Week 71: Happy New Year!

January 1, 2018 (Transcription from Audio Letter)

Hey everyone, Happy New Year!

This is week 6 of transfer 11 and the first day of 2018!

So it's been two weeks since I've been able to write or send anything so this is going to be kind of a recording to catch up on everything that I haven't been able to talk about all that much. 

Starting off with last week, (the week leading up to Christmas) we had a lot of activities and things like that for Christmas with the Branch and with the Stake. We sang in a couple of Stake Choirs. We helped out in a branch devotional as well. I think I may have mentioned they asked me to be the angel in the devotional. So that was...that was fun.

Then on the Tuesday before Christmas, we went to a central plaza and we sang songs for everybody. There were actually a lot of people there. I was really impressed. A lot of members and then people who weren't members stopped to watch and listen. So that was cool. We got there early to help blow up helium balloons and then they handed out balloons with a card for Light the World to everyone and then everybody let them go at the same time at the end. So that went pretty well.

So after that, that weekend, Jorge got baptized! Wahoo! I'm super super excited about that. He is great. He's still doing great. He was baptized on the 23rd right before Christmas. He was baptized by a member, Hermano Torres. It was a pretty small little service but it went well. There were probably about 3 families of members, maybe a total of 16 people there at his baptism and it was really spiritual, at least for me. I felt the spirit pretty strongly, so I enjoyed having that experience and it went well. The brother that was baptizing him, he... I think Jorge kind of went limp when he went under the water, he was kind of expecting the member to kind of pull him out. And Jorge's not THAT big but not a small guy either, and the member was recovering from a car accident and so his arm strength isn't all that good. We were actually kind of worried that he wasn't going to be able to do the baptizing. But with a loud grunt and a lot of visible effort, the member got him up out of the water. So that was good. It all went well. hahaha. And then the day after there was the confirmation on the 24th. And we just had a short little sacrament meeting with a primary program and my companion and I were able to participate in the confirmation with the Branch President. 

The primary program was great. I also felt the spirit watching that. I enjoyed it. And then that night (December 24th), we first talked with our families and then we had dinner with our Branch President and his wife and also with Jorge which we were really grateful for. We were trying to look for somebody to invite him and if not we were going to go eat with him because he is separated from his wife and he lives by himself so we were looking for a way to help him have a merrier Christmas. I think he had a good time.

Here in Chile, Christmas is a little different. Everybody opens their presents at midnight instead of waiting til the morning. So there's a bunch of parties and everybody's out until midnight on Christmas eve and then they open all their presents and they're like, "yeah cool" and then they're up until like 2 or 3 in the morning and then they go to  bed and then the 25th Christmas day is like nothing for them. They don't go to work but they don't really do anything else either. They maybe sit around in their house, maybe have another dinner, maybe they'll go out but it's just kind of like any other holiday, not all that special, from what I have seen, from what I understand.

So we were there, not until midnight, only til 10. All the members were surprised, especially the returned missionaries, because most of them had received permission from their mission presidents when they'd been serving but we did not have permission to stay out later for new years or for Christmas. 

So during the week, we had a good week, we found a lot of new people. We talked with a lot of people in the street and we just kept finding and finding and finding a lot of new investigators, so that was really cool. We found almost 2 new investigators every day. So that was pretty cool. 

We also did a couple...I don't know if they're called splits or divisions...in Spanish they're called exchanges basically...intercambios. Where one companion goes to another sector with another missionary and the other missionary comes to our sector, our area. So we did that twice. I left both times. I went to be able to accommodate for the schedule and for the missionaries that we had. So I went to Donihue on Wednesday. I was there with Elder Rogers who I've known for a long time. I saw him start his mission in Buin and now have been his zone leader for 3 changes here in Rancagua. So I've gotten to know him pretty well. So that was good. He's a great missionary. Oh also that day, we had some lessons with some Hatians. Elder Rogers speaks very very very well, Creole/Hatian. And so I got to practice my Creole a little bit. I was able to understand probably about half of everything that was going on. I was able to explain what the book of mormon is and some very basic stuff and introduce myself and ask them a couple basic questions about themselves. But I understood quite a bit actually of the Creole so I was very very excited about that. That's a talent that I haven't been able to develop all that much. Not a lot of missionaries do. Elder Rogers is definitely the best in the whole mission as far as I know, at speaking Creole. But that's a talent I would like to develop a little bit more.

