Sunday, September 29, 2013

Sept 23, 2013 SLS Still in Kearns

Hey!

Yes I do know Elder Roberts. He is from Draper. HE came with me on the train and is also waiting for his visa to Buenos Aires. He was with Zone leaders (my companion’s old companion). But some people got sent home and stuff and so a lot of the visa waiters with zone leaders are getting switched to English areas. They said I am pretty lucky to still be in a Spanish area! This is why I am nervous for today, we get transfers today or tomorrow. I think I’ll stay but idk! I want to stay. I knew some of the rumors from the AP's but nothing is final until it all comes out. Even the pres. doesn’t know until it comes out so we will see. Um. I guess just ties. I’m not sure exactly. Cuz if I really needed something we live right next to a Walmart. But I’m here for another half an hour so I will keep thinking.

Also! I want to see Mike’s new Mustang! He’s not allowed to smash it up and I want to be picked up from the Airport in it and drive it home! HAHAHA! Okay

So Salvador! HE is an 18 year old kid we meet. We stopped by his house looking for someone else and he wasn’t home so we started teaching Salvador. He said he had been going through a hard time with his family and moving all over the place. And he prayed in august that things will get better. We talked to him about the restoration and baptism and he said that is exactly what he needs. He has been depressed and we promised him that this is what he has been looking for! We invited him to church (it was stake conference) and he came and he loved it! We taught him on Monday night and I got to do a lot of the teaching because he likes English better than Spanish. And I put him on date for the 29th of September. On wed we took some boys from the ward with us to teach him and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we also taught his family except his mom. And they all like it. His bro is on house arrest but is pretty receptive. He is feeling good about baptism. Only problem is he asked if he could wait 6 months to a year to really know this is what he wants to do. On Saturday we took him to Temple Square, We wanted to take his family but they couldn’t so it was just him. It was funny because since he understands English better the Spanish sisters had to do the tour in English and they didn’t really speak good English. They did a great job though! HE is feeling better about his baptism and he came to church yesterday and loved it! He had to use translation head phones because his Spanish isn’t that good. But our goal is to baptize the whole family. So he is pretty solid! And I love talking to him and teaching him!

On to the R family. After T square they were getting ready for baptism and getting pumped. The branch pres. wife is good friends with the wife and they were talking and she found out that they aren’t actually married. They have been together for 8 years and in Mexican culture they don’t actually get married they just say they are. So we called in the marriage expert. His nick name is Elder guapo. (Which is "Handsome" in Spanish ) he is an ex lawyer and is 70 and works for the church for free getting peoples papers together to get them married. He goes over to peoples houses and gets info and gives them a lesson to get pumped for marriage. So he comes over at 830 at night and in this really nice suit. In a really nice car with a driver and he is wearing thick black sunglasses. (We found out he just got eye surgery that day) (HE IS A BOSS) so when we show up at the R house the father wasn’t there so we started without him. Started collecting info. (She doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t speak Spanish so we translated). Suddenly, He looks at her to star the lesson. The whole time Elder Julian is translating. HE looks at her and says "You have been chosen to be the mother of these two children. God has been wait 8 years for you to do something for God. This is Marriage. You are not a family in the Eyes of God." and then he just stops for like 20 secs. "Until you are married you are not a family in the eyes of God." It was so intense! Then the phone rings and I answer it. It is the Husband. HE asked if we were in his house. And then starts yelling at me saying how disrespectful it is to be there with out him and we are rude and all this stuff. Just totally lighting me up! So I’m like I totally understand. We'll leave right away. So we leave the paperwork with them to fill out. Elias had been working for like 11 hours that day and was supposed to get off like 3 hours earlier and the reason why we were there was misunderstood. He thought they were signing papers and doing official stuff and he wanted to be there for it cuz it was that important to him. Which they have to go down town together to get it done anyways. So he texted that night saying sorry and stuff. He was just angry at his boss and stuff like that. Then he sends a texts that says.” I want to be Married so I can be Baptized" It was the greatest feeling in the world! So they were supposed to be baptized last weekend but he works a ton and the marriage office is only open mon-fri 8-5. So he is getting work off tomorrow and we will have a wedding and 2 baptisms on Saturday! It’s going to be a great weekend!

Cool experience. Last night we were in a member’s home. Good friends and the mom said that she can tell I’m losing weight, that I definitely look skinnier! =P haha!

