Well Hello!

Well hellllo!

So i just realized i haven't sent y'all pictures in a while. I had no idea y'all hadn't seen Scott or Holly. I'll make sure i send some memory cards today.

 

Before i get talkin about thanksgiving i have to say i'm super excited for christmas! Right now i'm listening to christmas music on mormonchannel.org, it's pretty awesome i have to say.

 

But Thanksgiving was great! We had two dinners in a row so needless to say i ate a ton!!! Then after the second dinner we were sent home with tons of food and our fridge has no space to fit everything. So we're trying to eat it all so that we can fit milk and stuff in there.

 

Well let me tell you about the new guy! His name is Elder Tippetts and he's from Logan, Utah. He's a really funny guy and we get along perfectly fine. I don't see any problems happening between us. Plus we got right into teaching together and we're really unified. He's been on his mission about six months now. So hopefully I'll get some good stories to y'all soon.

 

So i will say that we have been biking a ton lately! And the good news is that he's only popped his back tire once and i've only popped the back tire twice. Also i've gotten really good at jumping curbs and going down hills and all that fun stuff. I'm definitely going to be going mountain biking when i get home, i finally found a fun summer sport.

 

Thanks for sending the picture of me hugging Cahoon. I had never actually seen that picture before. If you can imagine i don't get on that blog of the berry's to often.

 

I know y'all probably do it all the time... well actually i know that you do. But if i take forever to answer a question or send pictures just bug me about it a ton. Because i know sometimes i forget questions which are asked. Especially in the letters that are written. And i'll probably get a much better chance to respond to those questions if they're put into the e-mails. But I'll definitely try my best to answer all of them!

 

Don't worry everyone I'm sleeping a lot better now. We actually put a heating pad in Elder Wilkinsons bed and we put my bed next to the window so we got all that cold air blowin on me :) . So I've been sleeping great... too great actually. The other night we had biked a ton so i was waaaay tired. So tired that i fell asleep on my back. So evidently i snored so loud that i woke up elder Wilkinson. The first thing he tried to do to make me stop was to plug my nose. Well i just kept on snoring! Then he picked up my hand and dropped it, then he picked it up and threw it against my stomach. I still kept sleeping and snoring, then he picked up my hand and threw it at my face... nothin i kept snoring. So he's laughing really hard now and he decides to move my pillow. Well that turned my head and made my snoring quieter, until i readjusted and snored even louder than before!!! Haha i wish we would've had a camera set up. Well after that i turned to my side and turned off the snoring. I laughed really hard so i figured i'd let y'all know.

 

Church wasn't the best this week. We tried really hard to get everyone there. And actually between the two companionships we had over 20 commited to church. Well what ended up happening was the other missionaries got one to church. So we're not discouraged cause we worked really hard. But we're definitely excited for this next Sunday. It's gonna be great!!!

 

Alright well i don't got nothin else for ya but i love y'all and i'm glad that my grammar and spellin is goin down the drain!

 

Love y'all

Elder K. Olsen!!!

Pictures!!

This morning we were all able to go to Elder Cahoons homecoming.  We have been told that he is Kyle's favorite companion, so we were excited to meet him in person.  We were all very impressed, he was able to point out all 6 of Kyle's sisters, he even knew all their names.  After Sacrament meeting we went back to Elder Cahoons house and we were able to get to know him.  He told us about a blog Elder and Sister Berry update (they're the senior couple in the mission), and all these pictures were there!  Goldmine!  I'll do my best labeling them, I was just so excited to see some pictures of Kyle that I had to share.

 

 

Elder Olsen and Elder Cahoon, and Elder and Sister Berry's

 



Elder Olsen wearing Elder Cahoons Jacket.  I'd say "fat guy in a little coat" but Kyle isn't fat, not even close.

 

The missionaries stretching out after a big dinner at Elder and Sister Berrys. 



Elder Olsen, Potts, Cahoon and Wilkinson

 



 

The District, With Elder and Sister Berry and the Ward Mission Leader

 

Apparently this helps after you've consumed ridiculous amounts of food

 

 

The Elders at the Ward Trunk or Treat.  Kyle made that suit out of Checkerboard Duct Tape, we're very proud of his duct tape skills.