On wednesday we went straight from Donihue, came back to the house and I grabbed some other clothes and then went straight back out to Rengo to do intercambios. I was with Elder Pistorius there, one of the people from my district in the MTC. So that was really cool. He's also a great guy. Him and his companion are great missionaries. We really enjoy having them in the zone. We tried passing by my Aunt's family's house to see how they're doing but they weren't home. But it was still cool to be able to go on intercambios there. I like Rengo in general and we were able to have some good lessons as well. We were in lessons basically the whole time and then we were in their ward council meeting so we were pretty busy that whole day.

Then this weekend we did some stuff for new years, new year's eve. But let me see, I don't want to skip anything here. Nah, everything's been pretty normal, just still working our hardest.

We have a kind of new investigator named Eileen. We found her in probably the third week of this change. She is the cousin of a member from a little town outside of Rancagua. Her cousin is a returned missionary. Her mom is a less active member. And she is not a member. She's 18. She has a son who's like a year and a half old and they live there, the 3 of them. She listened to the missionaries before and she really really really wants to get baptized. She's super excited about it. She almost got baptized with the other missionaries but her son got sick and she is worried about taking him to church and there were some other complications. So we still have been teaching her. We visited her twice and so we're still not 100% sure what happened the other time. The other missionaries didn't leave a very good record of why they stopped teaching her. But she seems to have a lot of potential. She came to church this week which was awesome. Also members brought 2 other investigators to church this week so that was awesome. It's not common to have members bring people to church so that was a nice change. So that was cool. Eileen now has a baptismal date for the 3rd of February so we're going to be working with her and praying for her. 

Last night for new year's eve, we worked for a while, had some lessons and then we had some appointments that a member was going to accompany us to, so we went and passed by a couple other investigators and then we went with that member to have dinner and share with his family. He has some...well his son is less active and his kids are all less active...most of them don't live with him but his youngest son lives with him. And his daughter drove down from Santiago with her boyfriend as well. So that was really fun. It was a good dinner. We had some BBQ and were back in the house by 10 as normal. 

Our zone had a great week as far as numbers were concerned. We were really excited for them to see a lot of the progress. There are a lot of investigators that I think have a lot of potential. We should be having, well I would say 1 baptism this week, we COULD have more, but we will have another baptism this week which will meet our...if we have that baptism...we will meet our goals for baptisms for the change. We already met our goals for the month of December, but if we're going to meet our goal for the change, we need 1 more this week. And then hopefully we can keep elevating the zone a little bit at a time. But it's been really good. The zone's been really stable. We haven't had any weeks that we were just like, "oh this week was a tough week" where the numbers just drop a lot. It was just a really good change.

I'm still enjoying being with my comp, Elder Lee. We'll find out changes this week. I have NO idea what's going to happen. I've been here for 3 changes already. So the most logical thing I think would be for me to leave but I could definitely stay with Elder Lee another change because we get along great and we are having success in the sector and in the zone. Elder Lee could also leave, you never know. But we'll find out probably Saturday. We also have exchanges/splits with the assistants tomorrow so that'll be fun. 

I want also, for a spiritual thought, I was thinking about a talk from Elder Holland he gave at BYU for New Year's, I don't know what year, but he talks about a scripture in Luke...I don't want to say the reference in case I'm wrong...I think it's either Luke 9 or 19 verse 32 which says "Remember Lot's wife." (it's actually Luke 17:32) That's like the whole scripture. But the idea is that Lot's wife, well Lot and his family were commanded to leave Soddom and Gommorah, that one is in Genesis 19 I believe, and they kind of dallied a little they kind of lagged behind, took their time, and then they kind of left running from the city and Lot's wife looked back and they had been commanded NOT to look back...to look not behind you. She was turned into a pillar of salt. So Elder Holland talks a lot about why she would be turned into a pillar of salt just from looking back. With the new year, we have an opportunity to look forward a lot more than looking back. The problem isn't the look back because we can learn a lot of things from the past, but he illustrates, or at least the point I get is that we should not look back longing to be in the past, like wishing we were in another time. Just enjoying where we are now and enjoying the hope of an even better future.

