Viva Hartsvegas!
Well everything has been going fantastic here. It's great because spring is starting and everything is blooming. So you may get more flower and tree pictures than you would like but i'm trying to even it out. In the past week a lot has happened, so last monday i decided i was going to fix up my bike to make it ride really smooth. Because the past while something has been wrong with the back tire. Turns out that my axle was broken in half which then destroyed the inside of my back rim. Luckily a lot of missionaries went home from this area and left their bikes. So i've been able to salvage them for parts. My bike should be completely fixed by the end of the day.
As for my teeth i should get them fixed this week. But yes it's that one tooth and there's another one also. But it will all be taken care of.
I haven't done it yet but the guy with the corvette said i could get my picture taken IN the car. Oh and i almost forgot, i need you to gather up about $18,000 dollars because actually it's for sale. And my birthday is in a few months so there's one idea. Haha!
Well i conducted my first DDM as the district leader and i feel that it went really great. I did my first training on teaching by the spirit. I was able to ramble on for the whole hour and a half. It was really funny though because back in the MTC elder fugal and i always sang there is sunshine in my soul today. So when he came in the room he called playing the piano. So i told him to turn to that page number and he got really excited. But basically i got it figured out.
Now to describe Elder Harding, he's allowed me to use this description, he is a nerd. So basically we talk about Tron and Star Wars a little too often. But don't worry we have some great gospel discussions all the time as well. He's from Orem, Utah (he's in our area dad i just forgot where). He really enjoys the trumpet, played in marching band and is going to invent tron one day.
But in other news, we have some new investigators! We taught a lady named Miriam and she's just fantastic, she was a referral from a member and so we just went to her house and she was sitting on her porch. So we sat on the swinging bench and taught her the restoration. She should be coming to conference this week and when we were walking away we saw her reading the book of mormon! Then we had a short discussion with a girl named Danielle, and when we taught her about prophets and that one will be speaking this weekend it just clicked. So she said that she will come to the afternoon session on Sunday.
It's great, we made some conference invitations and we started passing them out to everyone. Well we got to church yesterday and people were talking about it and we realized that we have a two hour difference from Utah... so we fixed the flyers today and now we have to go replace all of the ones that we passed out.
So i don't know if any of y'all have seen the bible videos the church has been making, and if you haven't then i suggest you watch them right after you're done reading this fantastic letter. Go to www.lds.org/bible-videos and watch them because they are probably some of the greatest things ever, we've been going around showing them to all of the members. Also there's an app that you can get on your phones and tablets!
But anyway that's about all i got right now,
I love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
Elder Olsen is in South Carolina
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Where in the World is Elder Kyle Olsen?
Hartsville!
Yup thats the name of my new area, I am a Hartsville Elder now. The cool thing is that I'm still in the same zone (or stake). I didn't really move that far. Conway was about an hour East of Florence, well Hartsville is about an hour North East. But I am a District Leader and so far I'm doing pretty good. There's only two other Elders in our District, Elder Fugal (aka my mtc companion) and Elder Hendricks. But here's an awesome story for ya! So my new companion is Elder Harding, he just got finished with his training. Guess who trained him? Elder Cramer! So yeah, I'm now serving with my brother which is really awesome!
But the thing is, we got white washed into Hartsville. I guess the last two missionaries here didn't get along very well. One of them finished his mission and is home now. So now we have a lot of work to do. When we got here the Elders previous had two investigators who haven't been taught anything. So since wednsday we've been able to teach both of them and they should be coming to church on sunday. They are, Bryant and Matthew.
So I'm not to sure if i've told y'all about the letter concept that our mission has been piloting, but the ward here is on fire and wants to do it so badly! Actually the Stake President attends this ward and he is probably the most excited member about this concept in the entire mission. He said that even if the mission didn't do it that his stake would do it anyway because its such a great idea. We were able to have dinner with him and his family last night.
Now one of the greatest things about Hartsville so far is that the southern accent is a lot deeper here. Hopefully I will catch on quickly.
By the way there's a member here with a cherry red 1971 Stingray Corvette, I plan on getting my picture taken with that car.
So it's pretty funny, a few days ago we got a message from the Assistants saying that Elder Harding is the designated driver. Well, he thought they were playing a joke, because he got his license back in July and he's only driven the 40 hours to get his license. So I'm re-teaching him how to drive. So far we've almost gone off the road, gone 60 in a 45mph zone, and stopped in the middle of the road. He's doing much better today though. It's actually really funny.
