Elder Olson's Church Mission 2019-2021: week 15: Zone Conference

Week 15, 3rd week of 2nd transfer

November 17, 2019

This is week 3 of transfer 2. This week was good. It was a bit different because we had zone conference so that was fun.

Sadly Jaquline and Maticia stopped progressing so we might not be working with them as much any more because they haven't been keeping commitments. They didn't go to church today because they were sleeping and stuff like that. So we are going to talk to them about if they really want to continue then they can call us when they feel like they are ready to keep progressing but for now we are not going to be able to focus on them as much. We had 1 person come to church this week. Her name is Laresa. She's a reference from a member. We've only taught her a couple of times because it is difficult to find time to teach her because she works and has school and her mom doesn't like us visiting their house so we have to teach her in other places. But her friend is a member of the church and she's been helping us teach her. So that's good. She's been at church like 3 times now so she's progressing well. We just have to find a time that works for her to teach the lessons to her.

Also this week we found a man named William and he told us that he wants to stop smoking so he can be baptized. Not necessarily that he has an answer about our church but he wants to stop smoking to follow Christ is basically what he said. So we invited him to be baptized and he said if he finds that our church is true then he will be baptized into our church once he can be prepared and stop smoking. So we want to help him with that. so that is cool. Sadly he wasn't able to come to church today because he had a trip with his family.

This week we had Zone conference. There were 4 zones so there were like 80 missionaries. It was pretty awesome. We learned a lot about how the work is not about numbers because there's kinda still a culture of focusing on how many baptismal dates, how many people you have, how many lessons you've taught and stuff like that. But we learned about how we can focus more on the people and not on the numbers and also that we need to make sure we stay focused on all the things we do as missionaries and always sharing in all the things we are doing. Wherever we are, we should be sharing the gospel with everyone or strengthening or helping strengthen them.

So on to things that I hate: The thing I hate this week is riding the bus with 80 of my "closest friends" at 5 in the morning. We had to wake up at 4am so we could make it on the bus for Zone Conference and once I got on the bus, there were no seats, so I stood for an hour. And as you keep going, more and more and more people get on the bus until you can't even move. And I got motion sick. So yeah, the bus system is just great. Haha. It's terrible.

But on to things that I love: There's this food here called feijoa (fay-zhwa), basically black beans with meat and sausage cooked in it. It's really simple but really good. We had it for lunch at Zone Conference and at a member's house this week and it was awesome. Also, another thing that I like is at Zone Conference you get to talk with a lot of other missionaries. I got to see Elder Parker who I actually met before the mission at the health department when I was getting my vaccination. So I'll send a picture of me and him too. I also got to see and meet some of the other missionaries my companion knows. So yeah, that's always fun.

Also, we went on a hike this morning with the ward mission leader, Brother Tigê. He lead us bushwhacking through the jungle, so that was pretty cool. Also, he threw a rock at a big bees nest and my comp got stung like 6 times.

Here’s a Spirtual thought:

2 Nephi 8:7-8

Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, ^afear ye not the ^breproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their ^crevilings.

8 For the ^amoth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

We shouldn't be ashamed of our religion. Be willing to share it and stand for what you believe in. The judgements of men don't matter, but the judgement of God does. The things of the world are not eternal.

Elder Olson