Hey howdy hey!
So i got stuck on the really slow computer in the library that probably hasn't been updated in the last ten years. Luckily i've studied a lot about patience lately so everything is a-ok!
This was actually a really awesome week! At least i think it was, unfortunately this is one of those weeks were i sit down look at the screen and just zone out and forget everything that i did.
Oh! We put matthew on date for may 12! So we could use a lot of prayers so that that really happens! We're trying to figure out by the end of the day what we want our baptismal goal for the month of may
will be. Whatever it is we are going to do it.
So during sacrament this Sunday i was sitting and enjoying the talks that were being given. Then we sang a song in between the speakers. Which after the second counselor stands up and says "Bishop has asked
that Elder Olsen bare his testimony" So of course i stood up and walked up there and did what i was asked to do. But the best part about it was that i wasn't nervous at all. I've learned over my life and especially on my mission that i love to bare my testimony to others. But no matter what i always try to bare testimony that the savior loves us, and god loves us. Because those two gospel truths can be tied to every gospel principle. But anyway i gave my testimony that sat back down, it was fun.
Another great thing that happened this week is that my bike finally got fixed. I truly haven't been able to ride it the past six weeks here in hartsville. Luckily i took it by a members home and he fixed it up in about 30 minutes. It runs great now and i went to wal-mart and got me a bike lock and a cool bag that sits below my seat that holds my pocket scriptures.
I've learned that one of my favorite dogs is a jack russell. They are so much fun to play with, the member who fixed my bike has one and every time we go over i'll play fetch with him in their big yard. It's
really funny because whenever he runs he puts up one of his back legs. We just say that he's putting up his landing gear. But this Jack Russells name is J R, not junior but J-R. Which is a really great name
when you say it with a southern accent.
Speaking of dogs there's this one dog that lives around us who is kind of the alpha dog. He just this little mutt who we have named scruffy, and whenever we ride down the road on our bikes we yell "scruffy!" and
he'll just come bolting at us barking up a storm and then other dogs will start chasing us as well. But the other dogs won't chase us if scruffy doesn't. If you can't tell dogs are a big thing here in the south.
We were able to teach a lot this week as well. Actually there was one great time when we were at a members house about to present the letter program to them. But when Bro. King came home he drove up with a guy that works for him. Well Bro. King gave us a referral at church last sunday and we've called this guy a couple times and he always said that he would call us back. Well it turns out that Bro. King just
brought him by and we taught him a first lesson with the kings instead of showing them the letter program. I did not mind it one bit!
So my studies have been going great lately. I've been able to find such a greater love for the scriptures. Because since i've been reading and studying more effectively i've been able to better tie stories to peoples lives to help them. Someone will have a question and i can usually find an answer in the scriptures to answer them. The scriptures are absolutely amazing and true heartfelt study can help you find an answer to any question.
But now for a funny story! Over the last week i've been playing a game with Elder Harding. So in the morning i was reading my old spice wash, which had some funny things on it. Then i read his old spice, same
thing. So then i read his shampoo and conditioner bottles, not funny. But anyways the next day i came in and his shampoo and conditioner wasn't in the bathroom anymore. Then i remembered in his last area other missionaries were using his shampoo so he took them out and only brought them in when he used them. So i decided i would have some fun and see how much stuff i could get him to take out. I'm proud to say that i got him to take out his body wash, acne stuff, and toothpaste. And he never said a thing about it! I was waiting for him to explode one day or say something. The last day i did it he actually moved my
stuff around, i laughed pretty hard. But i finally told him about it and we laughed a lot. I probably laughed more. But anyways it was really fun to play a small prank on him.
Well that's me!
Elder K. Olsen
Elder Olsen is in South Carolina
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Week of Miracles!
So first of all i was able to go to the dentist and i had to get three
fillings. Well that wasn't really the fun part because they were all on
the top and i guess that area is more sensitive so he had to put three
shots in so that he could fix them. Not a fan of that. But anyway my
teeth are perfectly fine now and the best part was when we were
done, he said that he wouldn't make me pay extra and that whatever the
insurance was able to pay was enough. So if you want me to i will gladly
send back that money that you gave me.
It's always comforting to hear that y'all were able to get the memory cards, it worries me to send three months of memories in an envelope across the country. Speaking of which did y'all ever get my package that had all of the letters in it?
Now for the rest of the miracles! We were blessed with 8 new investigators this week! David, Cynthia, Tom, Matthew, Deckers, and Mr. Connor! It was amazing how many lessons we were actually able to teach. So let me tell y'all about them.
