week 72: Changes...going to be a trainer

January 8, 2018 (transcription from audio letter)

Hey guys,

So this is week 1 of transfer number 12. We are about to have some changes. We found out the transfers on Saturday in the evening. And it looks like I'm leaving Baquedano. I'm going to be going down to Curico again, but kind of far outside Curico to a little sector called Licantén. It's right by the beach so that's pretty cool. It's about two hours from the city of Curico. It's in the other zone in Curico, the one I was NOT the zone leader in. And I'm going to be there as district leader and training, in a whitewash. For any of you who don't know what a whitewash is, a whitewash is a missionary term for two new missionaries getting to the same sector at the same time. 

So the last two missionaries who were both in that sector, one of them went home from the mission, he just finished. And then the other one was Elder Villegas, and they took him out of the sector. He was one of my old companions. Now it will be me and a new missionary who hasn't gotten here to the mission yet. So that will be super fun. I've never trained before so I am excited for the opportunity. It'll be something very different from being a zone leader I'm sure. There are only 3 Elders coming into the mission this change so there will be two other trainers with me. I know all the elders in the office and I was talking to them and they have the records for the missionaries who are coming. So it looks like there's one from Orem, Utah Valley, there's one from Argentina and one from Brazil who are coming into the mission. So it's going to be one of the three that I'll be with. So I'm excited to see which one. We won't find out until president Harris has interviews with them and all that. That will be on Tuesday and that will be the day that I'll be there in the morning doing a training, receiving a training for the new trainers and then we'll have a meeting with all the trainees and the trainers together, I would assume....that's how it was when I got the mission at least and then we'll head down to our sector. It's about a total of 4 or 5 hours from here in bus but it looks like the assistants are actually going to help us out. I was talking to them and they're going to drive us down in their car all the way to our sector and one of the assistants, Elder Pollard, he was in Licantén before. 

I've mentioned Licantén because in my second change in the mission I went there on intercambios, on splits. When my companion went home and the companion of Elder Pollard, the now assistant, also went home, we went there together for two days and so I got to know the sector a little bit. I feel like the Lord might've been preparing me, I'm not sure. But I remember it quite a bit. Actually that day we had kind of a special situation because there are 3 towns that are part of the sector. One called Licantén, one called Hualañe, and one called Iloca and I got to know all three during that two day intercambio. Which is something different. Also it sounds like they'll be giving me quite a bit of money working down there. It won't be on bike. All the towns are too far apart to bike. About half and hour on bus each on from each other. But they want us to work more in one of the towns, the one that's NOT on the beach, the one called Hualañe. They want us to work there because that town is starting to grow it sounds like and that town has a lot of potential. But the missionaries haven't been able to go there because it's too expensive and they end up without money at the end of the change. So now they've given us a little bit of extra money and are asking us to work there as well. So I'm excited for that. So that's what's going on with the changes. I'm super excited. 

I don't know really what to expect. I've been asking around though, because a lot of my friends, people with the same time in the mission as me, they've all trained already but seeing how I've been a zone leader for a while now, I haven't had the chance to train. So I'm super excited about that.

This week on Tuesday we had exchanges, intercambios, splits with the assistants so that was fun. I went with Elder Montano from Mexico. It was a good time. We kind of contacted a lot. All four of us were working in the sector of the assistants. I don't know, it wasn't anything too special. It was kind of like just trying to help them out in their sector because they don't get a lot of time there. 

And then on Wednesday we had to go to the hospital. Don't worry, it was just to help the nurse translate. There's a new nurse who just got here so we had to go help her with translate for a companionship that didn't have an Elder who spoke english so we had to kind of go in the middle there. So that was a lot of our day wednesday. 

Thursday and Friday we had some time to actually work. We taught a lesson to a reference from a member family. He's from Columbia. He's the boyfriend of a member...they met on the internet and he came down and is now living at their house and I think they have plans to get married at some point. But he really likes the church. They'd sent the missionaries to his house there in columbia and he was liking it and he had a baptismal date. The only reason he didn't get baptized there was because he ended up working a lot in order to save money to be able to come here to Chile. So he's got a lot of potential.

We've got a lot of new investigators who have a good chance of getting baptized in this next couple of changes so I'm excited for them. Replacing me here, Elder Lee is going to be with Elder Stevenson from Idaho, who I was in the same zone with in Buin. He's a good guy. They'll do a good job here.

