Week 46: Blessings through FAITH

July 10, 2017

Hey Everyone,

I hope that you're all enjoying the warm July weather up there. We're still getting plenty of cold and rain (Luckily the cold isn't much compared to a Utah winter). The cold means that everybody starts their wood burning stoves, and the air is always full of a think layer of smoke. A lot of the zone (and the mission) has gotten sick. Luckily I've avoided most of it, I've just got a bit of a cold and cough. Elder Heap is starting to get pretty sick though, so I hope we'll be able to fight it off and keep working.

A member from another sector had promised to take us up to the mountains to see snow today, but he cancelled on us late last night.

This week I've had the chance to attend a few meetings. President Harris called us Wednesday to have us come to a meeting with the stake president. On Thursday, we also presented in a stake wide bishopric/branch presidency training. It was kind of cool to see a different side of things.

On  Thursday, we also had a zone conference, where we talked about "opening the heavens" to receive Divine help through our faith.

Moroni 7 promises many blessings that come through our faith (remembering that faith is a principle of action). Among these we can see that through faith we: "lay hold upon every good thing" (v.25), we become saved and become sons or children of God (v.26), we shall receive what we righteously ask for (v.26), we are claimed by Christ (v.28), "Cleave unto every good thing (v.28), we are shown angels (v.30), we five the Holy Ghost place in our hearts (v.32), and obtain "power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in [God]" (v.33). I know that when I have exercised faith I have seen miracles.

Love,
Elder Olson

Elder Olson told his little brother that though he didn't get to swim in a pool this week (like Archer did), he did get to play pool (on Pday).

Elder Olson and Elder Heap

New Curico Zone Hats

Elder Heap and Elder Olson sporting their hats

Week 23: Change to the Missionary Schedule and Faith

February 1, 2017

Friends and Family, 

It’s been a pretty interesting week! The fires down here are still out of control.  The wildfires are everywhere. They’ve had to pull several missionaries out of their sectors due to the fire danger.  All of us Talca missionaries were stuck in our houses for about 3 days because the streets were filled with smoke.  The fires in the forests near San Clemente are controlled now, so we should be alright. Once side-effect I didn’t see coming has been the soldiers with machine guns all over the place.  The fires before now were apparently started intentionally, so they’re working hard to protect their forests.

This week we also had the opportunity to participate in a worldwide training broadcast.  Some of you may have heard, it brought some big changes for us.  The first change was to the schedule.  We now have a slightly less structured schedule. We plan in the morning now, and can choose what time of day we want to study.  They’ve also changed the number of stats we report from 9 to 4, which will really help us missionaries in general to focus on repentance and baptism.

This transfer we’ve been working with an inactive member named Aldo.  Aldo left the church after a divorce with his wife several years ago. We’ve been teaching him for a while now, and he’s come to church 4 Sundays in a row.  He had an interview with the branch president, and we’re starting to work on getting him to the temple.  It’s really been awesome to work with him.

This week we’ve taught a lot of lessons on faith.  May people we teach talk about how fait his super important, but really don’t understand what fait is. we often explain faith has having 2 parts: belief (It took me a minute to remember that work in English) and works.  As we’ve surely all heard, faith without works is dead (James 2). In Alma 32 we learn that faith is like a seed that must be nourished by works in order to grow.  We can read in the end of that chapter that the fruits of the see will be sweeter than anything we have before tasted.  I promise you all that fait accompanied by works will bring you blessings and miracles.

Much love, 

Elder Olson

Elder Olson and Elder Haar at Zone Meeting

Elder Olson's Zone

Smoky skies

Dogs in the area

Chilean Countryside (called compo)

killing bugs in the casa

PLAYING POOL ON PDAY

Elder Haar, Elder Aguero, Elder Olson

Elder Aguero, Elder Olson, Elder ?

 

Elder Haar and Elder Olson

Week 17: Prayer and Faith

December 16, 2016

Friends and Fam,

Hey everyone, another crazy week here in San Clemente. Actually, I spent most of the week outside of my sector. On Wednesday we had the opportunity to participate in a Christmas program in an addiction recovery facility. We sang a lot of Christmas hymns and a version of "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul." The spirit was so strong.

This week Elder Santini went to the temple up in Santiago to finish off his mission, so I took the four hour bus ride to Licanten to do exchanges with an Elder Pollard. That seriously has to be the prettiest sector in the mission. We had some good visits, and the second day I got to go to the beach! We weren't going to go, but we had a baptismal interview with a kid from a nearby beach town. He was going to come to Licanten, but plans changed when we got a call saying that the kid's mom had been stabbed. It was a really crazy situation, but he's going to be baptized and his family's starting to take lessons. Pretty awesome.

Awhile ago we contacted a woman named Mary who had recently lost a daughter. We shared the Book of Mormon and Alma 40:11-12, set an appointment to teach her, and never saw her again. A month went by without any contact, but on Sunday we found her again. She started reading, and she says that our book has changed her life. She's shared it with her boss and nephew, and she reads it to her aunt and every time it makes them both cry. She has a testimony as strong as any member here. Obviously we were thrilled, but she got a call from her boss calling her to work up north for the next 4 months. She leaves this Thursday. We're going to do everything we can to make sure the missionaries up there get her reference, and I'm confident that she'll be baptized at some point, even if I don't get to see it.

During my time in the mission I've seen a lot of little miracles, and a few not so little. This week especially, I've seen answer to prayer after prayer. I also know that these blessings have come to us through faith. I testify of Matthew 17:20 and 21:22, that through faith accompanied by action you can accomplish any righteous goal that you may set.

Much love and Merry Christmas!
Elder Olson

Elder Olson and his comp, Elder Santini, with President and Sister Harris

traveling to Licanten

Church in Licanten (not sure if this is the actual church bldg or just church owned bldg)

spotting the ocean in Licanten

another glimpse of the ocean

beach wedding in the distance

A Half-Meter long (18") Completos. Working on putting back on the 7lbs he's lost so far.

Elder Borges Birthday

Traveling together to a Zone meeting with the Mission President (thanks to Elder Haar for the pic). Elder Olson is on the far left. 

Elder Olson's Zone. (Thanks to Elder Haar for the picture). He is second in from the left on the back row.

A LETTER FROM THE MISSION PRESIDENT TO ELDER OLSON'S FAMILY THIS WEEK:

Dear Parents and family of Elder Olson,

Merry Christmas from the Chile Rancagua Mission. During the month of December our missionaries have been busy sharing the message, “Ilumina el Mundo”, “25 Ways in 25 Days.” The video on mormon.org has been a great way to start conversations about the gospel and following Jesus Christ.

For our December zone conferences the missionaries have come to the mission home and prepared a program of music and scripture messages about Jesus Christ. We then shared our program at care centers and drug rehabilitation centers. The missionaries and the audiences were touched by the message of the Savior.

Thank you for the love and support that you give your missionary. We love Elder Olson and we are thankful that he is serving in our mission.

Merry Christmas!

President and Sister Harris