So since we had to go to the dentist on Thursday we took an hour and a half out of our pday last week to go knocking. While we were knocking we ran into Cynthia. Cynthia is an older lady who at first told us that she didn't have time right then. So we set up a return appointment for Wednesday. But before we left i said "I don't mean to be to pushy but you seem really sad, is everything all right?" Then she expressed to us that her daughter passed away a couple years ago and that she was raising her three grandchildren. So we testified that our message could bring comfort and happiness into her life. We came back on Wednesday and gave a plan of salvation and the restoration to her. She seemed happier but concerned that if she found out that the book of mormon was true that she would have to become a mormon, she was raised baptist. But i feel that she will honestly read and ponder the book of mormon.
Back to Monday we were still knocking on that same street and we found David who has become one of my favorite people in the world. At first he seemed a little slow but it's just because he takes his time to answer everything. We came back later and asked him if he had read, and he had read all of the testimonies and the introduction. He understood all of it as well. We've had some great discussions with him and he is most likely going to become a member of the church but he wants to study more.
Tom was a referral from the letter program I've told y'all about and that went fantastic! I didn't realize it until we left but we were there for a while. We got home at 9:30 and we just lived down the road. But we were able to answer all of his concerns, i was able to answer questions that i never thought i would be able to. I was able to give several good reasons why we don't have the gold plates anymore. Reasons that i truly believe came from the Holy Ghost. We gave him the book of mormon and he really wants to read it and we are having lunch tomorrow with him and the referring member so i bet that he will have read some by then.
Matthew is a nine year old boy who just really wants to get baptized! He lives with his grandpa who is a member but doesn't want to come to church because he's not a "people person" but he's loves the church and the idea that Matthew is getting baptized soon. Matthew came to church yesterday and he loved it, when he was leaving he was skipping away saying "i want to come to church every week!" Now why can't every investigator we have do that?
The Deckers were another letter referral and it was another humbling experience because their son was murdered a couple of years ago so they are really humble people. But they believe that all the churches have a lot of good but are just close to the full truth. Bro. Decker also talked about the Native Americans at one point saying "you know they were a lot better people to this land than we ever were, and it makes you wonder, who told them to be that good?" Then i held up the book of mormon and said "would you like to find out?" It was awesome! So we're invited anytime back to their home and they really want to read the book of mormon as well.
Last but not least is Bro. Connor, who is actually a lead from past missionaries and someone we met our first day in Hartsville. But this whole time we haven't been able to have a great discussion with him, we've been able to talk to him in his front yard and present the book of mormon and what it is and he promised that he would read it. Now let me tell you that Bro. Connor is a lawyer and he is also very well educated in the scriptures. But we sat down with him last night and had a very long educated discussion with him. Which i think is why we weren't able to do it when we first met him because honestly we weren't ready when we first got here. But last night he said "whats the message?" and we asked him what he would like to know. He said "how about the trinity?" Whoa! I wasn't ready for that but decided that i would explain the whole restoration so that i could show him why we believe in three separate beings. But he took everything into honest consideration and came to the conclusion that he now needs to read to the book of mormon to find out if what we're saying is true. It was funny though because he asked us if we had gone to a theology school when we were finished. We told him all that we know were from our studies (I'm so proud of my humility). He also expressed how he wished that he could get us over to our church. I then told him that he would have to completely disprove the book of mormon. So our next visit will be interesting.
Now for a great story, I've gotten a lot bolder over my time being a missionary. For instance we were talking to a baptist minister in training on his front porch. The whole time he was quoting scriptures that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about. But at one point we were talking about prophets and writing scriptures and he said "well i can write scripture i.." Then i cut him off mid-sentence and said "that's not scripture." I wish y'all could've seen the expression on his face. He didn't know how to respond, and i couldn't believe that i had just cut him off like that. But then he finally just quoted a random scripture and eventually i said amen to something he said, and he said thank you very much, and then he went inside and we left. Missionary work can be interesting.
Also everyone transfer calls came on Saturday and Elder Harding and i are both staying! So we got six more weeks to make everything work here.
It took us a while but we are in a really great place here in Hartsville. We finally got all of our records up to date, we're teaching a lot of people, we've gained the respect of the ward council, and now we're getting a lot of assignments from everyone. Finally we are busy again!
Ugh! I forgot to this week but next week I'm going to bring my study journal to the library so that i can tell y'all the amazing things that i have been learning!
I love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
It's always comforting to hear that y'all were able to get the memory cards, it worries me to send three months of memories in an envelope across the country. Speaking of which did y'all ever get my package that had all of the letters in it?