Jorge got the priesthood this Sunday, which we were really glad about! We were talking to him and he told us that the Branch president had interviewed him and we were like "awesome! yes! So did he tell you you were going to get your priesthood?" And he's like, "yeah he told me in March I'm gonna get it." And we were like, "what's up with that?" because he should be able to get the Aaronic priesthood in a week after his baptism. So he should've received it LAST Sunday. So we were pretty confused there. We weren't sure what was going on. But then on Sunday we found out that Jorge had just misunderstood. They called his name in Sacrament meeting, they had him stand up and they sustained him also to be, they called him as a ward missionary, which is interesting because the branch missionaries should be helping us to give the discussions to Jorge a second time...normally the branch missionaries do that with us after baptism. But now Jorge is the Branch missionary so it'll be all on my companion now. He did get the priesthood that day. He was kind of surprised himself. He didn't quite understand. I don't know if it's just because the branch president didn't explain it very well. We talked to him about it and I think he understands everything now.

Today we're going to go pass by the mall and eat some lunch. There are some places like Pizza Hut and KFC that you can only find here in Rancagua so we're going to go enjoy one last lunch over there and probably buy some new pants as well. Then I'll be packing all evening...getting ready to go.

One thing that happened this week, that I'm sure most of you heard about before I did, was that President Monson passed away. I think it was his time. He's been sick for a little while and I think it'll be good for him and his family that he can go on to his work in the next life. I think it was Elder McKonkie quoting another prophet saying that it was graduating. Graduating to the next life where he'll be able to contribute even more to the work. I'm excited to see the change. It's gonna be super weird having a new first presidency as well because basically for my whole life it's been, well for as long as I can remember, for half my life, it's been President Monson, President Eyring and president Uchtdorf really. So it'll be interesting to see what the new first presidency looks like and what happens with all of that. I'm more than confident that those who will be called have been prepared before their call and will serve very well in their callings. I'm excited to see the changes. 

Also, other news, this isn't official, they haven't announced it but it sounds like we might be getting a visit from an Apostle in February. I'm not a hundred percent sure but in talking with the office, it sounds like Elder Christofferson might be coming by and giving us a visit with our mission and Santiago South together. So that's really cool. I'm excited about that. That's not something that's very common either. We just barely had a conference with Elder Bragg of the seventy and so it'll be really cool now to be able to hear Elder Christofferson speak to us. 

I know that the prophets we have today, that the quorum of the twelve apostles, are called of God and I know that our church is led by inspired leaders. Whether they be your bishops, your stake presidents, or the president of the church. I know that they are called of God and they are there for a reason. I know that especially the prophets and apostles communicate directly with God. I hope you all can feel that, the importance of modern prophets as we see these changes coming in the next few weeks, the next few months. 

I love you guys. I hope everything is going well.

Take Care! Bye!

Elder Olson

Rancagua, Baquedano zone

Brother and Sister Carrasco, members who help us a ton

week 66: Almost forgot it was Thanksgiving in the US

November 27, 2017 (transcription of audio letter)

Hello Everyone! Elder Olson Here.

It is now week one of transfer 11. We haven't actually had the transfers yet but I found them out on Saturday and it looks like I will be staying here in Baquedano. My new companion is named Elder Lee, from Utah (Lindon), he has a little bit more time in the mission than me, but he went up as zone leader... he replaced me in Curico. So he's coming from my old sector to here, so he's following me here. So that's cool. Basically the whole zone changed. Somebody left from every companionship. The new missionaries, there will be one from my group named Elder Pstorius(?), one Hermana Ibert who was in my zone in Curico, those are the ones that are coming that I actually kind of know. The other ones that are coming are all supposed to be really good missionaries though. One thing that is going to be interesting about our zone this change is going to be that we're almost all gringos...so many white people. There are going to be 9 of us from the US, 1 from the Philippines,  the people from the Philippines speak English so we kind of count them as gringos, and then Elder Tyce from Brazil and Elder ? from Santiago. So 9 out of the 12 are from the US. So that's kind of weird but it'll be good though.

So Elder Lee, I believe, I don't know...I obviously haven't been his companion before...I think he's really good missionary. I think they kind of gave us a "stacked" zone. I think we're going to have a really good change this change. Looking at the changes, a lot of my group went up as zone leaders this change so now almost all of us are zone leaders at this point. The only one I can think of that's not is my MTC comp Elder Musselman, but he's a branch president in a small branch. So we've all got our lives pretty busy. But it'll be really fun in the leadership council on Thursday, to be able to get together with "the group" and see everybody there. 

