week 44: Lots of Rain!

Hello, (I learned out to say hello in dutch this week but I forgot)

It's been a rainy week down here in Curico. It's rained more than half of this week, and it's still going strong today. The not-so-fun part of that is taking the 15 minute walk to get to our sector. I'm definitely grateful for my rain boots.

The canal systems aren't too fantastic down here. A lot of the roads are in such deep water that cars can't use them. I'm grateful to be in a 5th story apartment to avoid flooding. My Filipino friend (former housemate) Elder Belayro wasn't so lucky though. We saw their sector on the news in a member's house. I called them, and it sounds like their house is filled with water and they're looking for a new one. This week we were also in a house teaching when suddenly we heard a band and water began to drip down the walls and fall through the ceiling. We were there another hour helping fix their roof and dry their things.

On top of the rain, we've had trainings to give, interviews with President, exchanges to do and lots of service. We've had almost no time to go out to the sector which is a bit of a bummer.

On Saturday, we did 3 services. We hauled a lot of huge, soaked logs. The wheelbarrow broke under the weight, so we would load them up on our shoulders and carry them the 2 blocks to the less-active member's house. My shoulders are still super bruised.

Luckily we actually have weights here in our apartment so my exercise has leveled up a little bit.

I had a weird experience in the ghetto on exchanges this past Thursday. We ran into a drunk girl and her boyfriend fighting. She ran over to us asking for help. We were worried that he was going to hit her, so we talked them down. I was basically running in circles the whole time trying to get away from the girl who kept trying to hold my arm or hand and was too drunk to understand the word "no." Eventually, we got the two of them in their houses without calling the cops.

It's been a crazy week. I'm a bit stressed but I feel good and I'm sure things will calm down soon.

Pray and read your scriptures!

Love,
Elder Olson

Wall Mural along the street

Mate (the drink) in an apple

Elder Heap and Elder Olson...Companions

Week 43: Curico

Hey Friends and Fam,

Hey all, sorry I forgot to write out a group letter by hand, so this one might not be quite so detailed :)

This week has been my first here in the Alameda Ward in Curico. I haven't been able to spend as much time in the sector as I would've liked thanks to our meetings. On Thursday we went up to Rancagua for leadership council with the other mission leaders. It was very long, and while I love trainings with President I've certainly had better. Then on Saturday, we trained our district leaders on everything we'd talked about in leadership council.

My new companion, Elder Heap, is awesome. He "dies" (finishes the mission) this change. He's from the country in Arizona. Really chill.

The sector seems pretty good. I LOVED Buin, so it'll be quite the adjustment. I also feel a lot of pressure to baptize here, especially seeing how I'm a Zone Leader and should be setting the example.. There are a lot of great converts here, and all of our new investigators this week were references from members, so that's cool.

The city is pretty down here. Much larger than Buin.

Also Elder Villegas called me from Buin yesterday, and it looks like one of my investigators, Berny, there in church this week told them "Hey so, I wanna be baptized". He'll be baptized July 9. He wanted me to be there, we'll have to see if we can maybe work out some kind of skype call. But we as missionaries were only able to visit him twice, which goes to show that God does the work, and luckily He loves us missionaries enough to let us participate.

Mucho amor,
Elder Olson

Some photos from Buin and then from my new area, Curico

Goodbye Familia Rodriguez

Jaime (Brother James) second from the left. He liked to feed us missionaries in Buin

Investigator Carolina and her family. She's 10 days smoke free. Pray for her to keep it up. (and those aren't gang signs BTW)

 Photos from Curico...

From Chile to Alaska

Pano from apartment balcolny

Selfie on the balcony looking over part of Curico