Now for the rest of the miracles! We were blessed with 8 new investigators this week! David, Cynthia, Tom, Matthew, Deckers, and Mr. Connor! It was amazing how many lessons we were actually able to teach. So let me tell y'all about them.
So since we had to go to the dentist on Thursday we took an hour and a half out of our pday last week to go knocking. While we were knocking we ran into Cynthia. Cynthia is an older lady who at first told us that she didn't have time right then. So we set up a return appointment for Wednesday. But before we left i said "I don't mean to be to pushy but you seem really sad, is everything all right?" Then she expressed to us that her daughter passed away a couple years ago and that she was raising her three grandchildren. So we testified that our message could bring comfort and happiness into her life. We came back on Wednesday and gave a plan of salvation and the restoration to her. She seemed happier but concerned that if she found out that the book of mormon was true that she would have to become a mormon, she was raised baptist. But i feel that she will honestly read and ponder the book of mormon.
Back to Monday we were still knocking on that same street and we found David who has become one of my favorite people in the world. At first he seemed a little slow but it's just because he takes his time to answer everything. We came back later and asked him if he had read, and he had read all of the testimonies and the introduction. He understood all of it as well. We've had some great discussions with him and he is most likely going to become a member of the church but he wants to study more.
Tom was a referral from the letter program I've told y'all about and that went fantastic! I didn't realize it until we left but we were there for a while. We got home at 9:30 and we just lived down the road. But we were able to answer all of his concerns, i was able to answer questions that i never thought i would be able to. I was able to give several good reasons why we don't have the gold plates anymore. Reasons that i truly believe came from the Holy Ghost. We gave him the book of mormon and he really wants to read it and we are having lunch tomorrow with him and the referring member so i bet that he will have read some by then.
Matthew is a nine year old boy who just really wants to get baptized! He lives with his grandpa who is a member but doesn't want to come to church because he's not a "people person" but he's loves the church and the idea that Matthew is getting baptized soon. Matthew came to church yesterday and he loved it, when he was leaving he was skipping away saying "i want to come to church every week!" Now why can't every investigator we have do that?
The Deckers were another letter referral and it was another humbling experience because their son was murdered a couple of years ago so they are really humble people. But they believe that all the churches have a lot of good but are just close to the full truth. Bro. Decker also talked about the Native Americans at one point saying "you know they were a lot better people to this land than we ever were, and it makes you wonder, who told them to be that good?" Then i held up the book of mormon and said "would you like to find out?" It was awesome! So we're invited anytime back to their home and they really want to read the book of mormon as well.
Last but not least is Bro. Connor, who is actually a lead from past missionaries and someone we met our first day in Hartsville. But this whole time we haven't been able to have a great discussion with him, we've been able to talk to him in his front yard and present the book of mormon and what it is and he promised that he would read it. Now let me tell you that Bro. Connor is a lawyer and he is also very well educated in the scriptures. But we sat down with him last night and had a very long educated discussion with him. Which i think is why we weren't able to do it when we first met him because honestly we weren't ready when we first got here. But last night he said "whats the message?" and we asked him what he would like to know. He said "how about the trinity?" Whoa! I wasn't ready for that but decided that i would explain the whole restoration so that i could show him why we believe in three separate beings. But he took everything into honest consideration and came to the conclusion that he now needs to read to the book of mormon to find out if what we're saying is true. It was funny though because he asked us if we had gone to a theology school when we were finished. We told him all that we know were from our studies (I'm so proud of my humility). He also expressed how he wished that he could get us over to our church. I then told him that he would have to completely disprove the book of mormon. So our next visit will be interesting.
Now for a great story, I've gotten a lot bolder over my time being a missionary. For instance we were talking to a baptist minister in training on his front porch. The whole time he was quoting scriptures that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about. But at one point we were talking about prophets and writing scriptures and he said "well i can write scripture i.." Then i cut him off mid-sentence and said "that's not scripture." I wish y'all could've seen the expression on his face. He didn't know how to respond, and i couldn't believe that i had just cut him off like that. But then he finally just quoted a random scripture and eventually i said amen to something he said, and he said thank you very much, and then he went inside and we left. Missionary work can be interesting.
Also everyone transfer calls came on Saturday and Elder Harding and i are both staying! So we got six more weeks to make everything work here.
It took us a while but we are in a really great place here in Hartsville. We finally got all of our records up to date, we're teaching a lot of people, we've gained the respect of the ward council, and now we're getting a lot of assignments from everyone. Finally we are busy again!
Ugh! I forgot to this week but next week I'm going to bring my study journal to the library so that i can tell y'all the amazing things that i have been learning!