 



Elder Cahoon, Olsen and one of Kyles former companions Elder Harding at a Zone Conference.

Elder Olsen, Holly and Elder Cahoon right before Holly's baptism.

 



This sweet family wanted to feed the missionaries, but they live several miles away, so they brought dinner to the church and fed the missionaries in the kitchen.  I'm so glad our son is being taken care of.  

Hey everyone! I'm tired!

Hey everyone! I'm tired!

 

It was a really bitter sweet week with it's ups and downs. Obviously one of the downs is best bud Cahoon left me here by myself for a week. I'm still sticking around in Georgia and I'll be getting a new companion on wednesday. But I am pretty worried about who my next companion is going to be. Because what if this new guy doesn't like exactly every thing that i like and doesn't know what's always in my head? Also it was nice that the worst argument that we ever got in was who could beat eachother at halo.... that argument isn't exactly over, but still. So yeah I miss him, we had a lot of fun together.

 

Also just so that i can whine about something. We moved all four beds into the same room. It turns out that the other guys like to not have the fan on and make it 10,000 degrees. So I'm working on a compromise because i would really like some effective sleep.

 

But some really good news!

Church was amazazing! I got five investigators to church! It definitely wasn't the easiest thing in the world either. But it was really awesome because it was Monica and her five kids. They had to leave church an hour early and the awesome thing was is as they were walking to their ride all the kids were letting their mom know that they still had an hour left, and they said that a lot. Then as i was shaking their hands they all told me, "See you next Sunday!" So if everything goes according to plan they are still on date to be baptized Dec. 8!

 

So I've been studying charity a ton and i've learned a huge part about charity is that it is an action word. So I know I've mentioned Sis. Scott before. Well she's been really sick lately and she's had a lot to do. So Elder Cahoon (tear) and I decided that we were going to rake her yard. As we were doing that her daughter Lawonda came out and helped us. Well the other day i went by with the other missionaries and they told us that they had talked with eachother and decided when Sis. Scott was getting better that they would be coming to church. Charity never faileth!!!

 

Right now we have a ton of people who have invited us to Thanksgiving and also a ton of people who said they were going to give us food. So I'm a bit worried about how we're going to fit all of it in the kitchen....

 

In other news i have been putting product in my hair so that i have a perfect part. I'm one pretty classy dude.

 

Well anyways i'm thankful for the universe, pokemon, and the gospel, and sister 1, and sister 2, and sister 3, and sister 4, and sister 5, and sister 6, and parents, and grandparents, and brother 1, and uncles, and aunts, and cousins, and those people that are at huge family parties that i think i'm related to, and also for air.

 

And i love y'all!!!!

 

Elder K. Olsen

 

A week of Random information

This week was great! We found a lot of new investigators! Which is really great because after Holly was baptized we basically ran out of a lot of good investigators. But this week we got a ton of referalls and ended up finding 6 new investigators!

First off was this family with five really awesome kids, ages 12, 11, 9, 9, and 3. The older kids love hearing the lessons and actually remembered a lot more than i had expected them to. We came by and taught them the Restoration then gave them some pamphlets to study. We came by again and we were quizzing them and they remembered all of it. Now the kids are all super excited and on date for December 8! But what we really need is their mom to join in on the lessons. They asked her if they could get baptized on the 8 and she said they could if they weren't busy that day. So evidently she doesn't understand the seriousness of this. So i told her that we needed to sit down with her for 15-20 minutes so we could explain this. So hopefully that turns out well.

 

Then we talked with our neighbor from our last apartment. That was just a perfect restoration lesson. Although i still think that something is holding her back because she clearly understood the restoration and she told us it answered a lot of questions that she had. When we invited her to be baptized she said of course. Buuut, she still ended up going to her church yesterday. But we'll figure it out for sure.

 

So i got a funny story. We were walking by some apartments the other day (our old apartments in fact). And when this guy saw us he started hiding something of his under the pinestraw next to a bush next to him.... Yeah. Like we totally don't know what he's smoking! Then he just sat there looking all innocent. People are funny.