So I hope you guys all made it this far in the recording...I know this one was a little long. But I want to wish you a happy new year and I hope everybody is doing well. I love you. Take care!

Elder Olson

Elder Olson "helping" fill balloons at the plaza

Elder Lee, Jorge, Hermano Torres, Elder Olson

Elder Olson on Christmas Day 

Elder Olson and Elder Lee shared a "talent" at the Zone's Christmas Day gathering

Elder Shumway and Elder ? show their "Talent"...Elder Olson couldn't handle staying to record the end...sorry

 Elder Olson's reaction to Elder Shumway's talent

Huge moth under the glass, it was flying around the shower

Countryside

Elder Rogers and Elder Olson in Donihue

The District 

from a Chilean member, Hermano Torres

NOTE: this is not from Elder Olson. This is a letter sent to Elder Olson's parents concerning Elder Olson and the baptism of Jorge.

Hi! I'm Heraldo Torres . Im member of the church and I have been working with elder Olson and elder Lee of the Baquedano branch, Chile Rancagua stake. It has been a great blessing to work with these two missionaries. Recently I baptized Jorge Droguet . I visited Jorge with the elders and it has been awesome to see him progress. 

I attach some picts of these missionaries. 

Thank you for sharing with us those wonderful missionaries !!!

Heraldo Torres L.

Hermano Torres, Jorge and Elder Olson and Elder Lee

Week 70: Merry Christmas!

Note: Elder Olson didn't write any emails this week but we did have a great video call with him. Here are a few clips I thought you would enjoy. 

DECEMBER 24, 2017

week 69:Jorge is getting baptized this week

December 18, 2017

Hey everyone, how's it going?

This is week 4 of transfer 11. And we are just finishing up an activity in one of the play centers/parks here in Rancagua with 3 of the zones and the office. It was like a big combined thing, it was like an Olympics but without sports. Doing things that President's wife invented, like wheelbarrows and piggy back rides and like filling a bucket with water...you know, that kind of thing. So that was fun. And then we had Papa John's!  They gave us a budget for it. I was sooooo excited about that because normally for our zone meetings we kind of pay for everything...we buy food if we're going to do a BBQ or something and then everybody pays us like 2 like dollars per person but a lot of the time it ends up being a little more expensive for us and we lose a bit of money almost every time. But this time they actually gave us extra money to be able to do it so we got some Papa Johns Pizza, which was awesome and had some medals for the winning team for the winning zone. We did NOT win although we kicked butt at the wheelbarrow race and some of the other races but there was a type of soccer baseball mix, almost like kickball, but it was still different from that, and that wasnt good for us because we're 9 gringos in our zone and almost no latinos so we were kind of in trouble for that game.

This week was a good week, we did exchanges/divisions, I don't know what it's called in English, with Do ñihue, I've mentioned it before...it's a country town. So that was good. I was with Elder (?) We're working a lot on talking with everybody. Kind of helping him get over the fear barrier and talking with people in the street. so that was fun, it was good. He's a really really good missionary...great future. He's kind of new in the mission. He only has about 6 months.

The next day, we didn't have lunch, so we just went and bought pork (sorry just had to run across a street) so we made pork tacos, something I'd never done before. Luckily it turned out super good. Elder Lee had had some mexican companions so he  made some sweet salsa the other day and we put the salsa on the pork tacos and it was soooo good. We like grilled up the veggies and blended it all together it was good stuff.

Another thing that was really cool this week was working with Jorge. I'm pretty sure I mentioned him last week. But he is an investigator who we found at the very end of November. We contacted him in the street with Elder Davis. He was just super prepared, like God does all the work with him, we haven't done anything. I mean we've obviously tried to help him as much as we can but he was basically ready to be baptized right away. We moved his baptismal date now...this week we moved it from the 13th of January to the 23rd of December so we're really excited about that. So yeah, he's going to get baptized this week. I'll be able to tell my family about that in the skype this week. He asks questions when he has them, and nobody's gonna just have NO questions. Like he has some doubts every once in a while, but nothing that impedes him from being baptized and he's really excited. There are some members who are really excited to help out with him and actually a member that we've been working with, with him, who's going to baptize him. The story is actually kind of funny. We sent a text so that brother/member asking him to congratulate Jorge on accepting the baptism and that he was going to be baptized. So then we go to talk to that member and he speaks English, and he was like, "Hey guys, guess what?" and we were like, "What?" and he said, "I talked to Jorge." And we said, "Oh? yeah? that's good. And how'd it go?" And he's like, "yeah, it went good, bro. But I asked him if I could baptize him and he said yes. I'M going to baptize him." And haha, so he made an executive decision to kind of decided that HE'S going to be baptizing him which is great, it was just kind of a surprise for my companion and I because we'd planned him to ask him about it in the next lesson. So that was good. 