I love y'all!
Elder K. Olsen
Monday, April 16, 2012
Hey Momma.
Hey momma!
So I'm sorry that you had to hear my voice the other day but couldn't talk to me. (Just so you know what he's talking about -- I got a call from SC this week because Kyle was at the dentist and they needed his insurance information. When I called back to give it to them, they went to hand him the phone so he could write it down, and being the obedient missionary that he his, he wouldn't take the phone and told the lady he wasn't allowed to talk on the phone. So I heard his voice, but didn't get to talk to him. I'm proud of him -- but kind of wanted to strangle him at the same time!) But to let you know i was able to see the dentist and he just cleaned my teeth this time. Hopefully it will be cheaper because i'm a missionary and he's a member! But he's got that metal hook thing that scratches your gums... except this ones electric and it sounds like a drill! So they told me my gums were bleeding a lot, and in my head i said "because you just ran an electric hook among them!" Y'all know how much i love the dentist. But anyway there are three teeth that i got to get fixed (yay) and i will be going back their on Thursday to finish that all up and then hopefully i can be done with it for the rest of the mission.
I'll be sending you those memory cards today. So in the next bit or so you will be receiving 14 gigs of my amazing life! Isn't that exciting!
Unfortunately i found out that Peggy has moved to North Carolina. Or she's going to. But anyway she should be getting baptized soon.
Elder Brimhall isn't a district leader yet. But we'll find out at the end of this transfer. And this is the last week of the transfer! That went by way to quick, i can't believe i've almost been in Hartsville for 6 weeks!
Well this has probably been our best week in Hartsvegas! It's great because the Cheraw elders (other ones in the district) put two people on baptismal date this week! So now they have two baptisms set up for the month of May. I'm going to talk to them to see if one of them can be baptized the last week of April. Because they made a goal for baptizing one this month and i want to help them do it. I guess this lady has been going to church for a while so it's very possible.
Mean while in Hartsville a lot has been happening as well. Unfortunately we don't have anyone set on date to be baptized. But we're getting close. See if you ever ask Pres. Holm if you can do anything for him he will tell you, "As a matter of a fact you can, Plan, Find, Teach, Baptize." That's kind of one of the themes right now in the mission and it's amazing how this month looks like it's been set up that way. Because when we first got here things were kind of a mess. Our map wasn't very great, our records weren't up to date, neither of us new anyone or anything about Hartsville. But now we are on our feet! Because the first week of this month felt like a planning week, this past week was definitely a finding week. We were able to meet with a lot of members to get referrals, we knocked like crazy, we're setting up seminars for members to invite their friends, we're learning how we can find in the young mens program as well as cub scouts. We practically have the entire ward council behind us now and ready to go.
On Sunday we were able to set up so many things with the members. We were actually able to set up with three members to go out teaching with them............and we set up an a few appointments to meet with members to help them do missionary work as well. Plus we are also blessed that we have a dinner appointment every day this week plus a couple lunch appointments. Oh and did i mention that the members here buy our groceries? So we definitely aren't hungry in the slightest.
Speaking of food! A couple days ago there was a cake auction for the youth so that they can go camping. Well it was funny because there was a member who wanted to buy us a cake. So we picked one and when it came up he started the bidding. Well there was another member who really wanted that cake and he was a professional auctioneer. So it just keeps going back and forth and then the member sitting next to us who was buying the cake stood up and yelled to the other bidder "I hope you know that you're bidding against the lords anointed!" Well everyone laughed really hard and needless to say we got the brownie chocolate cream cheese cake thing which is amazing! Then some other members got us some home made craisin bread and we got tons of spaghetti and salad and bread and salad dressings. I <3 Hartsville.
So we are keeping very busy here and i'm learning and growing more and more every day.
I don't think i've born my testimony for a while and i think since I'm alive that this would be a good day to do it.
