Surprise letter with Pictures!!

Surprise!

You probably didn't expect to get a letter from me this week did you? Well today is the first day that the library was open so sorry for the delay. But anyway it was great talking to y'all on Christmas! I gotta say i understand why we don't talk more often though. I was sort of trunky for a couple hours. But i'm focused again and we are getting some great work done!

So our two new investigators who are on date are fantastic! The first one is Bell, we actually taught her and her friend Trina on friday. We put Bell on date for Jan. 21 and i thought it was kind of sketchy and would fall through. But we taught them and Bells husband Bernard yesterday and it was one of the most spiritual of my mission. All we did was read 1 Nephi 1 with them and seriously explained every verse. We had already taught them the Restoration but i felt they needed a better understanding of the Book of Mormon. On friday we gave Bell a Book of Mormon. Well at that lesson we gave Bernard a copy with the testimony of Waverly Barnard in the front (I'll tell you that miracle story in a second). (Just so others reading will understand, the Barnards are a family in Kyle's ward back home, and Waverly is one of their daughters). I told him that that was a very special copy because of that testimony and i would only give it to him if he actually read it. Well they both promised to read and were telling us that we were an inspiration to them and they were both crying when we were done because the spirit was so strong. Which made me tear up (Elder Brimhall didn't though, he's a marine). But i have a great feeling about those two.

Then we have an 18 year old kid named Daryl on date for Jan 21. We taught him on Friday as well and he asked us when we were done teaching, "Do you know how to get baptized, because my mom and grandpa have been baptized but i havent?" Well i was speechless and Elder Brimhall said, "We can definitely help you with that." Then he started asking us a ton of Plan of Salvation questions to which we told him we would teach him all of that at a later date. So we taught him on Saturday. This kid is solid and i am so excited that Elder Brimhall will see so much success at the beginning of his mission.

Speaking of which, I'm training! My family knows that but i guess other people read this as well so this is for you. He landed in SC two mondays ago and i picked him up last wednsday. He is an awesome missionary and is completely fearless about teaching the gospel. For this 12 week program every week he gets more responsibilities in teaching. Such as week 1, he invites everyone to be baptized (not me). This week he takes the lead in teaching the Restoration. So that's what he does, sometimes we sit there in silence because he doesn't realize i'm waiting for him to invite people. But he figures it out pretty quick.

On the other hand he is a fantastic cook! I spent a lot more than i usually do for groceries last monday. But it was totally worth it. Bacon and pancakes and grits and eggs for breakfast. And french dip subs and lasagna for lunch and dinner. This is going to be a good couple of transfers. Oh, and mom, don't worry he wasn't insulted. It was really funny. But his family was nice to me and asked me questions. I quickly excused myself because it was awkward to take his time away.

Thankfully i am not the district leader, Phew! I'm thankful that i can now just focus on training and missionary work.

As for my miracle from the Barnard family. We had a grand total of two copies of the Book of Mormon and we aren't going to get any more until Jan 5. Well obviously that's not acceptable and i was getting really concerned. Well in walk the APs with a package for me on Saturday during our companion study. They stayed for a minute then left. Well when i opened my package i found five copies of the Book of Mormon with wonderful testimonies in them from the Barnard family. I started to cry because of how great of a miracle it was (Elder Brimhall didn't, he's a marine). So Barnard family, thank you thank you thank you so much! You saved our Christmas and made it possible so far to give someone the Book of Mormon who really needed it (Berndard).

I also got a package from the Eagle Mountain 1st Ward! And i will tell you whats in it when i get it on Jan 5 haha. But i just wanted to say a pre-thank you for whatever it is. I'm very grateful for everything that i get.

Well since i won't be able to on that day i want to wish everyone a happy new year! Our plans for that are... we have to be in the apartment by six o clock and are free to do whatever (as long as it's obedient of course).

But i love y'all! (Actually i do type y'all without meaning too, it's natural, yes!)

Elder K. Olsen

Elder Olsen and Elder Brimhall with the Bishop and his daughters

Elder Olsen and Elder Brimhall

Elder Olsen holding a pet snake. Kyle hates snakes, so this is amazing. I guess you'll go to extreme measures as a missionary to help re-activate a family :)

Kyle's a Trainer :)

Hey! Sorry i'm late!

