Transfers Are Here

Hey everybody!

 

So just to start off to let everyone know.... I'm being transferred!

I've spent the last six months here in Augusta and I've loved every moment of it. My testimony has grown so much as i've been here, I've never been closer to God and my Savior than i've been here. I love the people here and everything that has happened. Augusta will always have a special place in my heart.

 

But now I get to go somewhere else where the Lord has need of me. I'm so excited that i get to go see the church growing somewhere else in the vineyard. I'm not concerned at all (I'm a veteran), but it is a crazy thought that this could be the final area of my mission.

 

Another piece of news that might come as shocking is that this next transfer will only be five weeks long and then the remaining transfers will be six weeks again. So yes I will be coming home a week earlier than planned. Crazy!

 

Elder Tippetts isn't very happy that i'm going. I feel that he's in a stage of denial at the moment and won't accept that i'm going. Honestly haha i think he's taking this a lot harder than i am. He's concerned he's going to get some missionary robot who won't be very caring of our investigators agency. I assured him that i've been praying for a good missionary to come in and so has he so the Lord will take care of it. It's his work. I'm really gonna miss that guy though. We got a lot of work done together.

 

So I'll be sending a good chunk of stuff home today. I can't believe how much stuff you can accumulate over six months. I realized i send home a couple boxes every transfer and i'm gonna have quite the pile when i get home. I'm excited to look through all of my memories of my mission with y'all.

 

Oh! I almost forgot Elder Tippetts and i did our training of goal setting at Zone training meeting. It was intense. I was kind of nervous because we were going to be saying a lot of things that people wouldn't like. I was concerned about what they would think and if we should actually go with what we planned. But then i realized that everything that we were going to say was strictly from Preach My Gospel. We went up to the front and did a roleplay in front of 26 missionaries. We started the roleplay talking how we have all these great investigators and that 4 is an achievable goal. But then we said that we needed to make up for next month so we lowered the goal to 3 (that happens a lot here). Then we talked about how if we lowered our goal to 1 we would go to the temple for sure. Then we said, "yeah we're going to the temple!" and gave each other a high five.... then we turned to the missionaries and said, "now how did that go?"

Everyone was silent. It was such a golden moment! Nobody said anything so we went on to explain how this was common in the mission and that they knew it as well. It's just not always that apparent. So we talked about what a real goal is and why we should raise them according to our hearts desire, our investigators agency, and what we can accomplish. The Spirit helped us the whole time, it was amazing. It's something else to stand in front of people who don't know the gospel and ask them to change compared to missionaries. Especially when Elder Tippetts and i are often looked down upon because some of our views are different haha. But we got a lot of compliments on that training afterwards.

 

Now unfortunately tons of craziness has happened with practically all our investigators since we made our goal of 3. But we will still... well i guess Elder Tippetts will still work hard for 3. And i will never lower my goals in anything. I learned a lot from this experience. The end result is not the most important thing about a goal, it's the commitment and the effort which you put into obtaining that goal that matters.

 

So that's how I've been. Another week gone and by. I love being a missionary.

 

Elder K. Olsen

 

I just wanted to share this picture because of all the familiar faces.  From Left to Right, Elder Cramer, Elder Harding, Our Elder Olsen and Elder Brimhall.  Elder Cahoon is making a silly face behind Kyle.  Love these missionaries.

 

 

Transfers are Coming

Hey everyone!

 

So life is interesting at the moment. Transfers are coming up really soon and i really don't want to go. But I've been here for six months, and i've been with Elder Tippetts for three months. So statistically everything is against me to leave. But i really don't feel like it's my time to go. There's so much for me to do here still. Elder Tippetts and i have a goal of 3 baptisms this month. Which is pretty high actually, the zone leaders wanted us to lower it. But i know that we can achieve that goal. It's cause Elder Tippetts and i to work harder and be more focused and obedient then ever before. Even if i don't achieve the goal i'm happy that it's caused me to work harder.

 

Also Elder Tippets and i have been asked to give a training at the zone meeting tomorrow on setting goals. Which as of now our goal will look crazy next to everybodys goal of one. Especially because other missionaries will probably have a lot more on date for baptism then us. So we'll see how that goes.

 

I'm gonna be sending a lot of stuff home if i get transferred. I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford it all, i sure have acquired a lot of stuff over the last six months.

 

Wednesday night we had a pretty bad storm go right through Augusta. It was only really bad rain and winds. But i guess we were on a tornado watch. Someone showed us the weather channel for a moment and a lot of georgia was green because it was raining but there was this red line that went right through Augusta. So we ended up going in about an hour early.

 

I really can't think of a whole lot that has happened in this past week. None of our investigators have a big update since last week. Hopefully i'll be able to report a whole bunch of progress next Monday.