I wholeheartedly love my Savior. I learn more about Him every day and how he is a bigger part of out lives than i had ever thought before. Everything around us testifies that He is. All of the plants and animals and all of the magnificent things we see in the solar system. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, i know that the other churches all have pieces of the truth. But the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the fulness of the gospel. Every single question that anyone has can be answered through faithful and diligent seeking. I know without a doubt that the book of mormon and the bible work hand in hand testifying of the authenticity of the Savior and both are absolutely needed in order to know, actually know, the truth. Joseph Smith saw God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ and was called as the Prophet in these last days to restore the priesthood and the true church of Christ. All of the following prophets who were called after Joseph Smith were called by the same diety and hold the same authority. True happiness can only be found through and in Jesus Christ. He is the truth, the light, the way. Families can be together forever, and i bear my witness of these things boldly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love y'all
Elder K. Olsen
So I'm sorry that you had to hear my voice the other day but couldn't talk to me. (Just so you know what he's talking about -- I got a call from SC this week because Kyle was at the dentist and they needed his insurance information. When I called back to give it to them, they went to hand him the phone so he could write it down, and being the obedient missionary that he his, he wouldn't take the phone and told the lady he wasn't allowed to talk on the phone. So I heard his voice, but didn't get to talk to him. I'm proud of him -- but kind of wanted to strangle him at the same time!) But to let you know i was able to see the dentist and he just cleaned my teeth this time. Hopefully it will be cheaper because i'm a missionary and he's a member! But he's got that metal hook thing that scratches your gums... except this ones electric and it sounds like a drill! So they told me my gums were bleeding a lot, and in my head i said "because you just ran an electric hook among them!" Y'all know how much i love the dentist. But anyway there are three teeth that i got to get fixed (yay) and i will be going back their on Thursday to finish that all up and then hopefully i can be done with it for the rest of the mission.
I'll be sending you those memory cards today. So in the next bit or so you will be receiving 14 gigs of my amazing life! Isn't that exciting!
Unfortunately i found out that Peggy has moved to North Carolina. Or she's going to. But anyway she should be getting baptized soon.
Elder Brimhall isn't a district leader yet. But we'll find out at the end of this transfer. And this is the last week of the transfer! That went by way to quick, i can't believe i've almost been in Hartsville for 6 weeks!
Well this has probably been our best week in Hartsvegas! It's great because the Cheraw elders (other ones in the district) put two people on baptismal date this week! So now they have two baptisms set up for the month of May. I'm going to talk to them to see if one of them can be baptized the last week of April. Because they made a goal for baptizing one this month and i want to help them do it. I guess this lady has been going to church for a while so it's very possible.
Mean while in Hartsville a lot has been happening as well. Unfortunately we don't have anyone set on date to be baptized. But we're getting close. See if you ever ask Pres. Holm if you can do anything for him he will tell you, "As a matter of a fact you can, Plan, Find, Teach, Baptize." That's kind of one of the themes right now in the mission and it's amazing how this month looks like it's been set up that way. Because when we first got here things were kind of a mess. Our map wasn't very great, our records weren't up to date, neither of us new anyone or anything about Hartsville. But now we are on our feet! Because the first week of this month felt like a planning week, this past week was definitely a finding week. We were able to meet with a lot of members to get referrals, we knocked like crazy, we're setting up seminars for members to invite their friends, we're learning how we can find in the young mens program as well as cub scouts. We practically have the entire ward council behind us now and ready to go.
On Sunday we were able to set up so many things with the members. We were actually able to set up with three members to go out teaching with them............and we set up an a few appointments to meet with members to help them do missionary work as well. Plus we are also blessed that we have a dinner appointment every day this week plus a couple lunch appointments. Oh and did i mention that the members here buy our groceries? So we definitely aren't hungry in the slightest.
Speaking of food! A couple days ago there was a cake auction for the youth so that they can go camping. Well it was funny because there was a member who wanted to buy us a cake. So we picked one and when it came up he started the bidding. Well there was another member who really wanted that cake and he was a professional auctioneer. So it just keeps going back and forth and then the member sitting next to us who was buying the cake stood up and yelled to the other bidder "I hope you know that you're bidding against the lords anointed!" Well everyone laughed really hard and needless to say we got the brownie chocolate cream cheese cake thing which is amazing! Then some other members got us some home made craisin bread and we got tons of spaghetti and salad and bread and salad dressings. I <3 Hartsville.
So we are keeping very busy here and i'm learning and growing more and more every day.
I don't think i've born my testimony for a while and i think since I'm alive that this would be a good day to do it.
I wholeheartedly love my Savior. I learn more about Him every day and how he is a bigger part of out lives than i had ever thought before. Everything around us testifies that He is. All of the plants and animals and all of the magnificent things we see in the solar system. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, i know that the other churches all have pieces of the truth. But the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the fulness of the gospel. Every single question that anyone has can be answered through faithful and diligent seeking. I know without a doubt that the book of mormon and the bible work hand in hand testifying of the authenticity of the Savior and both are absolutely needed in order to know, actually know, the truth. Joseph Smith saw God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ and was called as the Prophet in these last days to restore the priesthood and the true church of Christ. All of the following prophets who were called after Joseph Smith were called by the same diety and hold the same authority. True happiness can only be found through and in Jesus Christ. He is the truth, the light, the way. Families can be together forever, and i bear my witness of these things boldly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love y'all
Elder K. Olsen
Monday, April 9, 2012
Great Study Plan
So I've been out a lot of weeks I realized. It seems like Monday comes by really quickly. But first of all I want to let y'all know that I got both easter packages from y'all. Elder Harding thinks that you want me to hurt him. Because I got rockets, a gun that shoots foam discs, and a whole bunch of water balloons. It was pretty funny. But we've really enjoyed all of the awesome candy as well.