We had a couple chances to go and help with school activities. We went and sang with the ward choir in Rengo on Tuesday and then yesterday we went and practiced with the Church's Choirs for this big activity in the plaza here in Rancagua that we are going to be doing. So it's actually tomorrow. It's this big Light the World activity, which is going to be cool. 

I think that's about it. Nothing super interesting. I'm excited to talk to the family on Christmas. That'll be good. I don't have my scriptures out to give a good spiritual thought right now. But I hope everyone is doing well. I'm doing great. I love you guys. Take Care! Bye!

Elder Lee and I and our pork tacos

week 68: Throw out the Tea and Coffee

December 11, 2017 (transcription of audio letter)

Hey guys, hows it going? 

This is week 3 of transfer 11 and right now we are on the bus headed back to Rancagua from Rengo. 

We just finished a Pday activity. We went out to Rengo to try to climb a mountain. It did not go so hot, but we had a good time. We had the Elders from Rengo, which is about an hour away from Rancagua, we had them looking for a hill for us to climb as a zone because everybody in the zone wanted to do that for a Pday. So they found, well they kind of found one, they'd talked to some people and they had told them about this hill that we'd have to take a bus to get to and it was up kind of in the mountain range a little bit. So we got to Rengo at about 10:30 at about 11 we took a bus. We thought the bus was going to be a 15 minute ride, 10 minutes maybe, but it turned out to be like an hour long bus ride to the place where we were headed...maybe between a half an hour and an hour. So we got off and it was kind of just the middle of nowhere but we found a trail that was kind of by a campsite. Then we started hiking and first ran into some bee farms so we had to double back and find another trail. So we hiked along for a while and the trail just got smaller and smaller and less and less. I don't know, less hike-able. We, after about half an hour, it got to the point where we were just breaking branches and ducking through trees and trying not to get snagged by too many thorns. Kind of just bushwhacking to make our way through but we were really determined to try to get to the top of the hill. But by the time we got to somewhere which was probably the top, there were just trees everywhere and the trail kind of just disappeared and it was time to head back to make it to the bus. So in the end it was kind of a bummer that we didn't get any cool views or anything like that from the top of the hill, but it was still fun to get out and do something a little different. We got some good group pictures so it was a good time. 

This week has been good. It's been awesome. We've actually been working alot with one of our investigators, his name is Jorge. He is an investigator that Elder Davis and I found in probably the last week of the last change. And he's doing great. I really think he's going to get baptized. He's come to church twice now. Last time we talked to him about the importance of staying for all 3 hours and he actually stayed for the whole time. He also came to a special lesson we had with President Harris and the Stake President here in our stake center in Rancagua. So that was really cool. He's had a lot of questions get answered. He's thrown out his tea and started drinking herbal tea instead. Oh here in Chile, I don't think I've ever described this before but, everybody either drinks tea or coffee or if they're mormon they drink herbal tea or coffee substitute. The one they normally drink is called Ecco that comes from a grain actually rather than coffee but it tastes similar. But EVERYBODY drinks one of those two things. Normally in the night, with their last meal, their onceE~ they drink some of that. So Jorge, his only problem with the word of wisdom, was the tea and coffee, but he wasn't very stubborn about giving it up. After we taught it and asked him if he would do it, if he would keep the word of wisdom, he didn't sound super sure with his commitment but he said he'd do it. And then the next time we went back, he'd given out his tea and he'd switched to herbal tea and was looking for a good coffee substitute and we're going to have to confirm whether he actually left the coffee or not, but I think he did. So he's doing really well. Also in our last lesson with him, we were talking about his baptismal date, which WAS for the 13th of January and he asked if he could get baptized sooner. He wants to get baptized this month, in December, which is awesome. We're going to do everything we can to get him baptized as soon as possible. He's got a shot at getting baptized on the 23rd, right before Christmas, so keep him in your prayers. Hopefully he can make some progress and achieve his goal of being baptized and really being converted. 

