week 82: working the rural areas

March 19, 2018

Hey everyone this is week 5 of transfer 13.

It's been a good week.

We had exchanges with the Zone leaders this week. It went really well. I was with Elder Rogers who I've known since he started his mission back when I was in Buin. So that was really cool. We also have been in a zone together in Rancagua for a few changes. So we know each other pretty well. He's an awesome missionary. And it was really fun because he speaks really good Creole. The Haitian language. He speaks pretty fluently I would say. Although my Creole isn't perfect. They seem to understand him super well. So it was cool because I was able to practice and I was able to learn a couple things. We had two or three, no at least three lessons that were entirely in Creole which was cool and I was actually able to participate a little more in these. I've had them before all in Creole on exchanges with Elder Rogers. And I've been able to understand what was going on but not been able to express myself super well. But this time I was able to explain some stuff, I was able to give my testimony. That's what I've been studying a bit here in Chile. So yeah that was fun. And then we ended up, because of a thing they had, we extended the exchange for the next day. That night Elder Hiatt and Elder Tyce came down from Licantén and they brought my suit and stuff to stay in the Zone Leader's house there. And we also took advantage that night, we saw there was a deal at this place called Pela Pizza, which is like basically the only pizza chain here in Chile, and they had some large pizzas for only 4000 pesos which is like 6-7 dollars, which is...it's not the BEST pizza...but it's the best price for a decent pizza that you can get around here. So we were pretty excited about that so we all bought a ton of pizza. Which was awesome! And there were also some other Elders, Elder Crompton and Elder Musselman, both from my MTC group, Elder Musselman was my companion. They  were staying there that night to do some things for Elder Cromptons Passport and Visa. So that was a lot of fun to be able to catch up with them too. 

On Saturday, we had a lesson in this little town called ?. It's  just one road and it's super super country, very rural. And so the cool part with that was that we, well she was a member reference, the cousin of the Elder's quorum president, she's less active, but she has a daughter (the Mom's name is Karen, the daughter's name is Darling) and Darling isn't a member. She was listening to the members before. She had a baptismal date that she was pretty excited about. But she didn't get baptized because I think she was studying and had to leave to go to school. Now she's back and she's just barely finishing her degree this week. So we had the visit and her and her mom were super excited that we were there. They received us really well. The mom's husband did NOT receive us that well. He went and hid. But it was good to be able to have the lesson with the other two. Darling is like 21 or I think she might be 23 but she's just finishing her nursing degree. So we are excited to be working with them. One of the coolest parts of that lesson was at the very end, the mom, Karen, gave a prayer to finish the lesson and in her prayer, she basically said that she was grateful that we had been there to their house and she was grateful that we had arrived in what she said was the perfect moment. She was thankful that her daughter was ready to be baptized, and she basically said, at the very end, thank you for rescuing me and please don't let me go. It was just very sincere and really incredible to hear that prayer. So that went really well.

This week we've also set baptismal dates with some other investigators. One named Max and one named Juan. And Max is a Haitian, he speaks English. He went to church on Sunday. He's awesome. OH, we also had in church on Sunday, this family from Hualañe where we've been working a lot. But it's been hard to get people to come to church from out there. So that was awesome. They're really cool. His name is William, he's a less active, and then his family are not members. So we've been working with them. The Branch President is very psyched to be working with them.

Oh, Yesterday night, we had a bunch of plans for stuff to do and we had plans to go out and work with the Branch President. We had plans to go up to this other pueblo called Vichuchen, and we were super psyched, all ready to go, we had a couple cita's and then we had another one back in Licantén in the late evening. And we called all our cita's to confirm all our appointments and every single one of them fell through and we were like, shoot, what do we do? And it came to our mind to call this investigator who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago who lives WAY out in the middle of nowhere about an hour away. So we called her and she said yeah I'm here. Come on out to visit. So we told the Branch President, and he was NOT excited about it because it was so far and he was worried that it would not be a good use of time. I think that's a very valid concern. But we felt that there was a reason we were going there. So on the way there, I told him a little bit about the family, about how they had invited their neighbors to the last lesson, how she had read and how receptive she was and he started getting a little more excited. And then we got there and her son was there for just that, well he comes down on the weekends every once in a while. We hadn't met him before. But our Branch President had given the son a Book of Mormon before, but we had no idea. And so it was quite  a big coincidence. The Branch President was REALLY excited to be there teaching them. So it kind of turned that situation from something that could've been uncomfortable to something awesome. 

So that's about it. I hope you guys are all having a good week. Sorry that this recording has been a little scattered. We were walking to the library and we got in here. Love you, Bye!

Elder Olson

P.S. - In other not mentioned news, it rained a bunch this week.

The entire Rancagua Mission at the time of Elder Christofferson's visit. Elder Olson is on the right half. About the 5th row back, three male heads in.

This spider was crawling on Elder Hiatt's foot

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."