Easter Sunday went great! First I wanted to say that I thought it was pretty funny when I heard that dad was going to sing at stake conference. Because I actually got sucked into singing in the choir yesterday. So somehow people have to listen to both of us sing this year. It actually went really well, mostly because everyone else was singing. But I still had fun, i'll probably try out the choir when I get home.
The Leadership Training Meeting went awesome! I love when I can be around Pres. Holm. I hope that I can be like him in the future. You can tell how much he loves the gospel and moving the work forward. He knows how to get things done and I learned a lot at this meeting. Mostly about how fantastic and important planning and having your records organized is. So I've become much better at planning and setting goals.
Actually Elder Harding and I have come up with a really great study plan that will help me learn a lot by the end of this year. I don't know if i told ya'll this but back in Conway there was a member who is the granddaughter of Cleon W. Skousen. Well I have a few of his talks and I absolutely love him so I asked her why he was so awesome. She said it was because he studied everything out and wrote it all down. So I went and bought some study journals.
(Also just a quick side note I don't need another daily journal because Elder Cramer gave me one that looks like the awesome brown leather one that I already have.)
But anyways what i'm doing is taking the Book of Mormon and studying every verse deeply and writing down what I learn about it. If I follow my study plan I will be able to finish the Book of Mormon like that by the end of the year. And if I keep consistent with how much i've been writing I should write a little over 1500 pages. So i'll be really excited to show y'all all those when I get back. Then at the same time i'm reading the book of mormon normally and should be able to read it twice by the end of the year. Then I'm studying the Bible and D&C and should write quite a bit about those as well by the end of the year. Then next year I plan on having the new testament done like the Book of Mormon by July 2013! So it's pretty great that I have my studies planned out for the rest of my mission. One less thing I have to worry about!
Bad news though! That member sold the Corvette! and I never got to get my picture taken in it! I didn't even get a picture of it. But oh well I plan on getting one eventually, I guess the mission isn't a good place for it...
Unfortunately with Peggys baptism I wasn't able to go and actually I don't think that it actually happened. Whenever someone gets baptized in the mission everyone gets a text about it. There wasn't any text about her this past weekend.
I was able to see elder Brimhall at the LTM and he said that she was moving as well. So we'll see what happens with that I guess.
Oh! I forgot to tell you that Elder Brimhall was at the LTM! Which is great because only people in leadership positions were invited and he's not in a leadership position. Which can only mean that he is soon going to be! Either he'll be a District Leader somewhere or he is going to train. But it was also funny because the other missionary that's in conway right now came out with me in the MTC. He told me that he hears my name about every other hour in Conway. So that made me feel really good!
Right now Hartsville is probably the best place ever!
Elder K. Olsen
Easter Sunday went great! First I wanted to say that I thought it was pretty funny when I heard that dad was going to sing at stake conference. Because I actually got sucked into singing in the choir yesterday. So somehow people have to listen to both of us sing this year. It actually went really well, mostly because everyone else was singing. But I still had fun, i'll probably try out the choir when I get home.
The Leadership Training Meeting went awesome! I love when I can be around Pres. Holm. I hope that I can be like him in the future. You can tell how much he loves the gospel and moving the work forward. He knows how to get things done and I learned a lot at this meeting. Mostly about how fantastic and important planning and having your records organized is. So I've become much better at planning and setting goals.
Actually Elder Harding and I have come up with a really great study plan that will help me learn a lot by the end of this year. I don't know if i told ya'll this but back in Conway there was a member who is the granddaughter of Cleon W. Skousen. Well I have a few of his talks and I absolutely love him so I asked her why he was so awesome. She said it was because he studied everything out and wrote it all down. So I went and bought some study journals.
(Also just a quick side note I don't need another daily journal because Elder Cramer gave me one that looks like the awesome brown leather one that I already have.)
