week 78: Elder Christofferson's visit and Pamela's Baptism

February 19, 2018 (transcription from audio file)

Hey everyone, Elder Olson here, this week 1 of transfer 13. Wow!

So this week has been really good. It's been really cool. 

We started off on Tuesday going to Rancagua. We had a big meeting with the whole mission because it was one of the only opportunities we were going to have to get the whole mission together because of the Christofferson meeting. So we all went up to Rancagua and we had a big meeting with everybody in the mission which was really cool. It was fun to see a lot my friends there. It was good to talk with Elder Rogers, and well Elder Lee who was my last companion and his companion is Elder Rogers who was in our zone before. They have been in my other sector in Baquedano. And it's been crazy. 

They told me about a lot of the success they've been having there. And it looked like four of the investigators that we had, two I found with Elder Davis and two we found with Elder Lee, four of them were baptized in these last couple weeks which is incredible. I'm not quite sure which ones I've mentioned. I know I've mentioned Alejandro. He used to be doing really well at one point and then we left and so for a little while he didn't get anything but they started teaching him again. And they baptized Aileen who we found in a really cool way. Her cousin contacted us on the street and said "Oh look, I'm a member from this other town and my cousin lives right over here. Talk to her." And she ended up getting baptized. And then Victor, who I don't think I really ever mentioned, he was an investigator who was progressing really slowly, but I had a lot of hope for him and he finally did it. His wife was the first person we contacted with Elder Davis on that first day in that sector. We contacted his wife in the street and found out she was a less active member. And in our time there, she started going to church, started paying her tithing, she was there every week. He came 4 or 5 times to church but was progressing really slowly. But finally overcame some word of wisdom difficulties and was baptized. So I'm super excited for him. And then the last one is named Juan Diego. Who is a Columbian who moved to come down with his girlfriend here in Chile. So they were all baptized this last change, which I was super excited to hear about. It's really cool to see how much fruit came from all of our work there in that sector. I probably worked harder there than I had, well I worked pretty hard my whole mission, but I really tried to give it my all there and they saw results because of that. And we saw some while I was there with Jorge so that was really cool to hear about.

And then on Tuesday night we went and we slept in the house of some members in Rancagua which was different. That's not something that happens very often. That basically never happens. So we slept in the house of some members in the Tupahue Stake in the Los (?) Ward. A less active member offered his house for us to stay there so we would be ready to go to the training in the south of Santiago on the next day. So then the next day we got up there, we got to the church at seven in the morning and then we went up to Santiago and had the meeting with Elder Christofferson and Elder Bragg, the seventy who's in our area presidency who came a couple months ago. And it was cool to hear from them. My favorite part I think was hearing Elder Christofferson's testimony about president Nelson. It was just a very powerful testimony from someone who knows President Nelson very well. So it was a testimony builder for me to hear that. I know President Nelson is a prophet of God. And I know that Elder Christofferson is an apostle and that he has keys for his calling and he is called of God. He's no ordinary man. So I got to shake his hand and everything. We had a short meeting with him...about 2 hours. It wasn't really focused on any particular theme. I would say it was kind of on general missionary work. Maybe if I went back and listened to it again I'd find a theme for it. Talked also quite a bit about worthiness and having the spirit. That's something very important for all missionaries to understand. 

The day after that we went down to Rancagua and had the 5 weeks training for the trainers and trainees, which was really cool. It was short and sweet. I really liked it. I kind of just made a little list of things that I could improve. The big thing that I got out of all of the meetings we had this week is that we need to read the Book of Mormon more. That's something that the Church is stressing a lot and our mission had been stressing a lot for a long time. Teaching out of the Book of Mormon.

We had a good experience with that this week, reading through a chapter with an investigator and teaching the lesson out of the chapter. It's not the first time I've done that but it went VERY smoothly and the spirit was VERY strong. It was a really positive experience. So it's kind of a testimony that we should use the Book of Mormon as much as possible in all lessons. And we should help our investigators gain a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. 