 

Well i love y'all!

 

Elder K. Olsen

18 Months!

Hellos!

 

Well it got pretty cold this week! One day it hit 33 and i was freezing! I had to put on 4 or 5 layers, i even wore my pajamas underneath my slacks. I'm not sure i'll be able to handle the weather back home anymore.

 

Well the realization of transfers is coming closer and closer. I don't feel that it's my time to leave Augusta, but everything is weighed against me leaving. I've been here 6 months now and with Elder Tippetts for 3 months. Elder Tippetts got his driving priveleges this morning and he's beginning to freak out about it. He feels that the only reason they would give him those priveleges is because they're preparing for him to drive. Which heightens his chances of being transferred as well. Hopefully we don't both get transferred because that would cause a lot of stress on me. I would be very worried about all of the great investigators that we have. At least if i left i would have the comfort of Elder Tippetts being here. And if he leaves only that would put me at a high possibility of staying here for 3 more months, which would bring no complaining from me.

 

But speaking of our investigators all of them have made great progress this week! Timica has been going through a rough time and still has not been baptized. She didn't have any food for a couple days and couldn't make it to church yesterday because she wanted to get food for her children. So we talked with the Bishop and the Relief Society and were able to get her some food. We dropped it off right after church and i was so happy that we could give such a small blessing to them. I nearly cried when i saw three year old michael open the fridge and then walk away crying because no food was to be found and he hadn't eaten for so long. But the Relief Society president will be meeting her tuesday to assess how much we can help them. Holly will also be taking Timica out tomorrow morning to go job hunting.

 

We taught Elizabeth again and she has told us that she knows that it is true and she plans on becoming a member. But she feels that she wants to learn some more and pray more for answers. So we had taught her on Saturday and when the time came to invite her to be baptized came up i could barely open my mouth. I was being opposed and in the end was only able to talk about baptism and not necisseraly invite her. Then we weren't able to talk to her about it at church. So finally last night we both agreed that we just needed to call her. As i held the phone to make the call i was very nervous, so i knelt and prayed. The verse which says, "open they mouth and i will give thee utterance" came into my mind. I was no longer nervous and felt empowered by the Spirit and knew that whatever happened would be directed by the Lord. So i called her and i invited her to be baptized on the 9th of February, she said that was too soon. We assured her she was ready for that day but that she should pray about it so that she knew as well as we did. I know that if she ponders and prays about that day she will be ready for the 9th.

 

We will be seeing Bro. Mclain tonight and will be inviting him to be baptized.

 

Latasha came to church again and we taught her the restoration in the chapel before church. She wants to be a member and to pay her tithing and she is well educated in our teaching and knows they are true. But she wants to wait to be baptized. She expressed to us that she wants to know more about Joseph Smith, so we will be teaching her again this Wednesday.

 

I just watched a mormon message called earthly father, heavenly father. It reminded me of Dad, just thought i'd put that note in there. Love you Dad!

 

So January is ending and the begininning of February is almost here. We've been asked to pray about what our baptismal goal should be for that month. Elder Tippetts and I feel that 3 is a good goal, the highest that i will have so far. But we have six amazing investigators all of which how have expressed that they will be baptized and now a date is all that is needed. In fact out of the six investigators which we have 4 of them came to us. They are elect. But our leaders want us to lower our goal. Because if we don't meet our goal the zone can't go to the temple. But i feel instead of having our goal be 1 every month for the purpose of going to the temple we should all higher our goals. We won't be able to go to the temple probably, but an average zone goal is 16, on average we get about 10. Imagine if we raised our goals and expectations to triple that? If our goal as a zone was 40, we would work for that goal. If we only gained half of our goal and baptized 20, we wouldn't go to the temple. But we would bring double of our brothers and sisters into the church so that they can go to the temple. So we're going to keep our goal at 3, because we know it's possible, the Lord has blessed us so much. And if we don't meet our goal, I Know that i worked my hardest. And i will not regret or be discouraged by that success.

 

I am a missionary commissioned by God to teach His gospel. I know it. I live it. I love it.

 

I love ya'll

Elder K. Olsen

 

Finally my computer let me post pictures.  I just posted a few.  Kyle's new companion Elder Tippetts is on the end. 

 

 

 

 

Good Week

It's a good week!

 

So we had a really good Sunday yesterday! We went to church for our morning meetings and then came back home for lunch. Well during lunch i get a call from one of the members telling us that there is a lady there who would like to meet us. So we quickly left and went to the church! When we got to church we met a woman named Latasha. Latasha lives down the street from the church and had been taught by the missionaries about five years ago. She was going to get baptized but her family talked her out of it. Well she's been going to several different churches since then and just feels as if she is being constantly condemned. She told us that she remembered going to the Mormon church and feeling the Holy Ghost and how everyone was so happy. She also mentioned that everyone in the church had a light coming from them. So she told us that even if she needed to be baptized again she wanted to be a member of the church. So we should be teaching her tomorrow!