But anyways what i'm doing is taking the Book of Mormon and studying every verse deeply and writing down what I learn about it. If I follow my study plan I will be able to finish the Book of Mormon like that by the end of the year. And if I keep consistent with how much i've been writing I should write a little over 1500 pages. So i'll be really excited to show y'all all those when I get back. Then at the same time i'm reading the book of mormon normally and should be able to read it twice by the end of the year. Then I'm studying the Bible and D&C and should write quite a bit about those as well by the end of the year. Then next year I plan on having the new testament done like the Book of Mormon by July 2013! So it's pretty great that I have my studies planned out for the rest of my mission. One less thing I have to worry about!
Bad news though! That member sold the Corvette! and I never got to get my picture taken in it! I didn't even get a picture of it. But oh well I plan on getting one eventually, I guess the mission isn't a good place for it...
Unfortunately with Peggys baptism I wasn't able to go and actually I don't think that it actually happened. Whenever someone gets baptized in the mission everyone gets a text about it. There wasn't any text about her this past weekend.
I was able to see elder Brimhall at the LTM and he said that she was moving as well. So we'll see what happens with that I guess.
Oh! I forgot to tell you that Elder Brimhall was at the LTM! Which is great because only people in leadership positions were invited and he's not in a leadership position. Which can only mean that he is soon going to be! Either he'll be a District Leader somewhere or he is going to train. But it was also funny because the other missionary that's in conway right now came out with me in the MTC. He told me that he hears my name about every other hour in Conway. So that made me feel really good!
Right now Hartsville is probably the best place ever!
Elder K. Olsen
Monday, April 2, 2012
Conference!!
Conference!!!
So conference was pretty dang awesome now wasn't it? I forget who said it but during the last session a member of the seventy talked about how much missionaries love getting letters. Now tell me that conference isn't inspired by the Lord after hearing that.
Unfortunately we didn't have any investigators come to conference from our fliers. The problem is that no one goes to the building anymore to watch it. Because people can watch it on their phones, televisions, tablets, etc. Nothing against it though, that's exactly what I'm going to do when i get back home.
So last tuesday I had a small sore throat and stuff but what was really weird was on friday my voice was really cracky and it was hard to talk. Saturday my voice was gone completely! Try being a missionary preaching the gospel but not being able to say one word. I didn't realize how much i enjoyed talking to other people. But then a miracle happened on Sunday. So at that point if i yelled it sounded like a whisper, but then i coughed and could talk... not sure how that worked out. But the best part is that it happened when i was filming a useless video. So i got my miracle on video!.... In other news i still haven't set up my dentist appointment, ya'll know how much i just love the dentist. So i've been slacking but i'll get it taken care of.
Basically i don't really NEED anything right now i'm pretty well off actually. But you know how i am, i practically enjoy getting anything that you'd think i'd want. Now for where i eat, i eat anywhere. So basically if you send a gift card anything works... except taco bell, grandma smith has that taken care of. I love you Grandma!
So i guess David Archuletta was in the MTC choir during conference. Honestly i couldn't tell you one of his songs and don't really know what he looks like. Besides i was paying more attention to the Prophet and Apostles, because they're just pure awesomeness!
So there was a baptism in Conway a couple weeks ago that i forgot to tell you about. Unfortunately i wasn't able to go to it. But the best part is that i taught her the first lesson on the 13 and then got transferred on the 14. So i only really taught her once. But Catherine is 11 years old and she really wanted me to come to her baptism i guess. It didn't surprise me at all that she was getting baptized. She had gone to church with her mom who has been less active for a while due to her nursing job. But she told us she wanted her family to get sealed in the temple for eternity and knew that baptism is a step to doing that. Then she asked us who Joseph Smith was... I asked her if she knew who Adam, Moses, or Noah was.. she had no clue. Ha! and i thought i was in the south. But that just shows how elect she is, the spirit told her it was true and she didn't even know what a prophet was.
In other baptismal news Peggy another awesome investigator from Conway will be getting baptized on the 7th. So pray really hard that i will be able to find the means to go that.
Also i was hoping i could ask for y'alls help. We need lots of prayers because our goal for the month of April is two baptisms. Which i think a lot of people think is way to much for the area at this point. But i know it can happen because the spirit confirmed it for us and as long as we work as hard as we can the Lord will prepare the way for us.
Being a DL is great! It's really not that hard of a "calling" because all i really have to do is conduct district meetings every week. I call the other missionaries to get their numbers for the week and then report the districts numbers to the zone leaders. And when the other missionaries in the district get someone prepared for baptism i'm the one who gets to go and do the baptismal interview. Besides that I just do other missionary stuff. But also there is a Leadership Training Meeting on the fifth! Since I'm a district leader i get to go to it! So I'm super excited for that!