On Friday we had a baptismal interview with Pamela. She did great. She was very ready. The interview lasted in total about twenty minutes which was so short. Normally they last about an hour. So the fact that it was so short kind of surprised us. But yeah, she was excited. And then she actually asked ME to baptize her. I was a little surprised. I was assuming that her dad was going to baptize her, and I suggested that her dad should baptize her. But she wanted her dad to confirm her and she wanted me to baptize her. So that was a cool experience. That was something that until now on my mission I hadn't had that opportunity so it was really cool to be the one performing the ordinance. It was just a positive, it was a good, experience. She's very, I don't know, logical about things. She's not very sentimental. But when the baptismal service finished she got pretty emotional for one of the first times that I've seen. So it was pretty cool to see that she was touched in some way by the baptismal service. Then she was confirmed on Sunday without any problems. So we are super excited for her. She's great. 

This week we also set a baptismal date with a Haitian named Justin...well close to Justin, we'll call him Justin. He speaks SOME Spanish. The ward has been SUPER welcoming to him and this other Haitian, who are basically the only Haitians in Licantén. It's such a small town. They've been super welcoming. There had been a miscommunication. They thought he didn't have a bed to sleep on so some of the members, without us having talked to them or anything, they went and found a bed for him and had taken it to his house. In the end it was something to do with blankets that he had actually needed. But he had misunderstood them because his Spanish is not fantastic. But it's not bad either. It's pretty good as far as Haitians go. Especially because he only had a couple months here in Chile. I think he said he only had 2 or 3, but less than 6 months here so I was impressed with the Spanish he does know for having only a little time here. And he's already come to Self-Reliance classes, he's come to church twice, so his baptismal date is for the 24th of March. We put it a little further out to make sure he'll be able to understand the doctrine and really make sure he's able to understand what he's doing before he gets baptized. So it's not just something that we kind of push him into. And so if we or he feels like he's ready before that, he can get baptized earlier. So we're excited for him. It's been cool to practice my Creole. I'm pretty sure I've gotten better. I'm pretty happy with that. I've been practicing a bunch with him in our lessons.

Also this week they told us about transfers. So it looks like I'm going to be staying here in Licantén and Elder Hiatt will also be staying here with me. We'll be together another change, which will be super fun. We're pretty excited about that. He's a good guy.

Elder Crompton is being changed, he's one of my good friends from the MTC, but he's going to a sector that's out in another district in a small branch. And Elder Rogers, who had replaced me in our last sector, came down here with me, to be companions with our Zone Leader, Elder Tyce. Our Zone now, a lot of us, are the same ones that were in my zone in Rancagua. Which is cool. A lot of good missionaries. It's a lot of fun.

So yeah, I think that's about it. I hope you all are doing good. I hope you all are taking advantage of the gift that we have in the Book of Mormon and one thing that Elder Bragg said was to find a scripture about Christ and his sacrifice that helps us to feel even more love for Him. I can't remember the ONE that I had decided was MINE. The scripture that most made me feel that. But I really love 1 Nephi 19:9 (I believe) which says, "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge Him to be a thing of naught. Wherefore, they scourge Him and He suffereth it. And they smite Him, and He suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon Him and He suffereth it because of his loving kindness and long suffering towards the children of men."  I really like that scripture and I think it shows Christ's love for us and his patience with us when we are imperfect. Elder Hiatt also wants me to tell you that it's his favorite scripture as well. He loves it so much :-). 

Well, Love you guys. Hope you're all having a good week. Ciao!

Elder Olson

Sleeping in a members house...Their dogs wiped themselves on E Hiatt`s bed :)

Most of our group that goes home together, minus sisters and some latinos. We're 29 in total.

Another angle of the same group.

Chicken Fight!

week 77: Interesting Investigator and Being Holy

February 12, 2018 (transcription from audio file)

Hey everyone, this is transfer 12 week 6. 

We are already coming to the end of the transfers. Pretty crazy.

This week was good, we started off on Wednesday doing exchanges with the Zone leaders. I went with Elder Tyce in Curico and Elder Hiatt got to practice leading the sector here in Licantén. It was good, kind of just a really normal exchange. As far as being with Elder Tyce, we were talking about it and we've been in the same zone in at least 4 different zones during our mission. We've been together a lot of the time. I was his zone leader for four changes now he's taking a turn being my zone leader. So fun stuff, being able to hang out with him. 

