Hey Howdy Hey!

Hey howdy hey!

It's been great the past few days... ridiculously hot, but great. We hit 75 degrees yesterday so we didn't have to wear our suit jackets! Hallelujah!

But i think i wrote y'all last tuesday so i'm trying to remember everything thats been done since then. On thursday night we got picked up by the myrtle beach elders so that we could drive to sumter, because on friday we had a leadership training meeting in columbia. So we stayed the night in sumter. I wish i had taken a picture but i slept in a tempermental recliner that just didn't want to stay reclined. Then i took a dinner chair and put a pillow on it because i was to long for the recliner. I can't say it was my best night of sleep ever, but it definitely wasn't my worst. The really funny part though is that everyone got mad at me because of my snoring. So far something i've been able to accomplish with every companion :).

But the leadership meeting was awesome! It got Elder Brimhall and i super pumped to get to work, the meeting was perfect for us because it showed us exactly what we needed to fix so that we could be more effective. The only downfall to the meeting was that it lasted from 7:45-6:30. So with the drive home and stopping by for dinner we got back home at 9:00. So that ate our entire day up. Something really cool though! So in missionary lingo Elder Brimhall is my son, and elder cramer is my dad, and so on and so forth. Well at the meeting we had five generations there! I took a picture which i meant to send today but i forgot my camera. But five generations still living in a mission is almost unheard of, and the chances of us being in the same meeting is even slimmer. Because only district leaders, zone leaders, trainers, and trainees went to it. So that was extremely exciting.

Church was alright yesterday. Although we got kind of stiff armed by all of our investigators. We had 4 planning to come to church and none of them actually came. But on the bright side there are these two less active members who haven't been to church in 28 years who came! Last week we got a text asking if we would come over, so of course we did. So it's a grandma, her daughter, and then her two grandkids. Well her grandkids havent been baptized and Sis. Newman (grandma) decided it was time to come back to church. So basically we have two guaranteed baptisms! Actually i just realized we could baptize them this month! The older grandkid is 12 so he would actually be a deacon as well.

I want to ask if everyone would pray for Jane. She's been going through a lot of job issues, health issues, family issues, financial issues, pretty much everything at the moment. Well i promised her that if she continued to pray, read the scriptures, and come back to church (she hasn't been for weeks now) that everything would get better. We blessed her home and her this morning, and now i just need many prayers that nothing will get in her way getting to church. I know that if she comes to church that everything else will be taken care of.

So that is a great scripture to go by mom. Actually the entire book of timothy is probably good to go by. Elder Brimhall absolutely love the book of Timothy. He quotes 2 Timothy 4:7 a lot, it's his favorite.

Funny story, so we had exchanges with the Tabor City elders. Well one elder up there has a ukelele and elder brimhall fell in love with it. So on the way home from tabor city we stopped at a pawn shop and he got one.... well i can't get him to stop playing it now. He's actually really good for never playing before, but i still might throw it out the window on the highway. But he's also been memorizing a scripture mastery every day which is really cool. Me on the other hand have had some amazing studies.

That reminds me! Well dad you may have already given your talk but i've been meaning to send you my notes for a bit now. I don't have my notes with me so i'm just going to go off the top of my head here.It's amazing that you were assigned that topic because actually Elder Pieper way back when he was here actually talked about that exact concept. Except he talked about doctrine, principle, and application. Because when you think about it doctrines and principles never change. But the application does, and thats what can confuse people. For example the word of wisdom is and has always has been an eternal principle. The doctrine is obedience (at least in my perspective). But now look at the different applications over time. Adam and Eve couldn't partake of the fruit or they would surely die, when you think about it that's the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom entails what to eat and what not to eat. Tobacco and illegal drugs weren't a problem in the garden of eden so of course heavenly father wouldn't have told them not to eat it. But now that those things are available the application of the word of wisdom or the policy of the word of wisdom has changed. I'm sure that you could find that with any doctrine or principle that we have.

Something else about doctrine, principle, and policy is that they do have differences of course. But they are much more effective when you put them together. I have found that i can find any answer i need if i ask three questions. How? (which will explain the policy) What? (which will explain the principle) and Why? (which explains the doctrine).

EX. HOW is the sacrament performed? By blessing the bread and water then having deacons pass to the congregation. Today we bless water, in the new testament wine was used. The policy has changed.
What is the sacrament? It's the ordinance saying that we will renew our covenants and take upon His name upon us and keep all of His commandments, and in return we will have His spirit to be with us.
Why do we perform the sacrament? So that we can have His spirit to be with us. So that we can repent.

Now these are just some of my thoughts on the subject and you can use them as you wish. Also i had a question, that book that you have dad, about Joseph Smith. It's blue and called "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" I have permission to read that book as long as i only read it on p-days. Would it be possible to get a copy of that?

I love y'all!

Elder K. Olsen