Week 34: No Water & Easter

April 17, 2017

Hey guys! ( I learned to say hello in Arabic this week but I don't know how to spell it so sorry),

    This last week was a long one. We spent half of it without water in the house. The water company sent us the months notice bill more than a month late, and it happened to be on a holiday, so we went Thursday-Sunday without running water. Luckily I had bottled a lot of extra water and some members let us use their shower.

    Also Elder Strong's birthday was this week! I sent a video of my companion and I messing with him, but it's in Spanish so hopefully you can understand what's happening.

    On Pday my comp and I went and got Arabic food. It was super tasty. I was a little nervous about eating there, because everybody down here is freaking out about the situation with the US and Syria, and I stand out a bit as a gringo. Luckily they were super nice and I don't think they spit in my food or anything.

      Also we found a gringo that lives in our sector! I was really excited to talk to him. Sadly the only things he said back before slamming his door in her face were swear words about how crazy Mormons are. It was different getting cussed out in English then it is in Spanish. I feel bad for the guy. Must've had some kind of bad experience with Mormons before.

      Happy Easter guys! I forgot to say that at the start. They don't really celebrate Easter down here. They just take the weekend off and eat a lot of fish, because the traditional Catholics don't eat meat this week.

      We've enjoyed sharing the #PrinceofPeace videos these last few weeks. They are awesome, and if any of you still haven't watch them, I highly recommend it. During this Easter time I'd like to bare my testimony about the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. During my time here in Chile, I've repeatedly experienced the transforming power of the atonement of Christ as I've noticed my own flaws and repented of them. I know that the atonement of Christ allows us not only to be forgiven but to be perfected. He lives and loves us.

I love you guys,
Elder Olson

Our sector

kind of like the fields and mountains of Spanish Fork right here

Elder Strong

Elder Terrazas

 

Elder Strong Getting the bday cake smash

Elder Strong 

After messing with Elder Strong. He thought the other Elders had done something nefarious with the cake

The Arabian Restaurant

Week 33: Miracles

April 12, 2017

Hiya,

This week has been amazing. Seriously full of miracles and spiritually charged lessons.

I had an interview with President this last week, and he taught me a lot about listening to the spirit and following promptings.

This week I learned a lot about listening to the spirit. If we want guidance from the spirit we have to be in a situation where we're ready to use the guidance. For example, I can't pray in my house for God to show me where I can find a new investigator. I have to go out to my sector, say a lot more prayers, and find the general part of town where I need to be. That happened to me this week. We were in that part of town, praying about what we ought to do next. The thought came to my mind to maybe visit some members that we had planned to visit nearby. On our way there we passed a neighborhood, and I felt that maybe we should go into that neighborhood. As we turned around to return to the neighborhood we passed a seventeen year old kid with face tattoos. Didn't look very receptive, but I felt that I ought to talk to him as well. I did, and he told us we could pass by his house. When we did the next day, he wasn't interested but his older brother Andrés received us. He was full of questions. He reminded me a lot of a young Joseph Smith, in that he was very troubled about the state of his soul, and he wanted to know what church was true. He was full of questions. We taught him immediately when we contacted him, and he accepted a baptismal date for next month. He was incredibly prepared to receive us.

Another interesting side note, He lived in an area way out in the country, that we had found only 2 DAYS BEFORE. We would not have had a clue where this kid lived, and would never have found him if we hadn't already known the area. God was preparing us as much as he was preparing him.
He still has his agency, but I'm hopeful that he will be baptized.

In other news, our friend with a baptismal date for May 6 met a member this week, and firmly committed to come to church this week.

Also, we have some investigators who live way out in the middle of nowhere, and we go out there after dark and get chased by their dogs a lot. I knocked one out with a stick so that was pretty interesting.

(But to bring the point of the letter back), I know that God speaks to man through the Holy Ghost and that we can receive promptings when we are worthy, when we ask, and when we are prepared to act.