Alright! Another cool experience. I’m not sure if you can share this with everyone. But if you feel it’s alright do it. I’m okay with it, on Saturday morning. At 3am. We get a call from the Mission Pres to go to the house of some sisters to cast out demons from their house. So we get up and get dressed at 230-3am and go over there. They told us their experience that they met some weird people that day. And that all night they had felt a dark presence. Then in the middle of the night. One of the sisters was awoken by the sound of the other being choked. She felt the dark presence and it was on top of her, choking her. And so we said a pray. It was a priesthood ordinance. And then gave them both blessings of comfort (I got to do one of them). Blessed the house and then went home. That was a hard day. We were all super tired. And the sisters are good now.


Well. Things are good! Thanks for the update! Mitchell Keep up the reading! OMG I ALMOST FORGOT! A couple days ago I finished reading the BOM all the way through for the first time ever! Such an awesome experience! I know it is true and there is no other way than through the Power of GOD! 

Love ya bye   

 Bowling on Pday
 Temple Square with Salvador

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Sept 16, 2013 SLS - I Love to See the Temple

Hey!

So first off. I got my first baptism! I didn’t teach her though. She had been taught in the past, and she went up to the sisters and basically said I am going into the Army next week and I need to get baptized. And so the baptism was on Tuesday and at 430 we were in a lesson with a guy from Guatemala and we get a text that says the baptism is in 2 hours and they don’t have anyone to baptize her. So I volunteered myself. I got to perform the ordinance. It was such a spiritual experience! It was (as they call it in the mission) a Miracle Baptism. So cool! We brought one of our investigators Poli, and Elder Toborg translated for him. Now he is say "WHEN I get baptized..." instead of "IF I get baptized...” So that’s pretty great! Oh and what he said was when he gets baptized he is going to kick the leg of Hermano Rojas and bring him in the water as well. Haha! He is a funny guy.

Heard nothing of my visa. Absolutely nothing. Its goanna be a while and I’m loving it so far. I have transfers coming up on the 25. I’m hoping I stay where I am. But I don’t know! So we met this kid the other day named Salvador. He is 18. We stopped by his house to see someone else but he wasn’t home. And we ended up talking to Salvador and he was WAY interested. And we invited him to church the next day. It was Stake conference. When we went to go pick him up he was waiting in a white shirt and tie! It was crazy! He is so prepared! We invited him to be baptized and he said yeah totally. We made the mistake about not putting him on date. But it’s okay. We’ll get there. He loved stake conference even though there were a bunch of screaming kids all around us. He even like sang along and everything. Such a good kid.

Yes we finally made it down to Temple Square. We went through that "Families Can Be Together Forever" Exhibit, where there is a bunch of different videos and you walk to the different rooms. We went to it at the Mesa temple once. It was such a great experience! Elias is so pumped to get baptized. I’m just a little worried because he won’t pray or anything like that. He says he is a grown man and when he knows something is good and right for his family he knows. So it’s super good that he thinks that way and is prepared! I just hope he can gain that testimony. Temple Square was so fun though

Now for the bad news. We got back from Temple Square late and had dinner at 6. Which the President just like got mad at people for eating late and that we are supposed to be finished by 6. And at 630 he calls us and asks us to meet him at a Stake Center. So we left dinner and on the way we were thinking of all the things it could be. Are we in trouble? Do we need to repent? Am I getting my visa (that was least likely)? They are pushing for a Spanish Zone and they were thinking maybe that’s it. When we got there. We found out that Elder Toborg’s best friend on his mission in Veracruz, Mexico. passed away the night before. Elder Toborg said He was basically his only friend. They don’t know what happened they just found him passed out on the bathroom floor. Basically The Lord needed him on the other side. But Elder Toborg is taking it well. He got to call home because his mom was not taking it well. And basically he just looked up a bunch of scriptures and went straight into doctrine. It was amazing. And even that night we taught 2 lessons and he taught just amazingly. Also! His sister just had her first baby. He is a new uncle like I am and guess what they named him.... Connor! No joke. Spelled the same and everything! Ha! But yeah things are good! We are hoping to get 3 baptism this weekend! We are working hard and enjoying the work. We went to DI today and I got 2 new T shirts and 2 new ties. $6. HA! I sent grandma a letter. I hope she got it. Um anything else? I don’t think so!


Love y'all! Have a great week

 Connor has always loved Big Trucks
 Connor's Companion.  I think Connor met his Junk Food Junkie Match!!!
 Chillin' at their apartment
 Before Connor left on his mission, he would send out Snap Chats to me all of the time.
It turned into a game between him and I.  This picture would be a typical Snap Chat 
he would send to me.  Miss this Boy!


