Week 13: Fevers, Humility and Blessings

11/21/16

Friends and Family,

It's been a pretty long week to start off the transfer, but a pretty successful one. We have 7 new investigators, most of whom I actually think will progress, as a result of our efforts to meet the new goals for placing Books of Mormon set by the mission president. We were able to set new baptismal dates for Alexander and his kids. Alexander's is for the 17th of December, just before the end of the transfer, and his kids Nicole and Max have their dates set for the 31st of December. Alexander will be able to get the priesthood and baptize his kids. I really really hope that they'll be willing to put in the effort that it takes to build a testimony.

Our new housemate, Elder Melo, is pretty awesome. He likes to blast his EFY music, and goes through about 2 liters of Mate every other day. He was telling me the other day some of his stories from when he was a sniper in the Brazilian military getting shot at by drug runners. Apparently they got payed super well, because after just a couple years of working, he had enough money to buy a house with only half of what he made.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Mate. While we're allowed to drink it and I have a Mate cup, the mission president strongly advises against it so it's rare for me to drink it.

I had a bit of a humbling experience today (monday). I woke up this morning feeling pretty sick, with headache and a light fever. I was determined to still go out  in the evening and work. There was a counsel in the message from the president that if you have a headache or stomach pain, go out and work regardless and you will feel better. I asked for a blessing from my companion right before we planned to leave. As I shook his hand afterwards, he told me I felt super hot and he made me call the mission nurse. She had me take my temperature and after finding out that I had a fever of almost 102  degrees F, she told me I was "grounded" and not to leave the house. I still feel awful but I was determined to take on the world. It humbled me a little bit and reminded me that I'm neither perfect nor invincible. On the bright side, I have more than enough time to write this letter!

During my time emailing today, I was reminded that Thanksgiving is this Thursday. I thought of President Uchtdorf's talk, "Grateful in Any Circumstance," which says "Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges." While my circumstances are less than desireable, I'm grateful for the abundance of blessings in my life. I'm grateful for a loving and supportive family. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to serve my Savior here in Chile. I'm grateful to have been raised in the greatest country in the world by faithful and understanding parents. Always remember that no matter your circumstances there is always something to be grateful for.

Les Amo Mucho,

Elder Jacob Olson

UPDATE
11/26/16

It's Saturday now, and I'm super sorry I wasn't be able to send this week's letter. I was actually stuck in bed sick for a majority of this week. Yesterday was the first time I was able to go out and work, even for a bit.

Note from Elder Olson's Mom: I am grateful for the mission nurse and the counsel she gave for him to stay in bed. His note to me told me he's feeling much better although his fever got up to 103.5 . They think it was some sort of virus. Thankful for those taking care of him down there and I'm glad he's feeling better.

A view of a house from the streets of San Clemente

More streets of San Clemente

Elder Olson's Comp, Elder Santini

Elder Olson and Elder Santini eating Empenadas

Part of San Clemente

week 12 Continued: Letter Writing By Hand/photo

(note from mom: because he gets so little computer time, I told him to physically write his letter some time on Pday and send me a photo from his wifi camera of his hand written letter on the days he can get wifi for free at the church when he goes for zone meetings. So we were happy to receive a photo of this letter today along with the other photos ) 

Friends and Family,

We've figured out a new system for my weekly emails, so hopefully we won't have any more repeats of last Monday and I'll be able to write in a little more detail.

We taught the Word of Wisdom to two of our investigator families last week, and it's something very difficult for the both of them. We also took away the baptismal date from a family of our investigators (Alexander and his family, in photo attached), because we didn't feel that they were ready. It was definitely our fault looking back, which stinks, but we're still working with them and I'm very hopeful.

I went on exchanges this week in a bike sector in Talca. I've decided I love bikes, way more interesting and efficient than walking. We also visited a super ghetto area, where I was offered Marijuana and was hit on by a bunch of teenage girls and a homosexual kid, so that was interesting.

We had transfers this week, and I'll be staying in San Clemente with Elder Santini to finish out my training and his mission. Only Elder Hinton left from our house and was replaced by another Brasilian, Elder Melo. I'll miss speaking English with E. Hinton but I'm sure this will help me with the language.