Hartsville apartment is great! It's still really big and actually there's just the two of us so it's not that bad........plus the first week we were here the AP's came by and gave us brand new beds still in the packaging! So i've been sleeping extremely well. We have a lot of good kitchen stuff as well, we're planning on making a whole bunch of cakes and pies today. So you may want to pray for that as well. Because in the three weeks that we've been here we've set off the fire alarm twice. He tried toasting bread in the toaster oven which caused the toast to burst into flames. And i tried making cookies in the oven and was very surprised when i saw smoke rolling out of the oven. But we're learning and it's pretty funny.
Well I think i had a pretty good letter today actually, yup just looked at it again and it's longer than usual i think. You're welcome.
But anyways i love y'all so much!
Elder K. Olsen
So conference was pretty dang awesome now wasn't it? I forget who said it but during the last session a member of the seventy talked about how much missionaries love getting letters. Now tell me that conference isn't inspired by the Lord after hearing that.
Unfortunately we didn't have any investigators come to conference from our fliers. The problem is that no one goes to the building anymore to watch it. Because people can watch it on their phones, televisions, tablets, etc. Nothing against it though, that's exactly what I'm going to do when i get back home.
So last tuesday I had a small sore throat and stuff but what was really weird was on friday my voice was really cracky and it was hard to talk. Saturday my voice was gone completely! Try being a missionary preaching the gospel but not being able to say one word. I didn't realize how much i enjoyed talking to other people. But then a miracle happened on Sunday. So at that point if i yelled it sounded like a whisper, but then i coughed and could talk... not sure how that worked out. But the best part is that it happened when i was filming a useless video. So i got my miracle on video!.... In other news i still haven't set up my dentist appointment, ya'll know how much i just love the dentist. So i've been slacking but i'll get it taken care of.
Basically i don't really NEED anything right now i'm pretty well off actually. But you know how i am, i practically enjoy getting anything that you'd think i'd want. Now for where i eat, i eat anywhere. So basically if you send a gift card anything works... except taco bell, grandma smith has that taken care of. I love you Grandma!
So i guess David Archuletta was in the MTC choir during conference. Honestly i couldn't tell you one of his songs and don't really know what he looks like. Besides i was paying more attention to the Prophet and Apostles, because they're just pure awesomeness!
So there was a baptism in Conway a couple weeks ago that i forgot to tell you about. Unfortunately i wasn't able to go to it. But the best part is that i taught her the first lesson on the 13 and then got transferred on the 14. So i only really taught her once. But Catherine is 11 years old and she really wanted me to come to her baptism i guess. It didn't surprise me at all that she was getting baptized. She had gone to church with her mom who has been less active for a while due to her nursing job. But she told us she wanted her family to get sealed in the temple for eternity and knew that baptism is a step to doing that. Then she asked us who Joseph Smith was... I asked her if she knew who Adam, Moses, or Noah was.. she had no clue. Ha! and i thought i was in the south. But that just shows how elect she is, the spirit told her it was true and she didn't even know what a prophet was.
In other baptismal news Peggy another awesome investigator from Conway will be getting baptized on the 7th. So pray really hard that i will be able to find the means to go that.
Also i was hoping i could ask for y'alls help. We need lots of prayers because our goal for the month of April is two baptisms. Which i think a lot of people think is way to much for the area at this point. But i know it can happen because the spirit confirmed it for us and as long as we work as hard as we can the Lord will prepare the way for us.
Being a DL is great! It's really not that hard of a "calling" because all i really have to do is conduct district meetings every week. I call the other missionaries to get their numbers for the week and then report the districts numbers to the zone leaders. And when the other missionaries in the district get someone prepared for baptism i'm the one who gets to go and do the baptismal interview. Besides that I just do other missionary stuff. But also there is a Leadership Training Meeting on the fifth! Since I'm a district leader i get to go to it! So I'm super excited for that!
Hartsville apartment is great! It's still really big and actually there's just the two of us so it's not that bad........plus the first week we were here the AP's came by and gave us brand new beds still in the packaging! So i've been sleeping extremely well. We have a lot of good kitchen stuff as well, we're planning on making a whole bunch of cakes and pies today. So you may want to pray for that as well. Because in the three weeks that we've been here we've set off the fire alarm twice. He tried toasting bread in the toaster oven which caused the toast to burst into flames. And i tried making cookies in the oven and was very surprised when i saw smoke rolling out of the oven. But we're learning and it's pretty funny.
Well I think i had a pretty good letter today actually, yup just looked at it again and it's longer than usual i think. You're welcome.
But anyways i love y'all so much!
Elder K. Olsen
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