Week 101: Last Letter Home?

Monday, July 30, 2018 (transcription from Audio letter)

Hey everyone, Elder Olson here. This is week 6 of transfer 16. 

Made sure to definitely get an audio recorded this week because...

this will probably be the last week that I'll be writing!

Kind of crazy! Kind of exciting! Super exciting!

It's been a pretty good week. We've been working super super hard. 

Well first off I want to wish a happy birthday to my little brother Archer and my Grandma Hansen, Grannie. Hope you guys are doing well. Hope you guys had a good birthday this last weekend.

On Tuesday we did exchanges with the Elders of Hospital. I was with Elder ? from Ecuador. It was fun. He's a good missionary. It was kind of funny to see him play with the dogs. He is just super, has NO fear at all of the dogs and just loves to play with them. So he'll just go up and start playing with them but he's super rough with them. Haha. He starts almost punching them in the face and they'll get kind of mad at him and they'll kind of nip at him but he'll keep hitting on them but like playing with them and he gets them to chase him around. I thought that was pretty funny. Kind of crazy. He picked one dog up and "threw" it, so that was something a little different. People in general don't play with the dogs like that. But we had a good day that day...pretty standard, I guess. We found a couple new friends to teach so that was good.

On Wednesday, again just basically another day of work. We went to subway for lunch because they passed us money to eat so that was great. Afterwards we had district council in the afternoon. That was pretty normal. Our district does our District councils in English when I'm there because everyone in our district, well we are 4 gringos and an Argentino and my companion, but the Argentino was in the office so he speaks English. And so we do the class in English on the days I'm in our district class. And then my companion and I teach a membership class on those days we have the district class.

On Thursday we had zone councils in Rancagua. We were going to take the train but it left at like 7:30 in the morning and we didn't make it that early in the morning.And we were going to take the train back but it was kind of late so we just had to take the bus. The guy who sold us our bus tickets in the terminal...they have a guy selling tickets calling out "Santiago, Santiago, Santiago!" and we went to him for the tickets and they ask you about 1500 times if you are going to that place and so we bought tickets from one of them because it's a lot faster, because if you go in the line you'll end up having to wait 20 minutes to half an hour to rent a bus. But the guy selling the tickets sold way more tickets than they had seats on the bus so I got to stand. But it was a short ride. Once I had to stand for a two hour ride from Licanten to Curico in a tiny little bus...THAT was the worst! But from Rancagua to Buin it's like 40 minutes so it wasn't a big deal. But it was good. We talked about the Restoration at the training. Nothing too crazy. It was all pretty...it was just good. It was mostly stuff that I've heard before. My companion and I had to do a demonstration of how to contact and get to know people during the contact and not just walk up to them and say "hey, we're representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we would like to share a message with you," which happens a little too often. And so, we taught a little bit about how to go up to the person and get to know them and have a conversation while contacting them and then relating the conversation to the gospel. That went super well. It seemed like everybody liked the presentation. 

And then on Friday, we had a couple of baptismal interviews, one we had to go to (?) for and then another one here in Buin. That was good. We had a goal as a zone, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it, of 15 baptisms for the change. That's high. When we set that goal...I've never seen a zone do that many baptisms in one transfer here in the mission. Our goal for the mission was 50 baptisms. So 14 is more than a third of the baptisms for the mission which are in the zone. Which is kind of a high goal, but WE DID IT! We were blessed to be able to achieve that goal. By the beginning of the week we had 11 people baptized and 3 more people with baptismal dates for this last weekend. So we need all of those three people to get baptized on their baptismal date or we weren't going to get our goal. And we found out on Tuesday, that one of them might not be able to, well had a work conflict and was going to have to push the baptismal date back a week, and so we weren't going to get it, but be so close. So we sent out a message to the zone with the names of the people and their baptismal date asking them to pray for them to make that baptismal date. And in the end, on Thursday night, she found out she wasn't going to have the work conflict. So we did the baptismal interview on Saturday morning and on Saturday she was baptized with the others. Then on Saturday night, I did the baptismal interview for a guy from the Dominican Republic. He's super cool. He was just a really really prepared guy. So he got baptized. He's a very impressive guy. We are hoping to get the missionaries to  his wife and kids in the Dominican Republic as soon as possible.

That is pretty much our week.

So I'm super excited that we met the goals. I also gave my final testimony in Zone conference and then also in church on Sunday. 