By the way just to let you know, the member with the corvette has a cousin who is a dentist who probably will be able to fix my teeth for free. I figured I would just let you know that.
As for being a District Leader so far i've been able to do it. It's actually really easy and I new how to do it the whole time. Now we haven't had a district meeting yet, and I have to set up and conduct that, but I'll tell y'all how that goes next week.
The ward mission leader wasn't here on sunday so we had to sit in for PEC, and it was funny because Elder Harding and I have been trying really hard to meet everyone. So we got in there and the bishop introduced us to everyone, but we already new all of them. Actually we had already taught one of their friends (new investigator), had dinner with one, we went to a relief society meeting on accident, and one of them gave us a quick tour of the church. I tell you that because it just felt nice to be on top of things.
I realized how much stuff I had acquired in Conway, I could barely pack everything. I was scared that the zipper on the bag was going to rip because I crammed so much stuff into there. But I still got it all!
Anyways I got to go, these computers only allow me to use them for 30 minutes so I have to type quicker!
Love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
Yup thats the name of my new area, I am a Hartsville Elder now. The cool thing is that I'm still in the same zone (or stake). I didn't really move that far. Conway was about an hour East of Florence, well Hartsville is about an hour North East. But I am a District Leader and so far I'm doing pretty good. There's only two other Elders in our District, Elder Fugal (aka my mtc companion) and Elder Hendricks. But here's an awesome story for ya! So my new companion is Elder Harding, he just got finished with his training. Guess who trained him? Elder Cramer! So yeah, I'm now serving with my brother which is really awesome!
But the thing is, we got white washed into Hartsville. I guess the last two missionaries here didn't get along very well. One of them finished his mission and is home now. So now we have a lot of work to do. When we got here the Elders previous had two investigators who haven't been taught anything. So since wednsday we've been able to teach both of them and they should be coming to church on sunday. They are, Bryant and Matthew.
So I'm not to sure if i've told y'all about the letter concept that our mission has been piloting, but the ward here is on fire and wants to do it so badly! Actually the Stake President attends this ward and he is probably the most excited member about this concept in the entire mission. He said that even if the mission didn't do it that his stake would do it anyway because its such a great idea. We were able to have dinner with him and his family last night.
Now one of the greatest things about Hartsville so far is that the southern accent is a lot deeper here. Hopefully I will catch on quickly.
By the way there's a member here with a cherry red 1971 Stingray Corvette, I plan on getting my picture taken with that car.
So it's pretty funny, a few days ago we got a message from the Assistants saying that Elder Harding is the designated driver. Well, he thought they were playing a joke, because he got his license back in July and he's only driven the 40 hours to get his license. So I'm re-teaching him how to drive. So far we've almost gone off the road, gone 60 in a 45mph zone, and stopped in the middle of the road. He's doing much better today though. It's actually really funny.
By the way just to let you know, the member with the corvette has a cousin who is a dentist who probably will be able to fix my teeth for free. I figured I would just let you know that.
As for being a District Leader so far i've been able to do it. It's actually really easy and I new how to do it the whole time. Now we haven't had a district meeting yet, and I have to set up and conduct that, but I'll tell y'all how that goes next week.
The ward mission leader wasn't here on sunday so we had to sit in for PEC, and it was funny because Elder Harding and I have been trying really hard to meet everyone. So we got in there and the bishop introduced us to everyone, but we already new all of them. Actually we had already taught one of their friends (new investigator), had dinner with one, we went to a relief society meeting on accident, and one of them gave us a quick tour of the church. I tell you that because it just felt nice to be on top of things.
I realized how much stuff I had acquired in Conway, I could barely pack everything. I was scared that the zipper on the bag was going to rip because I crammed so much stuff into there. But I still got it all!
Anyways I got to go, these computers only allow me to use them for 30 minutes so I have to type quicker!
Love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Transfers and Other News
Wait a minute? Tuesday?