 

Man everybody is in kind of a bad mood today! The computers next to me are reserved and everytime somebody comes to use them and finds out they can't use them they walk off all angry. Just saying, i had to wait thirty minutes, and there's tons to do here while you wait. There are like a bajillion books to read. So calm down people.

 

That was my random tangent for a bit, sorry y'all had to be a part of that.

 

So today is going to be an awesome P-day! Theres a bowling alley on Fort Gordon next to us and it's 1$ for a lane 1$ for shoes, and 1$ for hotdogs and drinks. Pretty awesome! But even better is that we're going there with another district and we'll be going head to head! Even better is that both districts have a senior couple. I'll try to get some good pics and videos

 

Oh man i just realized i didn't shave today

 

I'm still not 100% percent sure what i would like for Christmas actually. It's hard because i really have everything i need. I could use more ties i guess (actually i just remembered was that box from broken in blues still available?), i still love watches and that's one of the things I'm known for. I'd really enjoy getting a new snazzy suit. Money is also always good... I won't deny that i would rather enjoy a Halo 4 xbox.....

 

Anyway! How about an awesome scripture!

 

1Nephi 18: 25

"...And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper."

Okay there's more to that verse but i wanted to focus on the last part. But first here's this verse as well

1Nephi 2:4

" 4 And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness."

 

Isn't that awesome! So the Lord told Lehi and family to leave all of their gold and silver and precious things. Which i'm sure that the family loved those things, and the Lord new that. But He told them to sacrifice those things for Him and what did they get in return? A goldmine! A silvermine! A coppermine!

Although there are times it seems we have to sacrifice our precious things, remember the Lord has goldmines waiting for us.

I love the scriptures there is so much to learn from them. They are true!

I love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen

I met an apostle!

Hey everyone!

 

Did i mention that i met an apostle a couple days ago? Cause i totally did, actually i was even able to shake his hand. Wasn't that just the coolest thing in the world! Well i know you had told me to take a lot of notes buuuut... A while ago i saw a video by Elder Bednar and he talked about having notes representing the small plates instead of the large plates. Or instead of taking just quotes from what was said i should write down spiritual impressions from the Holy Ghost. Well as it turns out that was one of the first things which he spoke about. So yes i took lots of notes, but i didn't take any quotes from Elder Bednar. Just spiritual impressions. But that's exactly what he wanted to teach us. He didn't want us to think that all of our questions can only be answered by the prophets or apostles. He wanted us to know that all of our answers have and will come from the Holy Ghost. Because He is the true teacher and always will be.

Elder Bednar also gave a missionary a challenge which i have also taken. What he asked the missionary to do was to take a copy of the Book of Mormon and then read through it only searching for one thing such as charity, or faith, or even trees. Then when you search through the entire book (he also added that there are to be no keyword searches but you have to read through from front to back) you take out all of the main points of the topic which you discovered and write a summary of that topic on one side of one piece of paper. He said if you went to his home you would find a bookcase of all of his copies of the book of mormon with the summary in the front of each one. Then he said his kids asked if they could read them. Which he replied, "If i so much as see you touch those books i will disown you." Then they asked about what about after he dies. Which he replied, "I will burn them before that ever happens." Haha i know that sounds drastic, but he did say that the best things we learn are "caught not taught."

He also said that the best thing that a recent convert could ever say to you is, "Elder --- Thank you so much for bringing us the gospel, we love, now never come back. Others need this gospel and we already have it, we know where the church is and if we need help we'll ask the members. Again we love you, now never come back."

Now i know all the quotes i'm giving you make him sound super serious like he is always portrayed. But he's actually a really funny guy.

I learned a lot and it was the best three hours with an apostle i've ever had.

 

An update on Holly! So yesterday she got her temple recommend and will be going to do baptisms for the dead soon. She's planning to go on a mission 100% and since she hasn't been assigned a visiting teaching route she's taken it upon herself to go visiting teaching anyways and to go out with the senior missionaries to see less actives.... So yeah, she's doing just fine.