This week, we should get some farewells in. Don't think there will be too many, but on Friday morning, there's this one guy named Jamie, (who I've mentioned before, we went to lunch a couple weeks ago) who just does so much for the missionaries. So on Friday morning we are going to go eat breakfast with him. And on Friday, I'M GOING TO GO TO THE TEMPLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2 YEARS! And then on Saturday, do basically nothing, haha. Well we have a self reliance class at night but during the day we don't have anything. The President will be doing final interviews all that day, but mine isn't until Monday afternoon. My interview is going to be the very last of the 29 people who are leaving so that's...nice. But at 3'oclock in the afternoon on Monday is my final interview and then on Monday night we go to the airport and they drive us up to the airport and we fly home! THAT'S CRAZY! My flight goes from Santiago to Dallas and then I have about a 2 hour layover. And then from Dallas to Utah. I think most of the gringos are going through Dallas and then to America to spread out. But I've got some Elders here who are friends and we'll be able to hang out at the airport and then our flight gets in to Dallas at 5 in the morning I think and then our flight leaves from Dallas to Utah if I'm not mistaken, I dont have the information right in front of me at about 8:30 from Dallas to Utah and get to Salt lake about 10:00 in the morning (note: Elder Olson is wrong here...his flight arrives at 11am in Salt Lake, American Airlines 1541). So yeah! That's what's going to be happening this week. 

Who knows...maybe I'll send another recording but I don't know if I'll...well, I'll probably get on at some point this next Monday, but if I don't, I just wanted to kind of close with a spiritual thought from the Scripture that's written on my plaque that we hung up in my home ward. It's Jacob 5:71-72. Here we go. It says, let's see, to give some context, this is in the famous Vineyard Parable where the Lord of the Vineyard representing our Heavenly Father, he and his servant, who I assume to represent Jesus Christ, they go out and they work in the vineyard and take care of all the trees in the vineyard. And basically they work and they work and they work and sometimes the vineyard produces fruit and sometimes it doesn't. The vineyard is the world and in a way we are the trees but in this verse we are also seen in another way. And there's a lot deeper symbolism about specific trees and specific branches of the tree. But I love verses 71 and 72 which say,

71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.

72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.

I know that in my time that i've been blessed to serve in the mission, that I have been blessed to be one of those servants who has been able to go and labor with my might and I know that the Lord of the vineyard also labored with me. So I just wanted to share that with you guys and thank you for all of the support you've shown me, especially, obviously, my family, over these last two years. 

I hope you guys are all doing well. And I'LL SEE YOU ALL VERY SOON! Have a good one!

Elder Olson

(Note: I am assuming this is the video Elder Olson and his companion showed on their Pday activity "MTC CRIBS" last week where they all showed videos of their apartments. And these two obviously put in some inside jokes via the pictures taped everywhere. I would love a translation of the video but we'll just have to wait til he gets home next week for more explanation)

(This is Elder Olson's zone singing the Spanish translation of the song Savior Redeemer of My Soul which was written by Jenny Oaks Baker )

(Here is the original video for the song if you want to listen to it in English. It's beautiful and moving)

week 89: Darling's Baptism and a Visit to the Ocean

Monday, May 7, 2018

Hey everyone, this is week 6 of change number 14.

So yeah, this week was good, well this week was AWESOME actually. At the beginning of the week we had a service project with a member. It was really just chill,I guess. Just pulled out some grass. I have a little video of me attacking a cactus with a super long spear knife thing. I thought that was pretty cool. And then nothing really happened during the week. 