So last week for pday we went mini golfing. the picture of 4 were my companions and the AP's. the picture of the two kids is Elder Bridge, he is from Alberta Canada (the one pretending to throw the golf club) and Elder Smith. Those Elders are awesome! Also the last hole if you make it it blows out fire. If you miss than it sprays you in the face with water. I got sprayed with water. I have the video but it is too big to send. Sorry. 






They finally were able to take their investigating family to Salt Lake Temple Square
What a beautiful family.






Connor's Miracle Baptism

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Sept 9, 2013 Salt Lake South

So while I was in Idaho, I received Connor's email and pictures and he was sleeping on an air mattress that had lots of holes in it.  I had the email address of the Mission home, so I wrote and asked if a mattress could be delivered to Elder Olsen.  I usually always let my children fight their own battles, but I stepped in this time. Thank goodness he got a new mattress even without my help!

Hey!

I am glad that you had fun in Idaho! Sounds like a blast! I am so happy that my niece is getting taken care of! Haha. Not that I was expecting she wasn’t going to be. Haha. And first off I wasn’t suffering! Haha! It was just a slight annoyance. But once it got to the point where it was hurting my back and it was hindering the work I got it taken care of. It was really funny because we got the new mattress and stuff and the next day the mission office called about it. So thanks for emailing them, you were just a little late! =P Ha!

So last week when we went to the store we met this little old lady and she said she was going to pay for our groceries and that she would wait for us at the check out. We tried telling her that we weren’t allowed to accept it but she was persistent. We saw her walking around the store looking for us. And we didn’t have the heart to say no. So she bought all of our groceries and we had other people try to give us money. Then on Saturday we went to Wendy's. The first like real fast food place I’ve been to that was really good. And this man was like whatever they get I am buying. We tried to refuse but he said no this is what we do. So I hope they get blessed for their sacrifice! I got a Baconator! SO GOOD! And another time in our area there is this Tongan family that is always offering us food and stuff. And as we were passing their house the other day the 18 year old flagged us down. He said "Hey elders, I’m going to help you out" and pulls out a wad of 20's. Now we really couldn’t take that. We said thanks and everything and every time he tried to like shove it in our hands we would drive off a little bit farther. Haha! We get really taken care of! Haha!
  

So this week has been an interesting one. The Zone leaders have dealt with a lot. It’s been very interesting to see how they handle situations and what exactly all goes down. I am paying real close attention so I know what to do when I am zone leader! Ha =P Things have been good! We have been working hard! We still haven’t had any baptisms. The picture of me with that Mexican dude and I am holding the carne asada. That is Poli! He is a great guy. He always talks about why we have a car and the sisters have to walk around. He wants us to give our car to the sisters! Haha! But he was supposed to be baptized yesterday. And it didn’t happen. He wants to choose his own date and not feel like he is pressured! But he is ready. And he knows he is ready. His wife believes you need to study a whole year and know everything before you join. We explain to him that all you need is a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the learning comes later. Hopefully he is getting baptized this next week. Tomorrow we are taking him to see a baptism and so hopefully that will give him the extra push!

Hey I sent 2 letters home. It is just like paper work and stuff from the MTC and stuff. Things I want to keep but don’t want to carry around with me, so find a safe place, or if you want to start a scrapbook or mission box type thing that is cool.


Now our other family. I am getting a little worried. They were all ready to go when we started teaching them. But for the last couple lessons the dad hasn’t been there and he ditched church 2 weeks in a row. We have been trying to take them to Temple Square but they keep canceling. Hopefully they have legit reasons. Because I’m starting to get worried! ~ But I know that we will find a way! Oh hey! In my package can you send somewhat of a calendar for 2014 if they have them? And I had some other ideas but I forgot. Haha! Hopefully I will remember today. Haha Love ya! Keep working hard! Be good! And read the BOM everyday! I challenge you to wake up as a family and have family scripture study and prayer everyday this week in the morning before the boys go to school! I can promise your days will be better and you will be even happier! I will check up next week to see how many times you did it! =P!

 Love ya!

Shrimp Salsa
 This is David. He is straight from Mexico! His brother is a member here. We are working with him, and he really has a desire! I don't really know the guy on the right. David is on the left. They made this salsa stuff. It had shrimp and stuff. I couldn't eat it. They were all making fun of me haha! But it was like 9 at night. I didn't want to eat anything haha
I got a Bed!

 Carne Asada at Poli's
Last Sunday night, I received a text with these two pictures.  They had Carne Asada.  
Connor is a happy boy again!  He loves his meat! I love him being in the states and receiving
texts and emails from from dinner appointments!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Sept 2, 2013 SLS Apartment & Dinner Apt Photo

Hey!