It's funny, in their house there are 4 elders there and they drink A LOT of Maté, all four of them. Our district has a cold Maté habit. We drink a lot of it with juice. It's pretty good. So that day, the morning of our second day of the exchange, we taught a Columbian investigator who was progressing really well and it was looking like he was going to get baptized but he doesn't feel ready to be baptized yet and they weren't sure why. So we had a lesson with him. It was really good. But he doesn't want to be baptized because he says he needs to go back to Columbia and fix some things in his life. And we thought it was just his girlfriend that he left there in Columbia and he needed to figure some stuff out so he could live the law of chastity. But I talked to the Zone Leaders yesterday, and it looks like he talked to them after church and he kind of let them know why he felt like he couldn't get baptized. And he has been telling them he works in a bakery. But he doesn't work in a bakery, he works as a hit man, basically. The loan sharks who lend people money, they hire him to go beat people up and so that is what is keeping him from being baptized. Luckily he didn't keep lying to them and he told them before instead of just thinking he was fine in getting baptized, he knows what he is doing is wrong. But that is a pretty hard process to go through for the repentance of a sin like that. It is very illegal and he'd probably have to turn himself in or confess to the cops. So the Zone Leaders were pretty heart broken about that one. He's a super nice guy. Super nice guy. We were pretty surprised when we heard about that. So yeah, that was interesting.

On Saturday this week we went and did a service project for Pamela's Dad. His name is Willy. He's the Elder's quorum president. We took out a bunch of his grass and helped him put in a fence on the side of his house...like help him dig holes and put in the wooden posts where he's going to put a barbed wire fence. So that was fun. It was some good work. And then we had a lesson with Pamela. It looks like she's going to get baptized on this next Saturday, which we are pretty excited about. She really wants to and she's been keeping her commitments so far. She's been keeping the word of wisdom and yeah we are just missing like one more visit and then the baptismal interview. We'll see. But she's doing really good. So keep her in your prayers please. Pray for her to be baptized this week. We are really hopeful for her.

Today, for Pday we came out to this little bridge and cultural center that we've seen on our way back from the little country sector where we come out to work sometimes. So we came out here to see the bridge. It's really cool. It's a really pretty place. They have a little cultural center that is a tribute to some author, who...not really sure who exactly he is or why they have this place to him. They have a little museum but it doesn't say much about him.  It talks more about the culture here in this part of the valley and it has some old hand woven stuff. One of the things that's kind of cool here is that the woven stuff that they've worn here for a long time, they still have it. They make it differently now. It's not quite as long of a process. And it's kind of expensive to get it but it's pretty common here to wear these poncho type of clothing. So it's pretty cool to be able to see that. 

So it's super pretty out here. We've been hanging out here all day. We did clean the house this morning. I built some shelves, put together some shelves. (sorry, getting on the bus). That's about it I think. This week are going to have the visit from Elder Christofferson. We are going up to Santiago on Wednesday. On Tuesday we are going to have a meeting with the whole mission so it'll be good to see my buds. It'll be the first time I'll have seen everybody in my whole group in a long time.

So this morning to prepare spiritually for the meeting with Elder Christofferson, we listen to and read the talk from Elder Christofferson this last conference, which I think is called "The Living Bread Which Came Down From Heaven." It talked a lot about the sacrament and our quest I guess, our search for holiness. And he talked a lot about trying to bring holiness into our every day lives and make ourselves more holy. I really liked the example he talks about with the pioneers and the early saints who put "Holiness to the Lord" on a lot of their everyday items. So that's pretty cool. One of the things that's also cool, in Spanish is that the word for holiness and the word for saints is basically the same. The word for holiness is santidad and the word for saint is santos. And so it's kind of just a reminder that who are is, we are supposed to be holy as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

(sorry. Getting off the bus now)

So yeah, that's all. I hope you guys are having a good week. Love you tons. Take care. Bye!

Elder Olson

ADDED NOTE: Elder Olson also told us his Mission President's Wife brought a keyboard to their apartment so he could practice. He now plays the piano for the Branch's Sacrament Meetings. He said, "I make a lot of mistakes, but that's ok. :-)"

He also said...