So obviously it's been an eventful Pday and we just have barely enough time to use the computer. But anyway those hours with the skype won't work for me because I have church from 10-11. So how about I call at 9 and then 10? I'm gonna get on the computer again on either Thursday or Friday so I'll be able to see if that work for y'all.

So I'm training! I got the call on Saturday and I'm so excited. Actually my entire district got affected by this one. They're taking both sisters out of tabor city and probably putting in elders. Then Elder Friel left, and we're losing one in Marion. So out of the 6 we're losing 4. That's pretty crazy. I'm not to sure if I'll be district leader. But either way is fine with me because I'm going to pick up my "son" on Wednesday. Which will mean that there will be 5 generations of trainers and trainees in the mission. That's right, my great grandpa is still alive here.

But the Christmas party was really fun. We dressed up like Roman soldiers and went around taxing people. There weren't a lot of investigators but if anything i had a lot of fun with the members and now I'm really close to them. It's gonna be really hard when i have to leave. But i don't have to worry about that for 3 months! Then we had a Christmas party in Marion. It was funny because Santa came and he had a very strong southern accent (i knew it!). But needless to say i have had a lot of junk food the past couple of days. And earlier that day there was a wedding in Marion that i was able to attend. It was a very quick wedding and the non-members out numbered the members (awesome!). Unfortunately the next day the newly weds were supposed to get baptized, but the brides grandpa died so they left to Augusta. Which is sad because elder Brown has been in Marion for 6 months and 0 baptisms, and he's leaving on Wednesday. But today was really fun because we got together as a district and celebrated elder browns birthday (yesterday) and sister graves (today). Again, way too much junk food.

Like i said before elder friel is gone which is really sad. I really liked that guy. He left me a whole bunch of ties which is fantastic, i don't have to wear the same tie twice a week now. Especially because i spilled red sparkling cider on the tie i am currently wearing (amazingly none got on my shirt). You can't see the cider on my tie, but it smells really good now. So with all the presents that have been sent to me, I got the letter which told me to not open the presents until Christmas a couple days after i got them. So I've opened them all. Actually the one i got from the erdmann clan had the hair clippers in it, which i really need to use but cant cause they're in Conway so my trainee is gonna see me with long hair... not the best first impression but he'll get over it. and who knows with the other packages i may wait till Christmas to open them. doubtful. But thank you for everything! I use that blanket every night Sadie, it's super comfortable and i can almost fold it up right! The only problem is that this suit attracts every tiny piece of hair and lint in a five mile radius and that blanket REALLY likes my suit. Haha I'll be sending my memory card home on Monday so that y'all can see. I don't have any updates for investigators because I've been in the lovely town of Marion. I got to admit i miss Conway. and my queen size bed that my feet don't hang off of. I'm definitely excited to tell you about my trainee next Sunday and I'll talk to y'all soon!

Love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen

Hello Again back!

Hello again back!

So I'm a little confused that i moved to the top of President Johnson's "favorite people" list. i thought i was already there. ;)

But anyways good news! I'm going to make it to the party! I pulled a few strings to get there but that's because parties are great and really really wanted to go. So now I'm going to drag "those other two missionaries" to the party with me. But yeah, departing missionaries for this transfer are leaving a few days before actual transfers because of Christmas and all that. So I'll be in a trio from that friday to next wednsday.

Currently our investigator quantity is lacking. We're having trouble with getting new investigators and then they don't want to hear the message anymore in the same week. But we have one great investigator at the moment. His name is Byron, we always have awesome discussions and last time we talked with him he said he was going to read the Book of Mormon to see if he needed to change churches. If there's anything to pray for right now it's him. Then there is a less active family that we are working with, they are the Baker family. Actually Bro. Baker bakes really good bread. I also finally got to eat some boiled peanuts thanks to them! You crack open the peanut which is all wet and it's really salty and sort of soggy. It sounds disgusting but i ate a bowl of them because they're awesome. Plus i had some chicken bog, it's got rice and chicken and other stuff. I'll send you the recipe, it's definitely southern though. But they have 3 daughters and 1 baby boy who actually couldn't walk when i first got here but he's running around now (I've been here a while). I'm really good friends with all there kids though and I'm going to get the kids all excited to go to church so that they tell there parents to go. Because the Bakers always say that they need to go, but they could use some annoying motivation.