So yesterday we were all over the place and when we came to the library it was packed so we just decided that we would do this tomorrow. Yesterday was awesome though. Bro. Rodgerson picked us up at 9 am and took us to the driving range. Then we practiced at the putting green and even tried out the sand trap for a while. It turns out I'm actually a pretty good putter, driving on the other hand... not as much. Bro. R said that i have the most consistent shot he has ever seen. The only problem with my shot is that it hooks to the right, a lot. So once i figure out how to hit the ball straight i could probably have a good game of golfing. But for the record this is my second time ever doing this. But we were able to do that for four hours!
Then we went over the the Varas homestead and chopped down some trees! Well it was mostly Elder Brimhall, i played football with the kids. It was really fun watching these huge trees fall over. Well after all of this we come to find out that we aren't aloud to use power tools... well now we know haha! Thats probably the reason the chainsaw got stuck in the tree for about thirty minutes. It was pretty funny because then we had to carve the tree with an axe to get out the chainsaw. But in the end no one was hurt!
But guess what everybody? Transfers! I leave tomorrow at 6am! I definitely wasn't too happy about leaving but honestly it was all that i could expect. I've been able to serve here for 7 1/2 months, which is pretty dang awesome. But in other news this last saturday i get a call from one of the assistants to the president and guess what he asked me? He was wondering if i will take the call of a district leader! Which is really cool because that means i can be really close to the missionaries in my next area. I'll get to go and serve with them for a day too. Now i just need to figure out what a district leader does....
So at church this last Sunday Peggy came up to me and she said. I just wanted to let you know that i've been praying a lot and i've decided that i want to get baptized! Which is definitely good news. I promised her that i would be at her baptism, so pray that i won't get shipped to the other side of the state. I wasn't able to talk to her too long though because after church was chaotic. So I'm in the foyer and at the exact same time, peggy tells me this, another investigator comes and asks me why we baptize at 8, a member of the church wants a blessing, then a few families are all trying to tell me goodbye. When they all left i just kind of stood there because i was in a few minutes of total chaos. It was awesome. But anyway i hope y'all can come out to pick me up when i'm done with this mission thing because there's a lot of people that i want y'all to meet.Side note: John came to church!
I always get to the computer and i try to remember what y'all want me to talk about. And i know you would answer "anything" but still, y'all ask me questions in your letters and i can never actually remember when i sit down at the computer. Well i have a billion things to do today and a whole bunch of people i have to go see, and i honestly don't have enough time to do it! I love being a missionary.
And i love y'all too!
Elder K. Olsen
Pictures from last weeks P-Day, including the Sky Wheel
So yesterday we were all over the place and when we came to the library it was packed so we just decided that we would do this tomorrow. Yesterday was awesome though. Bro. Rodgerson picked us up at 9 am and took us to the driving range. Then we practiced at the putting green and even tried out the sand trap for a while. It turns out I'm actually a pretty good putter, driving on the other hand... not as much. Bro. R said that i have the most consistent shot he has ever seen. The only problem with my shot is that it hooks to the right, a lot. So once i figure out how to hit the ball straight i could probably have a good game of golfing. But for the record this is my second time ever doing this. But we were able to do that for four hours!
Then we went over the the Varas homestead and chopped down some trees! Well it was mostly Elder Brimhall, i played football with the kids. It was really fun watching these huge trees fall over. Well after all of this we come to find out that we aren't aloud to use power tools... well now we know haha! Thats probably the reason the chainsaw got stuck in the tree for about thirty minutes. It was pretty funny because then we had to carve the tree with an axe to get out the chainsaw. But in the end no one was hurt!
But guess what everybody? Transfers! I leave tomorrow at 6am! I definitely wasn't too happy about leaving but honestly it was all that i could expect. I've been able to serve here for 7 1/2 months, which is pretty dang awesome. But in other news this last saturday i get a call from one of the assistants to the president and guess what he asked me? He was wondering if i will take the call of a district leader! Which is really cool because that means i can be really close to the missionaries in my next area. I'll get to go and serve with them for a day too. Now i just need to figure out what a district leader does....
So at church this last Sunday Peggy came up to me and she said. I just wanted to let you know that i've been praying a lot and i've decided that i want to get baptized! Which is definitely good news. I promised her that i would be at her baptism, so pray that i won't get shipped to the other side of the state. I wasn't able to talk to her too long though because after church was chaotic. So I'm in the foyer and at the exact same time, peggy tells me this, another investigator comes and asks me why we baptize at 8, a member of the church wants a blessing, then a few families are all trying to tell me goodbye. When they all left i just kind of stood there because i was in a few minutes of total chaos. It was awesome. But anyway i hope y'all can come out to pick me up when i'm done with this mission thing because there's a lot of people that i want y'all to meet.Side note: John came to church!