"I've gotta keep up on fruits and vegetables and start cutting out bread though. These last few months are called "sexy six" here. I did put up 200 lbs on the bench this week though! I should have put that in my letter. I've still got it. E Hiatt and I have done some cleans and thrusters as well trying to work in a bit of crossfit."

week 73: Licantén

Elder Olson and Elder Hiatt in Licantén

January 15, 2018 (audio letter transcription)

Hey everyone, Elder Olson here,

So this is week 2 of transfer number 12. We are here in Curico right now for Pday. We just got something to eat. We're gonna make some sandwiches. We just had a zone activity down here with the zone. We played soccer and then we went to go get burgers at a place that was supposedly really good but it was closed. So we just went to a bakery and got some bread and meat and cheese...which is probably better us anyway just because of how much money we've spent on travel these past couple days. It's a two hour drive from Licantén to Curico then two hours back so it's quite the trip. So this week has been good. 

It's been cool to be here with Elder Hiatt, that's my trainee's name. He's from Orem Utah. So not too far from home. He's super cool. We're having a good time out there in Licantén. It's a SMALL town. It's so small. We went out running the other morning and we ran around the whole town and back to our house and it took us about 15-20 minutes and that was with some pretty big hills. So it's not a big town. Our chapel that we have isn't actually a chapel, it's a little house. I sent pictures before but it was about in the second or third month in my mission. Tiny little chapel, well house. They have it kind of modified to have a sacrament meeting room in the bottom floor and classes on the top floor and then there's a little pool in the back for a baptismal font. So that's cool. 

This week on Friday I had a District leader meeting for all the new district leaders because they've changed some things for the District Leaders since I was one. I went with the other DL from our zone who was also a zone leader. He came here from being a zone leader, along with me. We went up there. It was good. We watched the funeral of President Monson which was great. The thing I took out of that, there was a part in the closing hymn, after they'd talked so much about all of his lifelong service, and then the closing hymn was...I don't know if the title was "Weary Not" but I know it said "weary not" a lot and President Monson was good example of that. A good example of being perseverant and continuing on in Christlike service for a long long time. I imagine what it would be like to serve a mission for 60 more years and that would be a lot of work so I have a lot of respect and love for him for that. 

Our days working the sector have been a lot of contacting. We've tried to work with the members to figure out who we ought to visit. We've had some visits with members in their houses. We've had mission coordination with the ward mission leader or branch mission leader on Saturday night and he told us Saturday night that we were going to have to give a talk on Sunday. So we were kind of nervous about that seeing as how it was already 10:00 when he told us that we had to give these talks so we rushed and prepared talks and then on Sunday we kind of got saved...some people from the Stake came and were giving talks as back up...well not as back up I guess WE were the back up that day. And then we're going to have to give our talks next week instead. The branch is small. There were, counting us, 19 members who attended church on Sunday. We had some visitors, some people come out to the beach and so there were probably about 30-35 people in the branch but there were about 14 visitors. So it's small. But they are good. They have a REALLY good branch presidency. They are all really focused and really dedicated in the work. The mission leader is good. In all of our contacting we've found some people who are pretty promising. We also have found that there are a lot of part member families in the town so we are going to be working a lot with those. That's kind of the basic update. We don't have much time because we came down to Curico today and I forgot to record on the bus and now we have to leave time to write and then get the two hour ride back and we're sitting down eating lunch right now. So today's not going to be a very long recording.

But I'm doing good. I'm excited.

oh yeah...

Also something really cool that's happening is that Elder Christofferson is coming to the mission. I may have mentioned that I'd heard a rumor that he was coming, but now President made it official. Elder Christofferson will be coming down to visit our mission and Santiago South on Valentines Day. So on the 13th the WHOLE mission is going to get together in Rancagua. I have no idea HOW we're going to do that because there's like 200 of us and then we're going to sleep in Rancagua that night. So I don't know, I have no idea how we're going to do that...if we're going to all be in houses of missionaries in Rancagua or what the plan is. And then the next morning we will drive up to Santiago in a stake called San Bernado where we will have the conference for about 2 hours with Elder Christofferson. So I'm really excited about that. That's something that I ...well it's kind of rare to have a Seventy come and then a month and a half later have an Apostle come to visit the mission. So hopefully it's for a good reason, not because there are a lot of problems in our mission. But we have a good mission. We are seeing a lot of improvement. 

I think that's it. Love you guys. Hope everybody's doing good. Have a good week!

Elder Olson

The tiny apartment (and YUCKY mold)

Coming into Licatén

Licantén church (in a house)

The song sung at President Monson's funeral