 

Another miracle from Sunday. Well this woman who has been a member of the church for about two years has been extrememly faithful coming to church every sunday and to scripture study every wednesday. Her husband has always not wanted to talk about the church. A few weeks ago he actually came to church! And he came to church again yesterday! Well i guess he had a meeting with the bishop and that went really well. Because the other elders came up to us and told us that they had a referral. They said, "do you know where the mclains live?" I jumped up extremely excited in the foyer because i knew what was happening. I looked around and saw sister mclain sitting on one of the chairs and i was just like, "your husband?!" Y'all should've seen the smile and excitement on her face. Well anyway we will be meeting with Bro. Mclain today because he wants the missionary discussions!

 

From last week y'all probably remember Elizabeth. Well we had our first lesson with her on saturday with Holly and it went great! Elizabeth is a really smart girl who is just searching for truth. She loves so much about what we teach. Her favorite points are how families can be together forever, and how even those who haven't heard of Christ will have a chance in the next life. So I'm way excited to teach the plan of salvation this week!

 

Timica is going through some struggles at the moment. She couldn't make it to church yesterday for some reason. We set up an appointment to see her tonight. She wants to quit smoking and be baptized so badly. But so much is getting in her way. I just hope and pray that she doesn't get to discouraged by all of the challenges around her. She's already gone through so much to get where she is now. But we do know that they've been doing family prayer and study every day. So hopefully that is really helping their situation.

 

Also Holly cut my hair this week. It was a pretty funny experience because she didn't sound like she really knew what she was doing. She kept asking questions like, "why does the hair need to be wet?" , or "where are you supposed to cut first?" Then whenever the buzzers made a loud noise she would just go, "hmm?" And then just keep going. But it actually turned out really great and i love it just in case y'all were wondering!

 

Well that's my life, teaching, preaching, and grooming.

 

Love y'all!

 

Elder K. Olsen

Another Miracle

Hello familysicles!

So i've heard a ton of stories how y'all are just freezin up there. Down here it's not so much. Actually the past few days have been high 70's low 80's. I'll probably take my jacket off today because i was sweating a lot as i was heading over here. But the weather says it should cool down to the 60's later this week (brrr!).

 

Well Timicas baptism didn't happen this week. But don't worry it wasn't because of smoking or anything. Actually friday she had a friend who died so she had to leave town suddenly for the funeral and didn't make it back home until last night. So we will be seeing her tonight and setting up her baptism for this upcoming Saturday. I'm not too worried because i know Timica and how much she loves God and how much she wants to be baptized. So just a week longer is all.

 

We had another miracle this Sunday though! So Holly comes in to church and says, "I have a referral for you!" Instantly Elder Tippetts and i asked if she was sure if it wasn't in the other elders area (their area is a lot bigger so they get all the referalls). But then she told us that she lives close to Holly so she knows she in our area. Her name is Elizabeth and she is now best friends with Holly (which means she'll get baptized). I've figured something out, every person Holly has given a ride to church has been baptized, just sayin. Anyway I guess Elizabeth has been searching for answers for a while and a fellow student told her to check out the Mormons. So she came to church, met Holly, now they're best friends, and they've already had some discussions together. Elizabeth came to dinner at the Berry's yesterday and she wants to hear the lessons. So we swapped info and we'll be seeing her this week! As crazy as it sounds we'll probably baptize her on Feb. 2. So pray for that to happen!

 

Hey I got that just because package! I loved it so much. It was so funny because i was just saying last monday how much i wanted some lime chips. I haven't had them in forever. So that's almost gone, and that magnificent sobe was gone by the end of the day. Thank you so much!

 

Also i sent out my memory cards right before i came over to the library. About time right?

 

Tell Grandma Smith that Holly got her present and she loved it. And to be expecting a letter from Holly soon. And also tell her that i love her and so do all of my companions. :)

 

Hmmm, besides all that stuff it was a pretty average week i guess. Nothing too amazing or fantastic (besides that stuff).

 

Well i'm sorry that's all i got for ya i think!

 

But i love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen

 

For some reason Blogger isn't letting me post pictures, but if you want to see some pictures of Dequan's Baptism, head over to Elder and Sister Berry's Blog (they're the senior couple in Kyle's area).  Berry's Blog . Sounds like we'll finally be getting more pictures soon!  Can't wait.

Dequans Baptism!

Hello Everybody!