This week in my studies, I came across the last 6 or 7 verses of D&C 121. It reminded me of the power we can have in our lives, from the priesthood and from the spirit, if we are worthy of it. As a missionary, I need that power every day, and I promise that if you strive to be worthy of it, that power will bless your life as well.
Les amo,
Elder Olson

Alexander's Familia 

They made a huge cookie

Elder Olson with the local livestock

Elder Olson with Rastafarian Charazard (pic for his little brother)

Elder Olson, Elder Santini (his trainer), Elder Hinton, Elder _______

Elders cooking up meat at the Zone BBQ

week 12: Fleas and no time

This is a picture from Elder Haar (Elder Olson's friend, second in on the left). Elder Olson is 3rd in on the right. Elder Hinton is in the front and is the one he mentions is leaving their casa this transfer. This is a pic at a zone BBQ when transfers were announced. Elder Olson is staying put this transfer.

Friends and Family,

I've messed up on time again this week, but I seriously love you all a ton. I'll be sure to write my big email home first thing next week, and I think I've got quite a few videos and pictures coming your way.

Disculpe y cuidense!

Elder Olson

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More information in the letter to his dad: 

"We found out transfers, and I'll be finishing out my companion's mission here in San Clemente, although Elder Hinton from my casa is being replaced by another brasilian and now I'm not going to have anybody to speak english with me.

The new Book of Mormon goals are high (although much easier than the goal to place 2 Mi Familia pamphlets), but I really support them; They're something I feel like I would do as president. Usually my companion and I just set aside a couple hours for contacting and just leave the house with two Books of Mormon saying that we're not coming back until we've placed them. We actually used all of our BoM's last week and we're waiting for the assistants to restock the zone.

The mission is difficult, but not in the way I expected. It can be a little uncomfortable physically, but honestly it's not too bad. It has a lot more to do with the lifestyle adjustment (or at least I think that's the biggest factor for me personally). Not the adjustment of standards, but the lack of choices that I'm given. I was living my standards before the mission. But out here I can't choose what I do, what I listen to, when I do it, where I spend my time or who I spend it with, etc. That's been by far the hardest part. Obviously I can choose whether I will do what I should or not, but the decision there isn't a difficult one. However, I try to be more diligent than I have to be (DC 58;26-29) and that's really helped me, especially in the last couple of days."

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Note from his mom: I had asked him about a possible flea problem made evident from his last letter to me. Looks like it's not as bad as I had feared but still there somewhat. We look forward to his pictures later this week and more from him next week.

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From Elder Olson's letter to mom:

"As far as the fleas go, I know it's super gross but it's something that's happened to about everybody in the mission. I got them from exchanges with our zone leader. They've been almost exclusively on my arms and legs, though I've gotten two, maybe three on my stomach and back. I spray myself with bug repellent before bed, and I washed my sheets. I don't think I've been bitten for quite some time, but I would like to be able to repel them more easily. I have no idea if I can get cream, complicated situation which could be simple, but I can't for lack of time and resources. Seeing how the bites have stopped it's not an immediate concern.

Sorry this one was basically just "Business." 

-------------------------- From Elder Olson's letter to his baby brother:
"I wish I could have Davy Crockett bars, but we actually made a giant cookie this week that was a lot like them! I'm going to send a picture on wednesday."

Week 11: Earthquakes and Tender Mercies

"Downtown" San Clemente

Elder Olson on the streets of San Clemente

His "healthy diet" as he proudly termed it. He shared this with another Elder. He says most days they eat little and are kind of hungry, but on Pdays they make up for it.

Evangelicals singing in the street

Talca Zone 1 at the last meeting before transfers

Elder Pulla drew this of their zone.

Friends and Fam,

Busy week as always, not a ton has happened since I wrote last, seeing how it's only been 4 days.

I experienced my first earthquake down here this week. The locals called it a tremor, but it was like a 6.4 on the Richter Scale so I'm pretty sure that qualifies as still being an earthquake. It didn't destroy anything in my area, it just totally surprised me. Honestly it was a lot cooler and scarier than I expected.

In my time here I've had a lot of great experiences that have developed my testimony of tender mercies. One of these happened yesterday as we were contacting. After a couple of particularly rude rejections, we were passing a house with an older man on the porch. Old people here are usually the least interested in our message or even conversation, because they're very stuck in their ways. At this point in the day I was tired, hot, and frankly just thinking about how sick I was of my mission work.

When we had almost passed the house we both stopped, and decided to ask for some water. The old man went inside for a moment and afterwords his daughter invited us in for some food and drink, and we were able to share a really awesome message with her. It lifted my spirits more than I can say and I really felt that that visit was a mercy of the Lord.

In other news, I accidentally broke the Word of Wisdom yesterday. Just some coffee in a drink that an investigator made, and very very little at that. We felt bad telling her that we couldn't finish the drink, but we were definitely blessed in the lesson because of our faith.