So things are good. I did get bacon so yeah. Haha! Love the pictures they are awesome! So yes I am staying with a member. How the houses work in Kearns is when you open the front door there are 2 sets of stairs. Up and down. So in most of the houses (especially the Hispanics) there is 2 or three families that live in each house. And in our house we live in the up stairs. We have one room with our beds and study stuff. And a bathroom. And then we have a mini fridge to share. It gets filled up fast. The air mattress sucks. It deflates every night/ I found some holes and used scotch tape to tape it up. And there are still more holes. I keep asking my companions when we can go pick up a real mattress but our time is so precious and we are so busy that I feel bad for wasting 30 minutes to go pick it up. Idk, but right now my back is like really hurting. I just am not getting good nights sleep and it is time.

Sorry there hasn’t been much pictures, we haven’t really done much to take pictures of. We were supposed to drive up to Temple square and take a tour with an investigator couple yesterday but at the last minute they canceled. So hopefully I’ll be able to get a picture of that when it happens. But instead of going there. We went out and found 2 new investigators. Um. Everyday is the same. We work hard. Study in the morning. Teach and find people throughout the day. The thing I have learned most is that the only way to be happy on the mission is to work as hard as you can. Even when you don’t have success. If you work hard you will be happy. And if you aren’t working hard. Or doing something that you think would make you happy like playing soccer with some kids for 10 minutes or something that would be fun or something, that stuff won’t make you happy. Haha! If that makes sense.

That’s cool you got to see Phylip. Stinks that he had to come home! I hope that he can get feeling better soon,. Is he going to school at BYUI? So we have a baptism this weekend. This guys named Poli! He is really funny. And he needs to be baptized. The only thing is he needs to read the BOM and pray if it is true. Everyone here knows it is. They are just afraid of the answer they will get from God. It is really sad to see all the people that are in denial. My companions are great! They push me to be better and to work harder on my Spanish! They always make me start out the door approach. Which is fun. I actually enjoy doing that. Especially in Spanish because the things I know how to say are at the beginning like how you are and are you a member of the church. And bearing my testimony, Haha! Now I know how to say more than that, they are just so good they know what to say and everything. It’s awesome to get to learn from them. Especially because they are Zone leaders and so I get to know all of the little secrets about the zone and everything. And I get to see how they handle the other missionaries. Indirectly they are teaching me how to be a good leader, it was definitely not an accident that I was put with them. I love my area! It is full of Mexicans! About 50% Mexican (well like Spanish speakers). So as far as we go with English speakers is we'll do the like first lesson right there on the spot if they are interested and then anything after that we send the Sisters over that speak English. So basically I just work with Spanish speakers. That is why everyone loves Kearns! They are all jealous that I was "Born" in Kearns and that I get to learn Spanish here. There is so much poverty that they are more humble. And a lot of people moved in and out pretty fast. And the AP's both were companions with my companions at one point in time. One of them was the trainer to Elder Julian. And so I hang out with the AP's a lot. They are really Cool Elders. They came over at like 930 the other night and we were just chilling and talking and cracking jokes and talking about business until 1030. And we didn’t get to bed until 11. Everyone tells me how good my Spanish is and how well I am improving. Right now I just need to expand my vocabulary. Because I can use the words I know pretty well. There is just so much you can say though.

I don’t think that I will get to do any of the baptizing. They advise against it because if you can get someone in the ward to do it then it builds the trust with someone in the ward and gets them more solidified. And especially because I haven’t done a whole lot of the teaching with them so far. But maybe in the future I will get to do it. Unfortunately. Some of the people who were supposed to get baptized on the 15 fell off. People got to go to church and they just have a problem with that. In this mission it’s 3 times at church. So that’s one of the main reasons why people don’t get baptized. And we had 2 different families of 3 fall off. So now we have Poli for the 8th. Elias and Carmen for the 15, and David for the 22. So this will be an exciting month hopefully! We really are focused on finding. finding. finding!

Um there isn’t a whole lot that I need. I try to rely only on the basics. We don’t have a whole lot of room for anything really more. Uh... I’m sure I will think of things right when I get off. Haha! Oh hey! Get Ryan to email me! Or get me his Email! That punk! Haha. If there is any country songs you know how that kind of talk about God or church or something like that. We listen to songs that I wouldn’t think would be approved. But they are. So yeah. Ok. I’m going to write some friends now.

Love ya!