Love you guys,
Elder Olson

Elder "Kim Jong Un" 

Weird fruit

Week 32: Latter-day Prophets are a sign of God's love

April 4, 2017

Friends and Fam,

It's been another great week down here in mission Chile Rancagua. I started off by going with Elder Strong down to Rancagua to do some paperwork for my carnet (Chilean ID). I got to see a lot of old friends, and I ate a Subway sandwich for the first time in almost a year.

Also, in the last week we set a baptismal date with an investigator named Jorge. He should have had a one earlier, but he had told us that he and his "live-in girlfriend" weren't married, meaning that he'd be breaking the law of chastity. Turns out that when he said they weren't married, he meant that they weren't married by the Catholic Church, but they are legally married. Whoops.

On PDay, we went out an hung out with Elder Haar and the Elders of Hospital (a little country town) in their 2 story mansion of a house. There's room for 10 Elders, but all that live there are the 4 Elders and the rats. We just hung out, played ping pong and ate food, which was fun.

The highlight of the week though of course was General Conference. There were a ton of great talks. One of my personal favorites was from Gary B. Sabin, which helped me think about how I can be a more consecrated missionary. President Uchtdorf's in Priesthood session was also a great one on the role of humility in Priesthood service. It's such a blessing that we have living prophets to guide us in our day. It's a big sign of God's love for use. I testify that they receive revelation from God and that applying their teachings will bring you blessings.

Con muche amor,
Elder Olson

Watching conference with the Buin district

Elder Haar and Elder Olson, Watching Conference

Elder Haar and Elder Olson

Buin District

Elder Torres and Elder Olson, PDay in the big Hospital casa

Week 31: Bonjou (French Creoit) and fixed sink

March 29, 2017

Bonjou, (Haitian Creole for "Greetings")

Hey everyone, it's been a pretty long week to start off the transfer, but also a pretty good one. We've been finding a lot of new investigators in the last few weeks. Now the trick is just getting them to progress.

Every Saturday we've been teaching English classes in the chapel. This week wee had some Haitians come in at the end looking to learn Spanish, so we taught them Spanish and now Elder Strong and I are learning French Creoit, the language of Haiti. So far we've had a 5 minute crash course and we've compared Spanish and Creoit pamphlets of the Plan of Salvation, so we're basically pros. :-)

Also, we fixed our kitchen sink!
I just dumped a load of what I think is called Hydrochloric Acid in English. Supposedly the stuff eats cement, and luckily it worked.

The Ramirez Family, the less active member that wants to receive the priesthood, came to church this week. They also had an interview with the branch president and a family home evening with the family of one of the counselors. The father, Jonathan, still hasn't quit smoking 100%, but we're seeing big improvements.

This week I read a talk by Ezra Taft Benson about pride. The majority of our sins and weaknesses come from our pride, and I know that pride can be a big problem for me. I've enjoyed seeing this week, as I've worked on my pride and my perspective of other people, that I've been able to learn a lot more, which has been awesome.

Mwen Renmen ou, (Haitian Creole for "I love you")

Elder Olson

Looks like Elder Olson at least wore a little protection while he used the Hydrochloric Acid

Roads of the sector

Elder Terrazas 

a car from the states

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 29: Last week before transfers, Lost in the work

March 14, 2017

Hola,

Wow, this will be the last letter of the transfer. This one seriously flew by. I've been a lot more focused on keeping my mind and heart in the work, which has helped me a lot.

This week we took a trip to Rancagua for a training conference. It was great as usual, our mission president is seriously incredible. Super driven and full of energy. One of the themes we talked about was talking with everyone we see. After the conference we wanted to put it into practice. Among the people we talked to was the woman next to me on the bus. We talked for the entire hour ride, and she ended up asking me about how she could have eternal life, and I taught her an entire lesson. It was pretty cool.

Also, this week we taught a 12 year old kid named Ignacio. We have another appointment to teach the whole family, but the first lesson was just him. We passed by later in the week and asked him how his reading and praying went. He said, "yeah, and I got my answer. He told me that it was all true and that I need to keep listening to you guys and do what you say, and if I keep on a good path everything will turn out alright." It was the fastest and surest answer I've seen so far, and I'm hopeful that he'll keep progressing.