I love you all, stay righteous

Elder Olson

To his mom: "Everything is going well as can be hoped for, the earthquake surprised me and kind of freaked me out, but I'm totally fine."

To his Dad: "I don't have nearly as much time as I'd like to describe what's going on here. The father of the family still wants to be baptized on the 19th of this month, and I'm praying hard that he can stay on track to meet that goal. The daughter has accepted a date in early december and the son is going to have to as well because he didn't attend this sunday, although I think that wasn't so much his fault, the Dad couldn't come and he didn't want his kids going by themselves. This week has been a little tougher, but I'll happily take the challenge. I'm interested to see what happens with the coming transfer."
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Here's a video someone down there posted to Youtube of their apartment shaking

Here's a copy of an online article about the earthquake

Magnitude 6.4 quake shakes central Chile; no damage, injuries reported

Published November 5, 2016 12:44am
Updated November 5, 2016 8:38am

SANTIAGO - A 6.4-magnitude quake rattled central Chile on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital, but authorities said there were no immediate injuries or damage to infrastructure or mines reported.

Chile's emergency office Onemi called it a "major" seismic event, and said it was evaluating whether any damage had taken place.

The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the quake was about 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Talca and around 119 miles south of Santiago, at a depth of about 56 miles.

The quake did not meet the requirements to generate a tsunami off the coast, the Chilean navy said.

Most of the copper mines in Chile, the world's biggest copper exporter, are in the north of the country, far from the epicenter.

The main exception is Codelco's El Teniente copper mine, which is located around 50 miles south of Santiago. A Codelco spokeswoman said operations at the mine had not been affected.

Situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," Chile runs along a seismic zone where tectonic plates rub up against each other. It is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, and in 1960, was hit by a 9.5-magnitude quake, the strongest in recorded history.

The biggest quake to hit Chile in recent years was an 8.8-magnitude tremor that struck the central-southern region in 2010, triggering a tsunami and killing more than 500 people.

Practice drills are frequent in Chile and builders follow strict construction codes, which help to limit death and destruction when tremors hit. —Reuters

- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/587593/news/world/magnitude-6-4-quake-shakes-central-chile-no-damage-injuries-reported#sthash.q4xudQRE.dpuf

week 10: Officially One Month in the field

Friends and Family,

Officially one month down in the mission field! I try not to focus on time too much, but I get excited about every little milestone. I've been keeping super busy, and a lot has happened. I had my first opportunity to participate in giving a blessing in Spanish. I just did the annointing, but it was a big confidence boost to know that I'm able to contribute in a manner that the people I'm serving can understand. I'm still feeling great about my spanish, although today it's being tested a little. I'm going on exchanges with an Elder from Mexico, and I'm leading our sector. It's going to take some hard work and quite a bit of faith.

This Monday was a combination of Halloween and National Evangelical day. National Evangelical Day is a big deal down here, they were all parading in the streets chanting scriptures and such and having huge concerts in their church buildings. There are a lot of Evangelical's down here, and honestly I think it's mostly because they just get to party all the time. Monday is my PDay, and we were going to go to some village up in the mountains but it was too stormy to do so, so we just stayed home and made some kind of hawaiian sushi with spam instead of fish (my companion lived in Hawaii for several years before the mission). We found out midday that we had to travel to Rancagua that night, so we spent several hours of Halloween on the bus ride up to Rancagua. My companion and I switched name tags and ties to try to get in the Halloween spirit, and we went to a little chinese restaraunt that was surprisingly tasty with the other Elders that were headed to the same meeting.

On tuesday we had a meeting with all of the new missionaries for our 5 week training. It was awesome to see that everybody from my MTC district is still doing well. I got back from the meeting that night to find that the other Elders had put my comp's nametag and a bunch of my candy in jello, so that was interesting.

This week was the first time I've had a baptismal date fall through, which was a bummer. It was one member of a family as well, and so the rest of the family will likely want to push their date so they can get baptized together. We also had an investigator open up to us about how hard of a time her family is having just trying to find food to eat. It was a truly humbling experience, and it breaks my heart how little we can do to help. I'm incredibly grateful for the blessings I had back in the states.

I'm sorry that I didn't prep any sort of spiritual thought for this email, but I want to testify to you all that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the earth today. I know that Jesus Christ payed the ultimate price to save you and me from our sins, and I'm eternally grateful that through his sacrifice I can have an eternal family.

I love you all,

Elder Olson

Elder Olson's Personalized Trompo toy

Elder Hinton Spinning the trompo

Elder Olson spinning the trompo on his hand

Spam "sushi"

trick played on Elder Olson...all his yummy candies put in a jello