Apart from that, on Wednesday we had zone conference with all of the northern zones here in the mission, so it was a little bigger than normal. There were 5 zones there instead of the normal 2. We talked a lot about companionship study and charity. It was good. There was a lot of things I learned I think. We did a part as zone leaders where we took our zones aside and talked about companionship study and did a little fun activity and I think it went well.

Also this week, on Sunday, the Branch President asked me to give a talk in Sacrament meeting which I haven't had to do so far in the mission actually because all of our branches so far and wards have been generally big so I haven't had to give a talk before in sacrament meeting...just get up and give my testimony. So it was fun to prepare the talk. I think it well as well. I talked about being the Light, to go along with the Light the World theme. And we as a mission right now are doing a thing with the members where we are inviting them to pray for missionary experiences and to have missionary opportunities to be able to share the gospel with others, even if it's something small. But every morning and every night we are asking them to pray and to ask for those experiences because really I think a lot of the members and a lot of members in the church in general, we just don't know how to look for those experiences, or we get so caught up in our other things, our other responsibilities, that it doesn't even cross our minds...at least for me it was that way. I was always so busy with my own things, that I never looked for opportunities to be a missionary with others. I still had a few opportunities but I was not very good at actively looking for them. So that's something that I would like to help members here, as well, be able to improve. That's something that I've seen in myself, something I've been able to improve being here on the mission and I hope it's going to be a lasting change. 

Other stuff that has happened in the week...

Yesterday the missionaries in our branch had to go sing in a Christmas devotional to support our branch choir, because the branch isn't too big. They had been saving up for several weeks to come help. So we went over to the stake center and added our voices to the choir. Also, my companion and I sang in a stake choir because they called us and asked us to help with that as well. And I think we're going to be singing at least once or twice more this week. We have another activity in Rengo in the community on Wednesday where we're going to sing and talk to the ...I don't know how many of us missionaries are going to sing and if they are going to have some missionaries contacting people while the rest of us sing...I'm not sure how their ward has this planned out but we'll see how it goes. 

I don't know if there's much more to add but I'm very glad everything is going good. I hope you guys are all having good times or remembering to light the world. So I think that's going to be it. Love you guys. Take care!

week 67: Changes in the mission & Changes in others

December 4, 2017 (transcription of audio letter)

Hey guys, Elder Olson here. This is week 2 of transfer 11. We're just on our way to the computer terminal to send emails. So yeah, it's been a really good week. We had changes. My new companion is Elder Lee from Lindon, UT. So that's cool. He's a really cool guy. We get along really well. We've been having a crazy week. A lot of cool stuff has been happening. A lot of success in the sector just out of nowhere.

Changes happened so we took Elder Davis and most of the zone to the terminal. Every companionship in the zone had someone leave and somebody new come. So that was fun. We had like a big change this time which was good because last time nobody changed out of their sector. There was one companionship that had a change. This time it was a lot bigger change. I had a lot of people that I know come up here including Elder Christarious(sp?) who was from my group. And then on Thursday we had a leadership council for all the zone leaders which was really fun because almost everybody from my group who got here to the mission with me and was in the MTC with me are all zone leaders at this point. The ones that weren't just went up this change so I got to see a few of them which is always fun.

We had some cool experiences in the street finding people. We've been using a lot the new Light the world initiative which is awesome. It's great for us because it makes it way easier to share with people.  Just like, "Hey can we just share a 2 minute video with you about Christmas?" And the people are a lot more receptive to that, so that's cool.