But on Friday, we had the baptismal interview for Darling. And we have... our district leader right now is in a trio with the Zone Leaders because one of the Elders in our district went home this last week. So we had to go down to Curico to pick him up and take him back up to Licantén. We tried to get them to just send him out by himself, but the mission didn't give us permission. So we went down to pick him up and we got to the Zone Leader's house a little early. They were on their way from an appointment and so since there was nobody there, we were waiting outside for a little while. And we ended up hopping their fence. All of the houses here in Chile have big like metal fences in the front. But the Zone Leader's house doesn't have spikes on one of the parts of the fence. So we jumped the fence right there and we got around back and tried to get in the house but none of the windows or doors were unlocked. So we looked up and on the second story, there was an unlocked window. So I had my companion help boost me up to get into that second story window. So we got into the house and we started hiding their stuff. They have this little like back room in the back yard where they never go. So we went and got their microwave, their iron, their blender, some of their like personal stuff. We grabbed their bikes and we hid it all in the back room. And then we stayed on the side of the house and waited for them to come home and then we heard them come in through the front gate and in through the front door. And they were waiting for us there inside the house. So then we snuck back around the side and opened the front gate and closed it again, like we'd just come in the front gate and we went in the front door. And they didn't notice at first that all these things were gone. Like we'd left cupboards open, like it was super obvious. But their house was pretty messy so they had no idea. And then after about 15 minutes of just talking, one of them notices and says, "Hey, where's the microwave?!" And then they looked and one said, "Oh no, the bikes are gone!" And they started looking everywhere and they can't find stuff and one of them started looking for his camera, which we didn't even hide, but he had just lost it. He's looking all over the house. And he's like, "AW! Where's my Go Pro? Where's my Go Pro?" And one of them had the phone to call the housing coordinators and we go over to open up the back door, and we were like, "Oh, hey, we found the stuff!" And they were like, "What?" And they ran to the back and were getting all their stuff. And it was pretty funny. They totally bought it. And then they still didn't get that it was US that had hidden the stuff. And we were like, "We got here early. We had to sneak in through the side and all that." And they were like, "oh my gosh!" So that was pretty fun. 

So we went up and had the interview with Darling. She was awesome. She had brought her tithing money to the interview. We had specifically told her that she didn't have to start paying tithing until AFTER she was baptized. But she understood the opposite of that. So she was like, "Oh I brought my tithing so that I can be baptized because they told me that I had to pay my tithing before getting baptized." The fact that she was that WILLING to do it was super awesome. She was able to pay it the next day anyway. So that was super cool. The baptism went really well. She asked me to baptize her so that was really cool. We got there early and left the font filling up. And then got to the time of the baptismal service and it was still not quite where it needed to be, so we left it. But then the baptismal service took a little bit longer than we thought, so the font got PRETTY full. It got VERY full. Not quite to the point where it was in danger of overflowing. But when I got in, a little bit splashed out one of the back sides, and we were like "Oh no." Because our font there is very different from any other font. It's like one of the only fonts that can overflow like that. But also, the water heater, well it works, so it was kind of heated, but the water was pretty cold as well. But we did it. It worked out. And she was tough about the cold water. You could hardly even tell. I warned her right before she got in. I was like, "hey, it's pretty cold." 

Oh also, when she was baptized, one of the other Elders from Curico was one of the witnesses, and a bunch of the water splashed out of the font. I tried to let her down extra gently because I knew it was gonna overflow. So just to minimize it, but it still splashed out onto the front onto the carpet a little bit and over the sides. All over the place. But when that happened, a lizard came out of the font. A small one about 4" long. And hahaha, we didn't see it, Darling or I. But the other Elder saw it. He tried to catch it but it ran back into the font and they closed the doors. So that was pretty interesting. Makes me feel like a South American Missionary to say we had a lizard in our baptismal font during the baptism. Then the confirmation went really smoothly as well. The Branch President confirmed her. And it was a really pretty confirmation actually. I really liked it, his blessing that he left her. And then that night we went to their house and we had a lesson planned to teach about temples. And we got there and they had this big BBQ going and they had made a ton of sushi for us. They made a bunch of food. And it was actually a really good opportunity to get Darling's Dad to open up because he's not a member and he hasn't participated in any of the discussions. And he's actually not willing to let Darling's little brother to get baptized. Eventually he's trying to baptize him Catholic. So we are kind of like in a tough spot there. But he really kind of warmed up to us that day so that was really good. 

And then on Monday, on Pday, (I sent you some pictures already), but we went up to the Beach, we explored a little bit and then we played beach soccer for a few hours which was awesome. It was super fun.

So yeah, it's been a pretty good week. We are just here, back home. My companion is getting his stuff all ready. He's going home this next week. On friday we drop him off at the bus terminal and I'll be with Elder Perry. We'll be going back and forth from Curico to Licatén this weekend. And it should be good.

So I just want to express a little bit of my gratitude at being able to participate in that baptism for Darling. Her and her mom really are awesome and I'm grateful to have met them. It makes it worth being out in  Licantén so much time, being able to meet so many, quite a few good people here. And Darling and Pamela, the other girl who was baptized, were really prepared by God. And we didn't have to do hardly anything with them, so I'm really grateful for that. I'm grateful that God guides his work, and I know that he does.

Love you guys. Hope you guys are having a good week. Take care!