I'll try to up load pics we'll see

 Connor's Companion's Studying

 Connor's Air Mattress.  It folds in half because it gets so flat by morning.

 Connor's Work Space.  It's very tiny!

Connor and one of his Companions doing service in the rain. 
The other Companion is teaching a lesson.

The night of Sept 1, we got an email from a family in Connor's Area.  This is what it said.
We had the pleasure of having your wonderful son in our home for dinner. Thanks for sending him to us!
Finally a dinner Connor would ENJOY.  Bacon was included!

Aug 26, 2013 SLS You're an Uncle!

Connor Olsen
Aug 26 

To me
Hey! That’s awesome! I so happy for Lauren! She is beautiful! Well... I’ve just been working hard! My companions keep me on my toes! I’ve definitely learned so much! We have this family we are teaching the Rascons! He speaks Spanish and English and she only speaks Spanish. They were invited to church by the Branch Pres wife. And they have become good friends and they are so excited to go to church and are so ready to be baptized! Right now they are on date for the 15. We actually have like 9 people on date for the 15 which is awesome! Only problem is that everyone works all the time so we haven’t been able to teach much to anyone. There is this guy named Poli! He has been investigating for a while but he just hasn’t had time to take the lessons. And so we laid out a plan and said we will teach you this day and this and such so there shouldn’t be anymore problems! But yeah. My companions are great. The only problem is they aren’t trainers. They are Zone leaders and just excited about Baptizing! Haha! So they just kind of do their things and I follow along and observe and learn kind of on my own! But I’ve been talking more and more. And they laugh when I mess up but its fun. They are great guys.


Okay! So guess what. On Wednesday or Tuesday we had Zone conference. We got together with 2 or 3 other zones and the Mission President talked with us and we were there for like 7 hours! He also gave us new rules! ......wait for it.... Caffeine has officially been banned!!!!!! :( It was super sad! I mean. I don’t have a lot of opportunities to drink soda but now I have to get sprite or something and hope that rule doesn’t apply in Argentina! I also had to throw away the Mios. Haha! Things have been good. We have been going on a lot of Exchanges and stuff since they are zone leaders so I got to work with a bunch of the different elders in the Zone. I don’t have much time left so I have to keep it short. Uhhhh... what else. So this week we were scheduled to eat in the homes of Spanish members! But everyday the dad hadn’t been home at 5 so we had to pick up food and eat it at home. Most days we’d be so busy that we would just grab a bite and then head out. But on Sunday we had to go to a family’s house and I had no escape! We walk in and there is a plate with Beans, Rice and a burrito with guacamole and sour cream (and other stuff) my companions were so happy because they know I’m picky and they want me to eat the rice and beans. 3 different times I almost threw up but luckily no one saw! I could only make it about 75% of the way and there was still a lot on the plate. And also everyone had been done for a while! I told them I was focusing more on listening to the Spanish more than trying to eat, and that I wasn’t that hungry! But I felt really bad! Haha! They said not to worry because in Argentina I most likely won’t be eating rice or beans! SCORE! Haha! But yeah! So that was an interesting night. Nothing really exciting goes on. We get stood up for church. Oh yeah. It was funny. A family ditched church and we went by their house and he was outside drinking and smoking with his kid right next to him. As we walked up he had his kid take his beer and cigarette in! Haha. One more funny story. So we went to the Rascons house to watch a movie about the restoration on Saturday night. It was 8 when we got there. They said give us 20 minutes we will put groceries away and make you tacos. so we went knocking on doors, and came back with the Branch Pres. we were sitting chilling and stuff and it got to be like 845 and they are still making tacos. Finally the tacos come out and like 920. I got a little nervous cuz I didn’t want to be out late but the Branch Pres is like you are with me you are fine. Haha! So Hermano Rascon is such a cool guy and keep pouring our drinks. It was a choice btw pink lemonade and some other brown drink. I grabbed the lemonade and the Branch Pres had the brown drink. Not such what it was. He said wow what is this to the Elder we were on exchanges with and he said it’s Brisk. Not really knowing what brisk was. Any who. So we didn’t get to watch the movie. We just had a small spiritual thought around the table and such. As we were walking out side we notice that they gave my companion food and a drink for later. And he had ice tea. Brisk in his hand. So basically that night the Branch Pres broke the word of wisdom! Hahaha! It was really funny! Anyways! Things are good! Nothing too exciting goes on. I just keep working on my Spanish and I love talking to the people of the branch. They are so nice and help me with Spanish! Got to go!

 Love ya! Bye