I have a funny quote from one of the Bishops daughters who is 7. We were talking about what they want for Christmas and she said "yeah and if Santa doesn't bring it for me than I'll buy it myself." He has four daughters ages (12, 10, 7, 5) so when we have dinner over there it feels like home in a way. Because get this (the oldest takes her schooling extremely seriously A's or nothing, sound familiar?) (the second like to cook all the time and made us brownies, reminds me of someone) (then the youngest two are kinda crazy and they do everything together). So yeah it reminds me of home.

But tell me what time you want me to skype you next monday and coordinate with my Mom so that i can do both. Plus i can't do it before 10a.m. here. Talk to

you soon!

Love ya!
Elder K. Olsen

It's Monday Again!

It's Monday again!

These weeks are going by way too quickly! Well it finally hit Elder Friel yesterday. We were at church and everyone just kept talking about how he was going home soon and how he only has one more Sunday left. I think it was just too much of a shock for him. Then we got a text today that he has to be at mission HQ on the 16 at 11:00am. Well the Christmas party is on the 16 and I was super excited for it and now i'm going to miss it. Plus I'll have to spend a few days in Marion with those two Elders (That made those Elders sound bad, but I love those guys they're awesome). But I guess technically Elder Friel is getting the worse part of the deal.

Well we have had a ton of dinner appointments this week. And actually the next two weeks are completely full. It's amazing how often we get fed here. But according to other missionaries this is the only area that's like that. Everyone else seems to be lucky to get two dinners a month. So yes i am extremely spoiled.

OH! I got an update on the calling home thing. It turns out I'm actually going to get 40 min. max. for each family. So 40 min for the Olsens, and 40 min for the Erdmanns. I thought you would all really enjoy that. So that is sometime on Christmas day. Now actually i am allowed to skype, but that would mean i would have to find someone who can use skype. So tell me which would be better for y'all, because i can most likely find a family with skype.

You're probably done with Christmas shopping but I have a couple ideas. I think I said this last Christmas, but a pocket watch would be really cool. Something to plug my Sd card into the computer so I can e-mail some pics, More razor blades for my razor. Maybe a cheap hair buzzing kit. A fluffy pillow. more ties would be nice. Another watch, I like watches. That's all I got.
It seems like it's just one of those mondays where I can't remember anything that happened. My mind is totally blank and I'm trying to write a longer letter but don't know what to write about.

Funny story though, yesterday after church we got invited over to eat with the ward missionaries. Well I had two giant plates of food and was pretty sure I was going to puke right after we left. Well we got home and I sat on the couch not believing I had actually eaten all that. I decided that I was just going to skip dinner. Well then Elder Friel (who is feeling the same way) answers the phone. Then he tells me that we just got invited to dinner by a family in an hour. I nearly started to cry. Because the mom of that family owns a restraunt and is an amazing cook, and if you don't eat a lot (she doesn't say anything but you know) she will get offended. I'm still not sure how I survived through all of that. But here I am!

Have I mentioned by the way that I love my hole-e watch? I'm telling you I can't go anywhere without people asking me about it. It's like I have celebrity on my wrist. For instance we went to this mental hospital where people go into rehab. Well when you go in you have to take off all of your metal and stuff. So we went in gave the guy a blessing and when we came out there were four employees gathered around my watch. They told me how awesome it was and all I could say was "thanks." I really need to come up with some good responses about my watch. So if you have any ideas let me know.

But yeah that's my life, lovin every minute of it!

I love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen

Happy late Thanksgiving...

Happy late Thanksgiving back!

