going to go to church and said yes, so the next day we were anxiously waiting for her in church and guess what she said. Hey, elder this weekend is when were supposed to get baptized right,? I told her yes and she said, ok, we can get baptized.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude it was sweet, and I knew that she would say yes, also olver melendres has been getting really excited for his baptism this weekend also. Hes 20 years old and ready to enter into the waters of mormon! Me and my comp have been really busy this week babysitting these elders. Some are obedient but others aren’t. sometimes I ask myself why these people are here if they don’t want to even work. But its their deal, not mine!!! We had been contacting a lot of pastors and people from other churches, and i´ve come to find out just how much they don’t know. They are so ignorant and have no idea what this life realy is about. How can someone actually think that believing in god is enough. And the other things they say are just so ridiculous. All I know is that we have the truth and thanks to the restoration we know the answers to all of those questions. Life is simple and organized. You just gotta follow the recipe. Time is flying, I cant believe it. Austin will be coming home in November and jake in December. Isnt´that crazy.!!! Well for ty. You have to get excited about the mission. Nothing in the world is worth more than the mission. Youll find out who you really are when you step foot in the mission field but yes, I want to atleast be home before you leave. You can still start your papers and get them all ready so you can send them off asap. But I have to be home to give you some pointers!!!! You´ll love it! Sounds like the family is growing up and becoming grownups.!! Cant wait to see everyone again!!
Bueno les amo y espero que estén bien. Yo sé que el señor les esta bendiciendo bastante. Solo hay que sequir sus mandamientos, nada mas!!!! Cuídense
Les amo
Elder olsen
September 12, 2011
hola Familia!!!!!
this week went by super duper fast!! my companion and i had concilio, which is all the zone leaders getting together with president calderon and he gives us a few pointers. there are about 25 zone leaders in the mission. and get this, more than half are from the usa and more than half are from my group.!!!!! crazy. my group is doing great and we are all working hard. so there is this person in our ward and her name is kety, her mom and sisters and brothers arent members but she is, she is 23 and get this, she is moving to the united states to get married, she is moving to houston texas then to salt lake, we talked for awhile about the usa and stuff and we have been talking to her family so they can get baptised, they always come to church and so we went to their house and put a baptisimal date and she said she would get baptised but she still isn´t sure and she wants to pray about it, but yesterday was very powerful, kety bore her testimony about how badly she suffers because her mom is losing very many opportunities that god has given her and how she wants to see her in the temple sealed and happy as can be. it was very spiritual and it helped us out alot. she is getting alot more certain about her baptisimal date, the other one with a baptisimal date named carlos is not wanting to obey the law of chastity and is´nt really trying hard to have a change in his life so he lost his baptisimal date!!! things are going good although like i said, we work our behinds off the entire week and then when sunday comes, nobody shows up.!!! it makes me upset because we want so badly that they come to church but they just dont want to, and theyre gonna regret it. like it says in mathew 25. the parable of the ten virgens, five of them were all ready and had oil and when the bridegroomcame the were ready to go wit him and the other 5 virgens werent prepared and asked them to lend them oil but they said to go buy it for themselves and they lost the opportunity. in life we need to always be ready, we dont know when the end is but we have to be ready in every second!!!! amy companion and i are getting along very well, i´m still in an area with complete sand, kinda weird, its poor but not as much as riberalta. and the weather is super duper hott and humiddddd.!!!!! thats all it is here, super hotttttt. the people are good, they always try to lie to us and tell us that they are busy when they arent´, we know when they are lying. alot of people think that we are false and stuff but it just makes us laugh because we have the truth and nothing but it. nobody else so whatever we say, its true nobody can take away the truth that we have!!!! enjoy it!!!! thanks family for everything!! keep working hard and reading the gold plates and learning more about whats most important, the life of christ and the atonement.!!!
love you
love elder brady cade olsen
this week went by super duper fast!! my companion and i had concilio, which is all the zone leaders getting together with president calderon and he gives us a few pointers. there are about 25 zone leaders in the mission. and get this, more than half are from the usa and more than half are from my group.!!!!! crazy. my group is doing great and we are all working hard. so there is this person in our ward and her name is kety, her mom and sisters and brothers arent members but she is, she is 23 and get this, she is moving to the united states to get married, she is moving to houston texas then to salt lake, we talked for awhile about the usa and stuff and we have been talking to her family so they can get baptised, they always come to church and so we went to their house and put a baptisimal date and she said she would get baptised but she still isn´t sure and she wants to pray about it, but yesterday was very powerful, kety bore her testimony about how badly she suffers because her mom is losing very many opportunities that god has given her and how she wants to see her in the temple sealed and happy as can be. it was very spiritual and it helped us out alot. she is getting alot more certain about her baptisimal date, the other one with a baptisimal date named carlos is not wanting to obey the law of chastity and is´nt really trying hard to have a change in his life so he lost his baptisimal date!!! things are going good although like i said, we work our behinds off the entire week and then when sunday comes, nobody shows up.!!! it makes me upset because we want so badly that they come to church but they just dont want to, and theyre gonna regret it. like it says in mathew 25. the parable of the ten virgens, five of them were all ready and had oil and when the bridegroomcame the were ready to go wit him and the other 5 virgens werent prepared and asked them to lend them oil but they said to go buy it for themselves and they lost the opportunity. in life we need to always be ready, we dont know when the end is but we have to be ready in every second!!!! amy companion and i are getting along very well, i´m still in an area with complete sand, kinda weird, its poor but not as much as riberalta. and the weather is super duper hott and humiddddd.!!!!! thats all it is here, super hotttttt. the people are good, they always try to lie to us and tell us that they are busy when they arent´, we know when they are lying. alot of people think that we are false and stuff but it just makes us laugh because we have the truth and nothing but it. nobody else so whatever we say, its true nobody can take away the truth that we have!!!! enjoy it!!!! thanks family for everything!! keep working hard and reading the gold plates and learning more about whats most important, the life of christ and the atonement.!!!
love you
love elder brady cade olsen
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