I always get to the computer and i try to remember what y'all want me to talk about. And i know you would answer "anything" but still, y'all ask me questions in your letters and i can never actually remember when i sit down at the computer. Well i have a billion things to do today and a whole bunch of people i have to go see, and i honestly don't have enough time to do it! I love being a missionary.
And i love y'all too!
Elder K. Olsen
Pictures from last weeks P-Day, including the Sky Wheel
Monday, March 5, 2012
Fun Filled P-Day
Kay so i don't have a lot of time to write today because we have tons of plans for Pday. I'm actually in the library right now in flip flops and my snowbird hat, which really threw off the employees. It was pretty funny. But today we're going to a members house to hang out and play baseball with the youth. Then a couple other members will be taking us to the beach for lunch and we'll be able to ride the sky wheel, i guess it's a big ferris wheel on the beach. Then we get right back to teaching!
But church was amazing! We had a ton of investigators at church, on saturday we taught the Kellets and they are all on date for april 7, and they all came to church and loved it. The members were so great too, it was the perfect sunday for the Kellets to come. Then Lillian came to church also and we'll be teaching her again tonight! She's really good friends now with the members as well. Peggy wasn't able to come to church because her knee is hurting her really bad, but she's getting it taken care of this week and "should" be able to come to church next week.
We find out about transfer calls on saturday! I'm freaking out because there's a really good chance that i'm getting transferred. Because i've been here 7 months and i just finished training! But if i could just stay one more transfer that would be great because we have a lot of baptisms coming up!
We were finally able to talk to John again this week but we haven't been able to see him. But the problems that delayed his baptism are being taken care of so that's a plus!
The Jennings neighbor that we are teaching is Donnie. He's a really awesome guy with a really awesome car. We haven't been able to teach a full lesson yet, but he's really excited about coming to church and has actually told the Jennings a couple times that he is excited. It's nice when the investigators fellowship the members on their own.
We got the car back this week! My legs needed it too. I'm sure biking can be fun and everything, but it's not as great when you're being forced to do it. Plus we've been having bike troubles this week. My bike started making this really loud screeching sound, but eventually we took care of it. Elder Brimhall crashed on his bike this week as well. But that's because he built a jump went off it and didn't quite land it.. On the bright side i got the whole thing on video! Another Elder Olsen documentary.
So spring is actually beginning here. There is pollen everywhere! We wake up in the morning and the car is covered in this yellow dust. But luckily my allergies haven't been reacting.
Anyways i love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
But church was amazing! We had a ton of investigators at church, on saturday we taught the Kellets and they are all on date for april 7, and they all came to church and loved it. The members were so great too, it was the perfect sunday for the Kellets to come. Then Lillian came to church also and we'll be teaching her again tonight! She's really good friends now with the members as well. Peggy wasn't able to come to church because her knee is hurting her really bad, but she's getting it taken care of this week and "should" be able to come to church next week.
We find out about transfer calls on saturday! I'm freaking out because there's a really good chance that i'm getting transferred. Because i've been here 7 months and i just finished training! But if i could just stay one more transfer that would be great because we have a lot of baptisms coming up!
We were finally able to talk to John again this week but we haven't been able to see him. But the problems that delayed his baptism are being taken care of so that's a plus!
The Jennings neighbor that we are teaching is Donnie. He's a really awesome guy with a really awesome car. We haven't been able to teach a full lesson yet, but he's really excited about coming to church and has actually told the Jennings a couple times that he is excited. It's nice when the investigators fellowship the members on their own.
We got the car back this week! My legs needed it too. I'm sure biking can be fun and everything, but it's not as great when you're being forced to do it. Plus we've been having bike troubles this week. My bike started making this really loud screeching sound, but eventually we took care of it. Elder Brimhall crashed on his bike this week as well. But that's because he built a jump went off it and didn't quite land it.. On the bright side i got the whole thing on video! Another Elder Olsen documentary.
So spring is actually beginning here. There is pollen everywhere! We wake up in the morning and the car is covered in this yellow dust. But luckily my allergies haven't been reacting.
Anyways i love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
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