 

So yesterday was fun! I got to do something awesome! For the third hour of church the second counselor came up to Elder Cahoon and I and asked us to help out in nursery. I was so excited! So yeah i got to play with a whole bunch of little kids for an hour!

 

Also i believe Halloween was this last week but I'm not 100% sure. But anyways I'll tell y'all what i did anyways. I'm not sure if i told you that in my last area a member gave me a free acoustic guitar. Well all last p-day and the three hours we were locked in apartment for Halloween i was playing guitar. Elder Wilkinson has a Christmas guitar book and Elder Cahoon knows a lot of chords. So i learned a ton of new chords and surprisingly i remembered a lot as well. And now I'm really good at playing God rest ye merry gentlemen and some other Christmas songs.

 

Speaking of Christmas, now that you've given me the responsibility of thinking about what i would like for Christmas i'll make sure that i take it very seriously and will try not to exceed the amount of $1000.

 

Let me think of a scripture rather quickly... let me actually get out my handy dandy Book of Mormon!

Alma 33:14 which poses a question. "Now behold my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?"

So what i want to point out is that by reading the scriptures we gain a hope and an assurance in Christ. Those things cause us to act, because if we truly have assurance in Christ we will want to do the things which he commands us. Well if we do what he commands we will recieve a witness or an evidence that our hope was in the right place which then strengthens our faith. Which when our faith is strengthened it causes us to act which gives us more evidence and so on and so forth. This is the cycle of faith and the only way it works is if we act. Another scripture which explains a lot of what i said is Hebrews 11:1 (look at the jst).

 

Anyways obviously the church is true

And I love all of you!

Elder K. Olsen

Baptism!!

Oh! hello reader,

 

Well if you couldn't tell by the subject heading of this e-mail. Holly got baptized! It was such a great experience, y'all shouldve seen how excited and happy she was. After the opening prayer and song at the service she turned to us and asked if it was time yet. We told her she had to hear a couple of talks first. It was really awesome. Then after the baptism she asked if she could bear her testimony. Which we had offered to her before but she told us that she really didn't want to do that. But i guess the Spirit touched her enough that she desired to share her testimony. It is so awesome to hear someone that just only two months ago didn't know really anything about the church, and now she has said "i know it is true." Now i understand what the scriptures mean when they say our joy will be great if we can bring but one soul in the kingdom of heaven. Because i feel so blessed that the Lord would see me fit to be a part of such a wonderful conversion. I am so blessed for going on a mission, to see people come unto Christ.

 

 So Elder Cahoon was able to baptize her and I got to confirm her yesterday! I have to say after the confirmation i just felt like laying down and sleeping. It was just one of those spiritual experiences that just take away all your energy. So yes, Holly is now officially a member of the true church!

 

In other news the Halloween party for the church here was on Saturday. All of us were actually able to dress up. I ended up using probably 10-12 rolls of duct tape to make my suit. But it was so awesome! It was a hit, and just to brag a bit more, everybody was actually asking me where i bought it. Yeah I'm that good.

Also something that was really fun at the party was that there was a big chili cook off! And guess who were the judges of that? That's right, the missionaries! There was actually a ton of chili, i think we ended up with about 20 chilis to choose from. There were a lot of good ones.... and some that were not as good... and some where you wonder what happened. But then there was a haunted house and trunk or treating, it was a really good party and it was nice to have a little time off in a way.

 

It's sad news but i didn't tell y'all the last time. But i got a call from the assistants to the president and they told me that David from Hartsville passed away. So yeah that sucks. I was really plannin on y'all meeting him in this life, but i guess we'll all just have to wait a bit longer to do that. On the bright side he hasn't seen his wife in a long time and they're together now and free from this crazy world.

 

Can you believe that i will get to meet an apostle in only five days!? Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture with him, probably not because there's about 200 of us missionaries. But i know that we'll be able to shake his hand because that's what always happens when a general authority comes in. So i plan on taking many many many notes. Because it will probably be a really spiritual experience... if i choose for it to be anyways.

 

 Well i had a great spiritual week! Haha now we just got to go find someone else now that needs to be baptized. Guess we'll see how that goes!