So this was also a pretty cool week because we did exchanges with the elders from Rengo, which for those of you who don't know, I have family in Rengo. I guess I met them when I was very very young, when I was 2 but I don't remember them. They are my Aunt's parents who live here in Chile. And it was really cool. We went there on exchanges. The address that we had for their house on google maps gave us a slightly different house but we contacted that house and we were like, "Hey we're looking for the Rojas family." And they were like, "Oh yeah, they live right over here. They're actually really good friends of ours." And I was like, "yeah, I'm related to Marianela." And they said, "Oh yeah, Mona changed my diapers." The mom's name was Anna and I think the girl's name was Anita. But I'm not 100% sure. but the Rengo elders have an appointment to go back and teach them. And then we visited with my family there for a minute. We shared a small thought and gave a blessing to my Aunt's mom. It was actually really fun. It was kind of crazy...on their wall they have a picture of a family reunion when I was 2 or 3 yrs old and they came up to Utah to visit and they have that picture on their wall. So there's actually a picture of me on the wall of their house. So it was really cool. It was fun to meet them. So it'll be good to have the missionaries passing by there to help them out as well. So that was a really good experience.

On exchanges, while I was there, Elder ? from the Philippines, we did exchanges together, that was actually the day of Thanksgiving. We had forgot until after lunch one of the sisters reminded us it was Thanksgiving and I was like, "oh yeah." I was glad she reminded us because the first Thanksgiving in the mission I had also forgot that it was Thanksgiving because they don't do anything here. So this time at the end of the night we went and bought a load of Turkey and made turkey sandwiches. So that's just the lunch meat Turkey but it was something, it was good.

While we were together we put a baptismal date for two of their investigators who are super receptive and those were actually the first baptismal dates that that sector has had this entire transfer so it's good they can have something to work with now. So while we were on intercambios Elder Davis here in our sector with the other Elder, they found a couple new people and they put a baptismal date also with one of our investigators who's been really really stubborn about committing so it was really cool that he committed to baptism. They've come to church twice, his name is Victor, his wife is like reactivating, she was less active, She's at the point where she's starting to do some things she needs to do. But she's reactivated and its really cool. But he's still more or less interested. But he's come to church a few times and he listens to us but he hasn't had any real hunger for the gospel. Typical Chilean person down here. But he's read a little bit, prayed a little bit and hopefully he'll keep progressing. He's better than some investigators and I'm really excited to work with him. I really would like to get him baptized. As I would about any investigator. 

On Friday, we had a couple new investigators. One of them was a buddhist husband of a less active returned missionary. So that was kind of interesting. He has an alter and everything like that. There's a weird amount of Buddhists here. I didn't think there would be Buddhists at all in Chile. There's not like a ton but I've met quite a few. And it's kind of interesting. I didn't expect that when I was coming. We taught them. She really liked the church but her and her partner, they aren't married, well she doesn't feel comfortable going to church because she feels guilty about that. And they won't get married because Chile has some wonderful laws that make it a lot easier to be NOT married. As in, single moms get their own house given to them. So she's waiting for the government to give her this house even though she lives with her partner, boyfriend, she counts as a single mom because she's not married so she's waiting for the government to give her a house and the government gives like payments and stuff like that. So it really doesn't help motivate people to want to be married. It's obviously not great for a family based society. So that's a problem we run into a lot here, because there are more benefits to being single than for being married. So that can be kind of a pain.

Saturday we had some pretty cool new investigators as well. There's one that's a couple that's gone through some tough stuff. The wife is struggling with mental challenges, illness I suppose, depression and such. Especially the husband is really really receptive. He really wants us to help. he's looking for this chance to fix their life. He wants to do that with God and that's the best way to do it. 

Yesterday we had a new investigator named Bob. We were writing home on PDay in the cyber the place where we write, this Haitian comes over and he sees us and I don't know but maybe a sister missionary told him to come talk to us but he comes over and starts talking to us through the open window which is right in front of our computers. He started talking to us in English and we find out he went to church up in Buin a few months ago and he's like, "Yeah we can meet up." So yesterday we met up and it was really cool.He's really really driven. He's like, "I didn't leave my country just to waste my time." He has a lot of plans, studying, trying to start his own business and stuff. So it's cool that he's doing all that. 

Elder Davis is going to a tiny branch outside of Curico just outside of my old zone, so that'll be fun for him. Elder Lee my new companion also has a change more than me in the mission. So I still have not had a companion younger than me in the mission. Which is kind of weird. I don't know, different. I guess I've been a zone leader for quite some time so I guess it makes sense. It's interesting.