Well first of all i guess i should tell you about my thanksgiving day. Well they actually told us not to work on Thanksgiving so it was literally a holiday which was weird. So we got up like normal and studied and got ready, then just sat around. It got really boring. So we went to the Varas home at 2:00. We hung out with there 4 sons for a while. Their oldest son is 15 and is REALLY into pokemon. I have to admit i felt really old when he talked about it. Because he trades pokemon online around the world, and there's about a bajillion pokemon now. I told him how i always played pokemon blue and red. He told me that he had seen pictures of those games and was really confused when i told him that they were black and white games. It was really strange.
But then we ate and ate and ate. They made a turkey wrapped in bacon (hallelujah). Then Sister Varas made biscuits from scratch, those were ridiculously tasty. Then we had yams, which were really good. Then all your other Thanksgiving goodies. Well we ate too much and didn't have any room for pie. So we took a break and went to beach, it was amazing! It was at sunset, there were maybe ten other people there. I got some really awesome seashells. Well after that fun trip we went back for pie. I practically had an entire blueberry pie to myself. I love pie.
Well after that we helped them put up Christmas decorations. I have to admit it felt really good to put together a Christmas tree with a family. After that we played stratego with the oldest son. I played him first and was completely ruthless! Actually he almost beat me but i got lucky. Then Elder Friel played him and lost, it was funny.

By the way, have i mentioned that Elder Friel plays football for the U of U? Thats why he's going home a few days earlier, so keep your eye out for him.

Besides Thanksgiving i have to admit that it was a pretty slow week. We really couldn't get that many lessons. And all of the people that we thought were doing great we haven't been able to get back in contact with them. Plus it's been rough with it getting dark so early. People just don't like you knocking on the door when it's dark (even though it's only 5:30).

I've been using that camera alot, too much actually. When you use a camera like i do you just eat through the batteries. But on the bright side i have about 80 pictures/videos of me. So that should make everyone alot happier than my last memory card. Actually one video i even give a tour of the house which i think is funny. But that's just cause i'm (humbly) funny.

Church on Sunday was really great. Except a lot of people weren't there because they were out of town for Thanksgiving. But I'm at this point were i know everyone in the ward. It's great because it feels just like home. Except a lot of people talk differently, and they're not all telling me that i need a haircut.

As for games, i think Phase 10 would be okay. We could play that on Pdays. Right now we have a chess set, so i'm getting pretty good. Because honestly, we're running out of things to do on Pday.

But i'm really excited to hear y'all at Christmas
Love y'all!
Elder K Olsen

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Well first of all! Guess who got baptized! The awesome Jane! I was blessed enough to perform the baptism too. I actually did it right... the second time anyways. But i'm just so excited that someone got baptized, she wanted me to give her your e-mails so she should be e-mailing you soon. The baptism went great, we had about 15 people come, so not a bad turn out. But everyone at church was extremely accepting and open to her. I'm very lucky to be serving in Conway.

But i also had to talk in sacrament yesterday. I didn't have much time to write my talk and i sort of procrastinated. But i wrote it yesterday morning and barely used it at all. Honestly i got up there and the spirit took over. I've never been so calm to give a talk in my life. I was able to talk for 18 minutes too (elder Friel timed me). My topic was on missionary work of course, and hopefully i got the ward excited to build the kingdom.

Last Monday was funny, there's not that much to do in Conway on P days. So after we had cleaned we just sat there for a while. Then we finally decided we were gonna decorate for Christmas. So yeah, we got a tree and lights and decorations all over the place. Then when we were done with that we found a 750 piece puzzle. Got to admit i spent way to much time on that puzzle. But we finished it!!!

Well Thanksgiving is coming up soon and we've had lots of offers. But we were reserved for Thanksgiving about a month ago. We are going to have dinner with the Varas family. Which is good because they're a big family. But besides that i don't know what we will do for Thanksgiving. Because i guess we don't work on that day. I don't know why, everyone is home and that is the perfect day to catch them. But orders are orders.

I got the package! I finally can use that camera now, and i've been taking pictures and videos like crazy, and a lot of them are of me and not trees! One video is really good because i give a tour of the house. I took pictures of all the ridiculously big bugs down here too. I'm telling you they are mutated. Big spiders, big bees, big mosquitos, and big cockroaches. But i'm getting used to them (sort of). I do laugh that i got sent to the south for that reason. I don't like bugs (they're bigger here), i'm not a huge fan of dogs (everyone has one), and those are the only two things really. But it's funny.

As for other investigators right now we're kind of lacking. We've found a few people, but no one is really willing to keep commitments. So we'll keep trying with some of them. But what we really need is member referalls. I'm tellin ya, the church will build as fast as the members want it to. Because knocking doors can only go so far.

I just want to let everyone know, i write in my journal every single day.
I've been trying to think about things that i want for Christmas. But I'm not quite sure if i really need anything. If you'd think I'd like it I'm sure I will. But if i can think of anything down the road i'll let you know.

But i love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen

Remember that one time we had the Cops called on us?

Hello everyone!

First off i am not district leader! I've got to say that was a huge relief, i'm just not quite ready for that yet. But anyways my new companion is Elder Friel. He's from Hawaii, he's taller than me and he plays football. He was actually called as a Georgia missionary and then the two missions combined and he became a South Carolina missionary. This is his very last transfer and it's actually his first time serving in SC. I'm learning a lot about contacting people, Elder Friel knows how to knock doors. Plus we invite about 10+ to be baptized every day. Him and I get along perfectly, we can work hard and can have fun doing it. I hear all these stories about how every missionary gets a companion that they don't like very much. But Elder Friel isn't the one, and hopefully i won't have one down the road either. But since this is his last transfer it most likely means that i will have at least one more transfer in Conway after this, possibly two. Because after he leaves I'll have to show someone else how to work the area, and if i get to train then I'll do that for 12 weeks. So my first area I'm going to spend either 6 or 7 1/2 months, which isn't bad because Conway is awesome!

Great news! Guess who's getting baptized on Saturday! Jane is! I'm so excited for her, she told us that she had told her daughter she was getting baptized on the 19 and then her daughter told everyone she knew on facebook. Well unfortunately Jane hadn't been to church yet so after she came to church yesterday we got special permission from President Holm. So pray that everything goes according to plan there. It was funny though, she was so scared at church yesterday. She's had a pretty rough life, and she hasn't come by very many nice people. So she was a little overwhelmed by all the nice people and didn't want to mess anything up. But she had a wonderful time and everyone was so nice to her. I'm so relieved that it went well. Something else that happened yesterday is i found out that i get to speak in sacrament next Sunday. So this next weekend is going to be crazy busy. But of course i'm going to speak on missionary work, i doubt that missionaries give talks on anything else. So that should be fun.

I was so excited to hear about Mikayla's picture winning! I really wish i could be there for these things, but definitely send me some pictures and keep me updated how the event goes. I actually remember that picture when you told me about it, i really like that one. By the way whats happened with my camera since i left. Has anyone been able to use it?It makes me really happy to hear that y'all are doing family scripture study and prayer, i know it will help bring us closer together. Down here i've seen too many family situations that are in a really bad place. I'm very thankful for the way i was raised, and there's a very popular billboard down here in the south. It says "the family that prays together stays together". I testify to that for sure.

So we have a couple bedrooms at the house and one room has queen size beds and the other has twins. Well when i got here with Elder Cramer we used the twins because that just what he had been doing since he got here. But Elder Friel and i agreed that we would upgrade to some beds that we can actually fit on. I've been sleeping so much better, but i have to admit it has made it harder to get up in the morning.

Different thoughts just keep popping into my head. But have i told y'all about mormon.org? Because it's amazing and you should check it out. Actually i even made a profile on there if you can find me. But if you have time watch the "I'm a Mormon" videos. That's all the entertainment that we really get but it's still awesome.About Elder Cramer you can just write 'Elder Cramer' a letter. His name isn't quite as common as Olsen. There's three Olsens in the mission, because we're awesome like that.

So It's been a little rough with this day light savings thing. It gets dark at about 6 which is way too early. People really aren't too happy about people knocking on there door when it's dark either, everyone gives us the excuse that it's too late and they're getting ready for bed or something. Even though it's 6: 30. We're definitely not gonna knock rich neighborhoods at night anymore. The other night we knocked this rich street and when we had finished we were walking back to the car and a policeman drove up and had to get our information because some door we had knocked on was annoyed. It was pretty funny to see the policeman's expression when he found out we were from Utah and Hawaii for some church. Now Elder Friel and I like to say "remember that one time we had the cops called on us?" I love being a missionary.

But anyway I love y'all and i know y'all already know but i just gotta keep tellin ya!

Elder K. Olsen