 

Until next time

Love y'all

May the force be with you

Yoda is awesome

Elder K. Olsen

I'm Happy, I'm a Missionary, I'm a Mormon,and I love it!

Well whats up?
 

So this week seemed like it went by super slowly but at the same time super quick. I can't believe how much has happened!
 

So Holly! She's doing amazing and is for sure being baptized this Thursday at 5:30! Actually it's funny because she's already a mormon practically. She's watched Singles Ward and Charly and is going to watch the RM really soon. Also her job isn't working to well for her right now so she's getting a new job. Did i mention the job that she's applying for is in South Jordan Utah? Well it is. Also her friend is now taking the discussions and her other friend will probably move to Utah as well and take the discussions. So yeah, Hollys just being the perfect investigator as always.
 

In other news Tennis is going fantastic! Elder Cahoon has won two games and i won the game this morning. Probably because i have a legit outfit and i am honing my killer serve. Also I only hit one tennis ball over the fence today. We are up to six tennis balls now.
 

Also the new apartment is amazing. We have a porch on the back (we're on the second story). Just to let you know how amazing the porch is. This morning i read some talks by Bednar while drinking hot cocoa and leaning back with my slippers on.
 

Speaking of Elder Bednar did i mention that I'm going to be meeting him on November 3? Cause if i didn't i would just like to say the Elder Bednar is coming to out mission on November 3. In case you didn't understand the last two times i will say it once more... Ahem... ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO OUR MISSION!!!
 

Fun fact: It seems my shoes have finally realized that they've been on a mission for over a year. I put my feet in my shoes the other day and my heels went deep into the sole. So that's pretty cool, i feel like a pretty seasoned missionary now.
 

So something crazy that i never thought i could do a year ago. We were going around in a members big van to pick people up. Well i get out and go to the door and the person we were picking up wasn't home. But their neighbors were! So they ask if I'm Mormon. I say "yes." Then they ask if i have magic underwear... by the way that's a strange topic when you first meet someone. I suggest not asking that question to anyone. But anyway a year ago i would've been stunned and probably wouldn't know what to say. Well yesterday i said, "they're not magic but they are sacred and so i'd rather not talk about them". Then one of them said, "That's exactly what youtube said you would say! Youtube also said that you don't believe that black people will get into heaven!" I just laughed and said, "Sir we're all Gods children and we all have the equal opportunity to go to heaven." Then the conversation traveled to baptism and i got to teach about that which was sweet. Then that same guy said we don't believe that black people go to heaven again. So i replied, maybe a little bolder than i shouldve, but i said, "Sir. God is not racist and we are all his children, we'd love to come back and talk with y'all more but i need to go to church now." Then i turned around and left. But the best part was that one of the ladies was like, "Hey wait! When are you coming back?!" So i set up a time but it's for the other missionaries.. so we'll see how that goes! But who knew i would ever be that bold in the ghetto. Pretty cool!
 

Something i thought that was interesting as i was on the way over here. Not because i was angry. But being angry is such a choice. For example, i don't like it when shoes are on my bed... not at all. But i realized that by saying that i have made the decision now that i will be angry if it happens. Which seemed ridiculous to me. So i realize that if i get angry at something it's because i've already chosen at some point that i would get angry at that. I'm a Son of God and i have the power to choose how i act when i act.
 

Also speaking of power. I can't remember the scripture exactly but it's in one of the four D&C sections about the priesthood that Pres. Uchtdorf mentions in a talk that Dad gave to me a while ago. But it spoke of how we have the power to obtain eternal life. Wow! Isn't that more power than all the money in the world can buy? I have the power to obtain eternal life, i have the power to go to the Celestial Kingdom and live with my Heavenly Father. Because i have the power of agency, and the power of the priesthood.
 

It's ridiculous how much revelation i feel that i receive. The Spirit speaks to you more, the more you listen to Him. Interesting isn't it? And the quicker you act on promptings the sooner you are to feel happiness, comfort, peace, and receive revelation.
 

I love this gospel and I know it's true and I have absolutely no doubt about it. Zero

I'm Happy, I'm a Missionary, I'm a Mormon,and I love it!