 

So this was a pretty great week! Timica (i've been spelling her name wrong the whole time) and Dequan got back in town. We went over on Wednesday and Dequan was washing some dishes and he asked, "So when am i getting baptized?" I told him we could interview him tomorrow and we could baptize him Saturday. Soooo Dequan got baptized!!!

 

It was a great baptism, his granpda who has only been a member for a little less then a year came down and baptized him. It was great because his grandpa had never baptized before so they were in the water and we had to tell them where to stand and they went in circles for a bit before they figured it out. But everyone was so happy and there was such a great spirit there.

 

Actually we had really great attendance too. Dequan is 14 so all the young men came and attended. Also the young men gave the talks and played and led the music. The bishop afterwards told us that that is how he wants every baptism to be like.

Well right after the baptism Timica was interviewed and now she is on date for this upcoming Saturday at 3pm. She hasn't smoked for a little over a week and i know she can quit for good now. So please pray that she can overcome that temptation.

I was blessed to confirm him. It was funny because on Sunday we picked them up and then in the 15 passenger van we went to pick up one more family before church. Well the other family wasn't ready and church started in about five minutes. So the driver went to drop off Timica and Dequan and he told us to wait with the family to tell them the van was coming back. So we knocked on the door and told them and then Elder Tippetts and i ran to the church. It was only a few blocks away. But we made it right before church started and got some great looks from people in their front yards on the way.

 

I also learned how to say Dequans full name, or should i say Dequantavius Quandrequez (then his last name which i forget), but being able to confirm is such a spiritual experience. I can truly feel the Lord speaking through me, using me as an instrument to say what i need to for Dequan.

 

Also we have a new Elder in the apartment. Elder Meyer. So far we love him, he loves cleaning, doing dishes, and taking out the trash. I'm pretty good at cleaning my dishes after i'm done using them. But if i set down a dirty dish and walk away for a moment he'll have it cleaned and in the dishwasher by the time i get back.... even if i'm not done with it yet. But either way he's a great guy and we love him. But he is from Alaska, so when people ask us where we are from and we say Utah. Everyone is all like, "Big surprise (insert extreme sarcasm)" Then he's all like from Alaska, and everyone thinks that's just the coolest thing ever. Which it kind of is.

 

Also Elder Tippetts just informed me that New Years was this week. I guess this has just felt like a long week cause that feels forever ago. Well anyway for new years Holly dropped of this basket of Sparkling Cider, cups that she made, new years hat things, and horns. So Elder Tippetts and i got back a bit early so that we could set up the camera so when the other guys got home the camera started taking tons of pictures and Elder Tippetts and i were opening the cider and blowing the horns. It was definitely a new years to remember.

 

So yeah, that's my life.

Love ya!

 

Elder K. Olsen

Happy New Year

Sorry everyone...I forgot to upload this from LAST Monday :(

Happy new year!

 

So today is sort of our day off and we'll have to be in lock down at 8 (cause i guess that's the time everyone decides to get drunk and party, last year they did that at 6pm).

 

Anyways it sure was awesome to see y'all on Christmas. And yes i did get all of my presents and i love all of them. That new watch is great and it matches perfectly with a tie that y'all got me last year.

 

In other news i got my new suit! The Berry's got it at a swap meet then they got it tailored then they took it to the dry cleaners. It looks great and i looked fantastic!

 

Also I am getting another transfer here in Augusta! Which means i will be here for six months! I excpect I'll get transferred after this transfer and that that will become my last area. Crazy right?

 

Unfortunately this week with church we didn't have any investigators that came. But Elder Tippetts and i have a lot of plans and a bright out look on the future! We have a lot of good people that we are working with and i'll definitely let y'all know when they start progressing.

 

Speaking of investigators Tamika and Dequan are back in town and their home has heating and electricity. So the Lord has definitely been blessing them for having the desire to go down the right path. Right now Tamika is working on quitting smoking so once she overcomes that they will both be baptized ASAP!

 

For sure give me Chris's e-mail when he gets it, we'll chat it up on mondays.

 

Also Holly was really grateful for those scriptures. Hopefully when you meet her she won't be in and out like the flash. But she acts like that a lot when she's excited so i wouldn't hold your breath.

 

Well not a ton happened this week (besides a lot of fun christmas adventures).

 

Oh actually this last wednesday Elder Tippetts and i were back and forth to the hospital because a lot of members needed blessings. 3 to be exact. I'm always extremely humbled that i'm able to use the priesthood and that i'm worthy to hold it. I love the feeling that the Lord can work through me.

 

Well i expect i will be finished and released on August 1. So we'll need to figure all that stuff out there. I actually had some ideas for that and i'll get to you next week.

 

But i love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen