News from Kyle

The last couple of weeks have just been kind of hectic. I landed in South Carolina, got whisked away to the mission home, and then a couple days later i have a companion and I'm out preaching the gospel to people. A little overbearing at first, but now I'm used to the routine and I'm loving every minute of it (except the first few minutes when i wake up).

As for my companion hes from Las Vegas. He has two older sister and an older brother. Hes been out for about nine months now and he has a great desire to get the work done. Hes a perfect trainer for me because hes willing to have fun, and hes not strict in anyway. I don't feel like a trainee but more like a partner. The best thing is that he keeps me focused and on track, because hes serious when he needs to be.

The Hurricane was great! Not the usual answer you hear from people but it was kind of exciting. Obviously we were evacuated because our house is about 15 miles from the beach (although i still haven't been to the beach yet). But we drove an hour inland to a place called Florence. Along with 10 other missionaries. So we had 12 missionaries staying in the apartment, which was fun but i am so glad that I'm back home now. Having that many missionaries was great for gym time we were able to have some awesome basketball games. We got the edge of the Hurricane while we were in Florence. Which I'm happy in a way because, that's not something you want to miss.

So Elder Cramer and i were riding our bikes around knocking on doors. Keeping an eye on the black clouds that were rapidly coming our way (i could be a writer). Then it started to rain a little bit. Which isnt to bad, because I've ridden my bike in the rain plenty of times. But then all of a sudden it REALLY rained. It was like an endless bucket of water was pouring on my head, then it was super windy. Branches were falling off trees (little ones). Luckily a man was standing in his car port and waved us in so that we could wait it our. Since we were in missionary mode we decided to bring up the gospel with him. Evidently he had seen us coming because he pulled out a packet and gave it to us. In big bold letters it said MORMONISM on the top. Automatically i new it was some anti-Mormon stuff. Because people who call it Mormonism are anti-Mormon sadly. So we tried talking to him a bit, new we were getting nowhere and decided to talk about the hurricane instead. I love what i do!

Something else that's great is we have someone set up to be baptized! Shes and older lady and she knows everything that's been taught is true and wants to come closer to Christ by being baptized. Then in that same lesson we gave her two daughters (probably in their late 30s) the book of Mormon and they've started to read! We plan on having them ready for baptism by the end of September. Then there's another man named Jesse who wants to be baptized as well. Unfortunately he cant do that because the girl hes living with he isn't married too. So i cant wait to either tell him that they either have to be married or he has to move out in order to be baptized. Luckily they've been talking alot about marriage, so we shouldn't even have to bring it up. Which is good cause I don't know if a couple 19 year olds can give the best council about marriage. And unfortunately we haven't met with brother Pokey again. But we're going to this week!

Something cool that happened this week that just makes this entire mission fun, is all the kids around here. I'm practically in the ghetto you could say. But all the kids will just walk up and start talking to us. For example the other day we biked over to an apartment complex and it was getting dark so we turned on the lights on our bikes. About 15 kids came up asking if they could try the lights out. In the scriptures Christ says to come unto him as little children. All of those kids were smiling, they were all curious to learn more, they all were laughing and playing around, and they didn't have any worries. They don't care about, politics, or the economy, or the weather, or anything stressful. They just want to smile, laugh, and have fun.

I haven't received your package unfortunately because it wasn't Priority mail. But the package is at the mission home and at the next zone conference i will be able to go get it. I'm just glad there's not anything perishable in there! Ummm, I don't need anything right now that i can think of. Just more letters and pictures! I'm always happy to get those!

Love,
      Elder Olsen

P.S. sooo (ahem) there was an accident with the camera, it still takes pictures but doesn't really zoom.... how can i replace that again?
P.S.S. I LOVE Y'ALL!

President and Sister Holm

We received this letter from Kyle's Mission President today. I think the smile on Kyle's face says it all, he is obviously thrilled to be a missionary. On a separate note...Kyle is crazy tall compared to Brother and Sister Holm :)

First letter from South Carolina!

Well i'm here! South Carolina is great, there are trees everywhere! And the trees are so tall, i mean people tell you that its really green, but its REALLY green. Another sure fact about SC is that it is humid. I dont remember the last time i sweated enough that there were drops of sweat, now i cant remember a time when i wasnt sweating that much. In case you havent gotten my (short, sorry about that) letter, i got a bike! An elder who was leaving gave it to me and im loving it, i have to fix it a little bit but thats because it has two years of ware and tare. I even got a helmet from him. Unfortunately that helmet was left on the back of the car one day and now its a pancake on the highway. So that was a bummer, today is our Pday though (obviously) and i just got a new helmet, and groceries, and shaving cream (i was told not to bring shaving cream on the plane cause it could explode, so i left it and the past few days ive been shaving without cream. Not fun). Youd be proud of me mom, Elder Cramer (ill talk about him in a bit) and I ride our bikes about 10 miles a day. So my left calf is kinda stiff, so from one biker to another do you have any advice?

Anyway Elder Cramer is my trainer. Hes awesome hopefully i can have his confidence one day. Something funny though is that he sounds exactly like uncle Josh, and when i say he sounds like it i mean his laugh is the same and everything. Kind of a twilight zone vibe, but anyway im glad hes my trainer cause we just get along really easily (hes a pokemon and an angry beaver fan). On the spiritual side he know alot. He teaches me how i can become better, and it works ive been doing some alright door approaches.

If you havent gotten my letter, im in Conway, the ward is great. They just want to help us so much and our dinner schedule is full up to two weeks. Literally we have too much food. Oh! and our house (yes house not apartment), is sweet. A member had an extra house and gives it to the missionaries. Weve got a washer drier, four couches, a kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, its overall just a perfect setup.

Im really learning alot and i love the people here, they all go to a different church but thats ok we're working on that. It is nice that everyone knows about Jesus Christ. Its unfortunate that theyre not really following him. Everyone is kind of stubborn when we bring up the Book of Mormon. Because they think so many things about it, we cant really explain. But people slam the doors very politely, they say no and then tell us to keep up the good work. And we get lots of water from them, because everyone feels we're doing a good thing. Its amazing how many churches are down here, literally think of all our church buildings in utah. Well SC has that many buildings but they are all different religions.
The only thing im not to fond of about is that everyone has a dog. I dont know why, they arent that great. But everyone has one. Actually there was one funny experience. We went to a house who had two of the nicest dogs ive ever met. The man gave us some water and told us to keep up the work. Then the dogs followed us door to door, they didnt bark or jump. They just ran next to us on our bikes, then waited in some shade while we knocked on the doors. At the end of that street we found a really nice family who invited us back. So cross your fingers!

Ive only taught two official nonmember lessons. The one i want to tell you about is a man named Matt, but everyone calls him Pokey. So we taught Pokey a lesson, hes 53 and very humble. He loves to read and to learn and i really hope that we'll get him. But the greatest thing about that lesson was Elder Cramer (i love him!) asked Pokey if we could call him Brother Pokey. Then i got to say the closing prayer and i got to say Brother Pokey in a prayer. The excitement you feel when you walk away from a good lesson where the person wants to learn more is unexplainable. Its just pure happiness that we were able to help some one come closer to Christ.

My mission president, President Holm. Is a very straight forward guy, i love it. He sorta talks like pres. Bush, but what he talks about makes sense. Here are some quotes "Pep in your step!" "Fire in your belly!" "im a finisher" "I love tough things, i am first to do tough things, i do tough things first" And his missionary scripture for everyone is Jacob 6:12 (i'll let you all look that up). Our mission is really great and we all have a really big drive for baptism. The entire mission goal is 100 baptisms a month. Right now we are at 67 and people are put on date every single day. Hopefully i can find one, because i still agree with my missionary scripture Alma 29:9.

I sent my camera card to my mom so if you could find out if she got it thatd be great. Because i forgot to put a sending address on it, which is a bummer cause thats all my mtc pictures. But i just want to make sure that everyone knows that i am fine and doing better every day. Time seems to fly by and i'll be home before you know it! But at this point i have to be honest, i hope it doesnt come to fast.

Love, Elder K. Olsen

P.S. there are 3 Elder Olsens' in SC, so tell everyone that it has to be Elder K. Olsen please.

Kyle at the MTC

We got our first pics of Kyle and his friends at the MTC.  Looks like there was plenty of time for play!

Elder Olsen and friends at Provo Temple. This is about the ONLY normal picture of him from the batch of photos he sent.

Elder Fugal (Elder Olsen's companion at the MTC)

Elder Olsen "climing the walls"

Not really sure what is happening here.

Might have something to do with sleep deprivation?

Super Missionaries!

There are lots of pics like this one with him playing with his camera!

Elder Olsen (second row, far left) and friends at Provo Temple

Heading to the MTC!

We dropped Kyle off at the MTC on July 27. It was a bittersweet moment. We are so proud of him and excited for the opportunities and challenges he's going to face. It will be a long 2 years, but we are so happy for him!

At the house waiting to head to the MTC!

Kyle packed and ready to go!

Kyle and his 6 sisters. They weren't about to let him go.

Waiting at the church about 20 minutes before we dropped Kyle off at the MTC.

Kyle waiting to be dropped off.

The car ride to the MTC.

No one wanted to be left behind to say goodbye to Kyle. There were 5 adults and 6 sisters packed in this one van!

Mom and Kyle waiting to take Kyle to the MTC

Kyle's Farewell

Kyle gave the most amazing farewell speech. He brought everyone to tears! We are all so proud of him and this wonderful journey his is taking.

Kathy, Kyle, Ryan, Morgan & Madison after Kyle's farewell

Kyle after his farewell

Kyle and all 6 of his sisters after his farewell

Kyle after his farewell