On Monday, we got out of a lesson a little late. The lesson was in the other town, Alto Jahuel, about 5 miles from Buin where we live. We came out to find my companion's front tire completely flat. As we walked, we ran into a guy drunk out of his mind named Sergio. After throwing every curse work in the book, he took us to his house and patched my companion's tire (which was really impressive given how drunk he was).  So, shoutout to my man Sergio. Really though, it was a tender mercy which I was really grateful for.

Les quiero,
Elder Olson

Pot is legal here in Chile

"Camping out" again.

Family Home Evening with our District and Members and Investigators

Dinner with members.

Family home evening game of modified "Hot Potato." If you got caught with the potato, someone got to draw something on your face.

Got caught with the potato a couple of times. here are the results

Week 28: New Investigators, Old Friends

March 7, 2017

Howdy y’all,

Wow, this week flew by super fast.  It was really good though. We were working constantly. We found a lot of new investigators. Sadly, almost all of them are unmarried couples living together, which makes our job a bit harder. Luckily they’re all really smart and receptive though.

Another cool part of this week was making the 4-hour trip to Talca to fill out some papers for my visa. We had to be there at 8:30am, so we went down Sunday night to stay the night with my old friend Elder Haar! We got down there a little early, so we went and ate once (once (ohs-say) is like a small dinner they eat here late at night) with some old investigators of Elder Terrazas.  The next day was Pday so after taking care of my visa we went and had a barbecue wi some other less actives.  I ran into a lot of other missionaries I knew, and even some members from San Clemente which was awesome.  It was great to see everyone.

Also, my bike broke again on Friday and the mission still hasn’t been able to get me the replacement parts I need.  I’m getting pretty sick of the 45 minute walk to our area, but at least I have a lot of time to talk with my comp.

This week I read a talk called “The Fourth Missionary,” which was super awesome.  I've been focusing on having the changes of heart that I need in order to become a more consecrated missionary. I really have changed a lot in the last few weeks, and I’ve realized that changing our actions isn’t enough, we need to change everything down to our thoughts and beliefs.  I promise that by following the counsel of Omni 1:26 and offering our whole souls to Him, He will change us.  I love you guys and I love this work.

Que Dios les bendiga (God bless you),

Elder Olson

A couple of pictures:

The Buin Zone in their Buin TShirts. Jacob is kneeling on the bottom right

The Buin Countryside

week 27: My first Baptism!

Feburary 28, 2017

Hey all,

Wow, it's been a big week. A lot of big learning experiences that have helped me improve as a missionary and a person.

This week we had my first baptism! 10 year old Antonio was baptized by my companion, Elder Terrazas, on Saturday. It was a great service, and a lot of the branch was able to attend. The next day, Antonio was confirmed by the branch president in sacrament meeting.

We also had a cool experience teaching a reference from Santiago. His name is Fuslet, and he's from Haiti. He got here about the same time I did, 6 months ago, and he's here working. It was a pretty different experience because he speaks very little Spanish. He lives in a little shack behind another house with about 6 other Haitians (there are a lot of Haitians around here). As we taught Fuslet on the patio, the others were all rotating taking sponge and bucket showers on the side of the house. He was receptive and super humble. That lesson was the most similar so far to my pre-mission expectations. I thought that the people of Chile would be a bit more humble than the people back in the states, but that's not really how it is. I'm thinking about asking the mission to send me some french learning materials to read in the evenings so that I can better help.

This weekend I've been studying repentance pretty thoroughly. Preach My Gospel talks about repentance as a change of heart, consisting of a change of not only actions, but also of thoughts and beliefs. Leaving the sin isn't enough. We have to change our perspective, we have to hate the sin so much that we won't ever want to do it again. Through the atonement, we really can have this change of heart. We can be forgiven and be made new through Christ. Every day I'm more and more grateful for that.

Love ya,

Elder Olson

Here are the pictures from the baptism. Also, enjoy the pictures of our backyard campout on Monday night. 

Elder Olson, Antonio, Elder Terrazas

Antonio's family

 

Sleeping on top of the pergola (crazy boys)