This morning we got up early to study so we'd have time to clean up the yard. We mowed the yard with a weed whacker. It looks way better now. There were a TON of large spiders and Earwigs. They are EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE. They come into the house, like my bathroom for example, I found one on the toilet paper the other day, find them on the walls the ceiling, sometimes they get into the kitchen quite a bit. It's fun. We've already gone through a whole can of RAID the past couple days in like the last week. But yeah I cleaned it up.

But I really wanted to thank you guys. I don't know...maybe more of you listen to my letters than I thought, or maybe those of you who did pray, prayed with a lot of faith, because I really felt like you guys were praying for me this week. Two weeks ago was really hard but this week was a GOOD week. I'm really really grateful for that because it wasn't for anything that WE did differently. But it came out way better and it showed in our spirits, our excitement, it showed in the numbers, the people and the type of people we found this week. So thank you for your prayers so keep on praying for me and our investigators. I appreciate it. I love you guys and hope you are all doing well. 

Take care. Adios!

can you find two year old me in this family picture that was on my Aunt's Parent's wall in Chile?

Elder Olson and Aunt Marianela's parents, the Rojas

turkey sandwiches for Thanksgiving

"Mowing" the yard

Week 42: Leaving Buin & God Forgives

June 12, 2017

Hola Familia!

This weekend we received the changes (transfers), and...

I'm leaving Buin!

I'm going down South again, to the STake Center in Curico`. It'll be interesting; I've been assigned to be a Zone Leader there. I was really, really surprised. I'll be the Zone Leader with the least time in the mission, along with 1 other Elder from my group. My new companion's name is Elder Heap, from Arizona. He's another ex-mission secretary, who goes home this change. They say that my ward (the Alameda Ward) is really strong, and their ward mission leader is a machine. This will be my first ward in the mission (up until now I've had only branches), so I'm really excited.

The sad part is that they're closing my sector here in Buin. It'll be part of the sector of the other Elders.The good news is that my companion will be staying here with one of the Elders from the other sector, so they won't be in a "whitewash," where neither Elder knows the sector.

Carolina Soto and her family are progressing! Carolina is now 10 days smoke free, and her whole family came to church yesterday. We set a baptismal date with her husband Jose`, who opened up to us and told us about his drug addiction. I'm bummed that I'll have to leave them.

In my study, I recently came across Helaman 11. It amazes me how quick God is to forgive, and how quick we often are to forget. He wants to bless us. I hope we can all take advantage of repentance and God's quick and joyful forgiveness. I also hope that we can all be slow to forget all that He's done for us.

Love,
Elder Olson

Elder Olson's District in Buin

Monday June 5, 2017 , Barbeque the Elders (Mom note: Not sure what this really means or what it is a picture of) 

A Member (in the blue sweater) likes to feed the missionaries. Final time together.

Week 36: Changes

May 1, 2017

Family and Friends,

It's been a week of pure farewells here in Buin. We had five missionaries finishing the mission last week. We had a farewell, or two, for Elder Strong here in our branch, and we sent him off Friday morning.

On Saturday, we got the transfers. Elder Terrazas will be going down to Santa Cruz, a smaller zone (In terms of active members) out in the country. My new companion is Elder Villegas ("ll" makes a "y" sound) from Columbia. He's coming out of the office where he's been a Mission Secretary for the last few changes.

I've also been assigned to be a District Leader here in Buin. It'll be interesting adjusting to my new responsibilities.

The transfers meant more farewells, and seeing how Elder Terrazas was here for 6 months, there were a lot of people to say goodbye to.

I don't know if I ever mentioned how much Sushi we ate the last change. It was A LOT. At least three times a week, for six weeks. Sadly, without Elder Strong's deep pockets and Elder Terrazas' sushi addiction, I don't think we'll be eating quite as much next change.

Yesterday we went to Buin Zoo, which was open for the first time on a P-Day thanks to Labor Day. It was a bit small, but it was great to go. They had a massive white tiger, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

When the Sisters in my district gave me their call-in report yesterday, I was really impressed by their work in their sector. I asked what they'd been applying that had been making such a difference in the success of their sector, and they told me it was thanks to their commitment to follow the first impressions of the Spirit. Elder Rasband gave a great talk on that topic in General Conference in April. I've learn a lot about the importance of listening to the Spirit and following its promptings.

Love you guys,
Elder Olson

Elder Strong and Elder Olson

Elder Olson and Elder Thomson (and Elder Haar with a walk through in the background)

On the way to the Buin Zoo...getting chilly and wetter now that Fall is in full force down there

Heading into the Buin Zoo

He found Utah...almost

Week 30: Transfers, Broken Sink, & Reactivation

3/20/2017

Transfers!

A lot's changing for me this transfer...

I'm staying in Buin with Elder Terrazas!

It's not a big surprise that they kept us together. We work well together, we get along, and I've been pushing him to help him study English. He wants to come study at BYU, and he's actually learned quite a bit. Actually, out of the six missionaries in our branch, only one is leaving. My Peruvian housemate, Elder Caman, went down to Rengo with my old pal from San Clemente, Elder Borges! Our new housemate, Elder Belagro, is a Filipino anime fanatic, so that's pretty neat. A good kid though.

In other news, our kitchen sink is super broken, doesn't drain and it leaks everywhere. We told the senior missionaries, who told us to find a member to fix it, and they tried but couldn't, so nobody can fix it. Soooo that's cool too.

We had a cool experience on Sunday. An inactive member we've been trying to visit called us and invited us over. He told us he wants to come back to church and he wants to set a goal to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He smokes so that'll be an obstacle, but I'm really hopeful for him.

This week we've shared Ether 12:4 a couple of times. I recommend reading it.

Love you guys,
Elder Olson

The Buin Zone. Elder Olson is 5th one in on the right with the red tie.

A Catholic church in the city of Buin.

Week 25: Welcome to Buin, Chile

2/14/17

Hey Everyone!

Sorry about last week, I forgot to send the pictures/letter when I got to the chapel. I've tried to take a ton of pictures to make up for it, so hopefully you can all forgive me.

As some of you know, this week I got transferred to Buin C in the north end of the mission. My new companion's name is Elder Terrazas. He's about 5'1", obedient but not "square," chill, quiet, and the #2 Clash of Clans player in Bolivia so that's pretty dope.

This sector is basically the best thing ever. We're in the Buin branch of the Buin district, and the mission work here with the members is great. The ward mission leader is a machine. He's a bodybuilder who isn't afraid to accompany us and talk to/organize the members. The ward has the most complete mission plan I've ever seen. The members support us and feed us more than we could ask for, and the house has a guitar. We have bikes here as well, which is a fun change of pace. I couldn't have asked for a better area.

This week we set a baptismal date for what I think will be my first baptism on the mission. His name is Antonio, he's 10 years old, his mom is less active and his sister is a recent convert. He reads, prays, and goes to church, and is on track to be baptized the 25th of this month.

During my study this week I came across a quote from President Lorenzo Snow that caught my attention. It says:

“There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children”

The Lord really cares about each one of his lost sheep.

Amor,
Elder Olson

The street where they live

the Buin Area

Elder Olson's first area with a bike

Elder Olson in Buin

Pretty trellis and path leading up to the apartment/casa

Sleeping quarters in the house

coming in to the house

Kitchen and eating area

Making Empanadas with the members

Elder Terrazas and Elder Olson and little Chilean girl making Empanadas

Elder Terrazas and Elder Olson and 2 Chilean Ladies

Week 24: Changes are coming

2/6/17

Hey Guys!

Sorry this is gonna be a short note this week.

I've been wicked busy down here with transfers the last couple days so I didn't have time to write and I have a meeting in 5 minutes.

I've been transferred up to the sector "Buin C" in the north of the mission. I've only been here half a day but it seems amazing. I'll have to give more details next week.

Love you all, take care,
Elder O

Farewell to San Clemente

Just before leaving, Elder Olson received his package from home. His Aunt brought it down to Chile with her as she was visiting her parents who live there in the Rancagua Mission. We are very grateful to her. Miraculously, the chocolate didn't melt in the heat and all the items made it.

Elder Olson will have to update us with names of people here when he returns, but he spent a little time saying goodbye to everyone. (and he's sporting one of his new ties we sent)

Elder Olson and his comp in San Clemente, Elder Ramierez. (Elder Olson wearing another new tie)

we are assuming this is a farewell meal with a member or investigator

Elder Olson and possibly the Branch President or Ward Mission Leader...not sure which. (another new tie...sheesh, how many did I send, hahaha)

Last pday in the mission. Elder Agulero? and Elder Olson

Elder Borges, and Elder Olson with Elder Haar photo bombing behind (and possibly Elder Musselman? hard to tell)

Elder Olson saying farewell

Elder Olson saying farewell to some members in San Clemente