The other day we had a cool experience with that. We'd just got out of a visit, just come out of an investigators house, and we have a plan to talk with a minimum of 15 people. The whole zone, every companionship, has to talk with at least 15 people every day no matter what. So we were contacting people in the street and my companion goes and starts talking with this 15 year old girl and I came back around and started talking to her too. She's in school and we pass by her house and showed her the video and talked to her for a minute and asked her what time she CAN meet and she said basically any time like right now at this time. We were like "well can we pass by your house right now then" and she was like "yeah" so we walked with her to her house and we went in with her family of four. Which was awesome. They were all super super nice. So that was kind of a cool little miracle we were able to see. And then right after that we found another family that we contacted in the street a little while ago as well. So we found a lot of new investigators this week. So then we also found another family. The mom is from Brazil. We contacted her in the street and we were talking from here and I noticed her accent and I said "Ah you're not from here, you're from Brazil aren't you?" and she said, "Yeah, I am from Brazil." And I said in Portuguese, " I speak portuguese" and she was like Oh REALLY! and started talking to me in Portuguese. I don't actually speak Portuguese so I told her I was joking. So she was like really excited and super super receptive so we got to start teaching her and her family this week. Her husband is also a really really nice guy.

We've been working with a guy named Jorge this last week. We set a baptismal date. He seems to be really really really really receptive with a lot of potential to progress. He came to church on Sunday. He doesn't have any significant barriers that we can see for him being baptized. He's recently divorced and now he's just out of a job so he's kind of packed in to a rough time. We found him at the exact moment he needed it I think. So it's been really fun to work with him. We are going to continue to work with him.

We have an investigator named Lena. I think I may have mentioned her. She was in a car accident a couple of years ago and broke her femur and is stuck in a wheelchair. But she wants to come to church and we have a member who is going to fellowship her really well and he offered to take her to church but she said she woke up feeling really bad and had to take  a lot of pain killers this Sunday so she didn't come. We're also trying to help her quit smoking so she can actually get better. Because she's actually not going to get better if she keeps smoking like this.

But other than that, I hope you're all participating in the Light the World program...that service calendar, the 25 ways we can serve in 25 days. Sometimes it's kind of hard to find HOW we can serve other people, even if we WANT to serve them. So it's a great way to start, to jumpstart, to get the ball rolling at least until Christmas to serve people. As a missionary, I obviously have a lot of service opportunities and can really can see the difference it makes in MY life.

I reminds me of a poem. I don't know who the original author was but I heard it shared in a Brad Wilcox talk, which goes something like this...

I tried to find myself, but myself I could not see.

I tried to find my God, but he eluded me. 

I tried to find my brother, and then I found all three.

I think that there's a lot that can be learned from that small little poem there.

I hope everybody is doing well. I'm doing great. I'm excited for Christmas. Take CARE!

This sandwich is called El Misionero

Christmas in Summer in Chile...Nativity viewing in shorts

Elder Lee is 6'5" ...tall guy 

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 65: tough week as far as investigators

November 20, 2017 (transcription of audio letter)

Hey everyone, Elder Olson here, this week 6 of transfer 10. 

This week's been a tougher week to be honest. We had a lot of appointments planned out with a lot of investigators. We had some high goals and a lot of plans. We expected to have a pretty full week. But in the end, all of our appointments fell, the whole week, every day, every single appointment fell except for I think 3 appointments in the whole week didn't fall. It was tough. It was kind of a tough time in the companionship for both of us I'd say not because we didn't get along but because the sector was just tough this week.

But it really hasn't been too bad.

On Wednesday we did exchanges with Elder Tyce and Elder {?} in Requinoa. So my first exchange in the mission I went on, I had like 3 days in the mission, and Elder Haar and Elder Tyce and I were in a trio and we were both super new. Elder Haar didn't speak any Spanish and I spoke hardly any Spanish and Elder Tyce still spoke Portuguese and Spanish mixed together so we could hardly understand each other. But we had a blast anyway. And I had Elder Tyce in my last zone in Curico as well but we never had a chance to do an exchange together. So We finally were able to an exchange together on Wednesday of this week. So that was fun. We found a ton of new people. We set a baptismal date with one of their investigators. Their investigator has a problem smoking. His name's Felipe. He's come to church a lot of times. They have a really well Fellowship I think the word is in English. they're really good. We also practiced some Spanish Freestyle rapping. Elder Tyce is a Thug, hahaha. He's a good guy. Really into Rap and that kind of stuff though.

In the week, the most interesting thing was that we had an open chapel, a tour, at a church in Doñihue  one of the little country towns in our zone. Really pretty spot. But that was really tough as well. Mostly for the other Elders of Doñihue. They'd been prepping it all week. They had everything set up. They'd invited a bunch of people and all that. And then only 2 people came to the tour. One of them was an investigator they already had and the other was an investigator we contacted in the street who it was actually kind of a miracle almost because she was coming by on a bike right in front of the church and I stop her and start talking to her and I'm like, "Yeah, we're having a tour of the chapel here. I would love to show you a little bit about what we believe and how the building is and all that." So she's thinking about it and then gets a phone call and she's on it for like 5 minutes and I'm waiting there patiently and then she finally gets off the phone and before I say anything she's like, "Yeah, ok. I'll take a look." So she went through and we were able to get her information so the elders can teach her later. But she was the only one who went through off of the contacts which was crazy because we contacted quite a few people around a little less than 40 people in the street in front of the chapel. But Doñihue is a tougher place. It's really small. They're all old catholic people who live there. It's tough. And also the street where the chapel is doesn't have a lot of traffic. We sent other people to other parts of the city trying to get people there but it didn't result into much in the end. But that is alright because that night we all got a baptism in the zone. The Elders of Requinoa had a baptism of a Hatian. So that was pretty cool.

That was pretty much our week. I'm just kind of hanging in there. We took a good look at what we haven't been doing that we ought to do so we can step it up in the sector this week cause it's been a tough week. But we've just gotta keep on keeping on. 

Church yesterday was really good. The branch presidency spoke. One of the talks that called my attention was really good. It was talking about, well all three meetings yesterday were focused on home teaching, visiting teaching and caring for each other as members of the church. It reminds me of Mosiah 18 how as part of the baptismal covenant we promise to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort and how we've all promised to do that when we were baptized. So that's something that I continually want to improve on...looking for those service opportunities for other people and I hope you guys can all look for those service opportunities as well.

As far as our contact goal, we've been doing pretty well. We had a few days where we contacted 20 or more and a few days where we contacted between 10-15. In general we've gotten more than 10 contacts every day even when the schedules have been very busy running back and forth from place to place. We've been talking to people on the way.

I really appreciate your prayers for us this week especially because we're coming to the end of the change. We're going to find out transfers this Saturday so that'll be interesting. It's pretty unlikely that Elder Davis and I would stay together another change. You never know, but it's pretty likely that one of us will go. Probably him because he has more time in the sector. But we'll see what happens.

So if you guys could just pray for us that we will be able to find new people to teach and also be able to get investigators into the sacrament meeting because it's been a couple weeks since we've gotten anyone there.

Love you guys. Really appreciate you and hope you're all doing well. Take care!

Elder Olson

Companionship Unity featuring my watch tan line

How we take care of bugs

week 64: New investigators & Long-suffering

November 13, 2017

¡Hola Todos!

¡Ejalé!

Hope you're all doing well. I didn't do an audio because we've been moving at a million miles an hour so sorry about that.

Haha I think this week God has been helping me develop my long-suffering. That's not to say that it was too bad, but we had A LOT of appointments fall through. 2 out of our 7 baptismal dates fell as well, Felipe and Felipe, more on them in a minute.

Mwen vle kapab pale creole! While on intercambios I took E Rogers from Fresno to see our Haitian investigators. He speaks almost fluent creole, because when we were in the same zone in buin almost all of their investigators were Haitians. I understood about 40% of the lesson, which is actually not bad! I need to practice more though.

As a mission we've implemented a new referral system that I dont know if I mentioned. Basically whenever anybody in our zone receives a reference it becomes the responsibility of my companion and I to track and verify the teaching of those referrals. It's a lot of extra homework for Elder Davis and I.

All of our appointmebnts falling this week was in a way a blessing. My companion and I found 8 new investigators this week, which ties for our record from last change here.

Felipe and Felipe jr are two of our long time investigators who were supposed to get baptized on the 25th of November. Felipe has a slight difficulty with leaving wine. He won't get serious about it. He says he's received his answer about the BoM and wants to get baptized with his son. BUT they won't keep commitments. They could use your prayers as we decide this week whether or not we have to leave them.

Well that's gonna have to be all for today, but I'll have an audio for you next week!

With love,

Elder Olson