Elder Olson

Bushwhacking Service

Darling's Baptism

 So the Zone Leaders played a prank on us when they were in town for the baptism. They went to our apartment at one point and ended up leaving us a little present in our beds. Yes, we knew it was them that left the door open and that they had done something, but we thought it was funny so re-recorded our discovery of it.

Loved seeing the ocean

Week 49: audio letter

(Transcription: may not be 100% accurate)

Hello Hello Friends and Family,

Well, This week I thought I'd try something a little different. Alot of the missionaries here send audio recordings instead of letters to their families...saves a little bit of time in the internet place, the cyber, and it's also something a little different and I thought it might be cool make one to send you guys.

This week is gonna be my 19th birthday so that's kind of weird...I'm not really a kid anymore, but still young at heart so that's cool.

So this week's been pretty good. It's the first week of the training so it's always a little different. So you've gotta get used to the new companion, sometimes the new sector, but for me I stayed here, in Curico in the Alameda ward. My old companion Elder Heap went home to Arizona and I got my new companion Tuesday, which was Elder Guariglia from Uraguay. So he got here on Tuesday in the morning and I was in the bus terminal all day to make sure all the missionaries got to their zones where they need to be, because that's one of the Zone Leader's responsibilities down here. So he got here on Tuesday and we finally got back to the house and got settled in here and did a lot of cleaning...it wasn't SUPER messy but it could've probably been a little tidier, the house, but that was good. We got everything all organized. We got some old bunk beds nobody was using taken down and got a lot of space opened up so that was kind of cool.

On Wednesday we had a meeting with the zone, something a little different we are starting with this change...to set goals and plans for the transfer. We decided, "What are achievable goals we can set for the zone for this change?" and we had them do the same thing in districts. Then on Thursday we took those goals and plans we had made to leadership council in Rancagua...which was really REALLY good this transfer! The last time I went to the leadership council...I mean it wasn't bad but... I was having a little trouble keeping my eyes open, I'll be honest. But this one was fantastic. The spirit was incredible and it was really more efficient than last time. So we were there all day in Rancagua on Thursday and when we got back we had time to do our studies and that was it.

On Friday, everything was...let's see, did anything even happen on Friday?...oh yeah...on Friday we went to a little pueblo, a little town, outside of Curico called Serviento (sp?) which is a part of our sector. We have two little towns outside of Curico that are a part of our sector..sorry for my English...I don't get a lot of practice. So while we were out there we found a small family of 3, it was an old grandpa, his daughter and his granddaughter and they were SUPER SUPER receptive, really nice, they had a couple questions, they participated a little bit but really the cool part about that lesson apart from finding a family, was the spirit that came in when we shared the first vision. You know, I just ...you go to recite the actual words from the first vision, which we don't always do, but I felt like we should do it. And the spirit just filled the room so quick and so strong, it was really awesome. So that was a cool experience.

On Saturday morning I gave my first baptismal interview. One of the sectors in our zone, one of the district leaders, had a baptism on Saturday night so I got to do the interview on Saturday morning...which was cool, which was different, something I hadn't done before. So kind of an older lady named Margarita. She's kind of an old catholic lady, one of the ones that always tells us to get out, she doesn't want to hear anything, she'll never change. And so I don't know that I ever thought I'd ever see one of those get baptized, but to be able to give her a baptismal interview was kind of cool for me.

And then, yesterday was kind of a rougher day. None of our investigators made it out to sacrament meeting even though we had about 6 who were committed to go, and 5 of which we had committed to go the day before, so we thought we were set, we thought we were going to have a lot of people come in...but they all bailed on us. But that's all right. It's kind of the stuff that happens. You can't force the people to accept the gospel it's something that comes bit by bit. It was ok.

Also this week we found a bunch of Columbians who were visiting, who were here for work, who actually got tricked into coming down here and now they're getting paid less than they were promised. It's actually something that happens a lot with the Columbians, with the Hatians here. But we started teaching them and they're pretty receptive as well. They started coming to church about twice...to our ward...but they sometimes go to another ward because they sometimes send a member with a van to steal them. I don't know what's up with that because they live in the boundaries of our ward, but that's just more interesting stuff that happens.

So it's kind of weird to be doing this whole talking/recording thing. But I thought it'd be something different, kind of cool. I'm kind of running out of time here, but I just wanna let you guys all know that I love you, that I'm happy out here, that I enjoy spreading the gospel. It's all about getting lost in the work. I want to let you all know that I know this church is true and that Christ knows us.

I hope you all have a great week!

Take care,
Elder Olson