week 26: Called an Ambulance

Week 26,  2nd week of 4th transfer

February 3, 2020

Hello Everybody, 

I had to call an ambulance this week. But don't worry, it wasn't for me or my companion. It was for a drunk dude that crashed his bike. We were knocking doors and I turned around and saw two dudes on bikes coming down the street and one dude was swerving a lot and all of the sudden he crashed into his friend and went headfirst into the ground. Knocked out cold. There was a pool of blood...he was bleeding a lot. he went face first into the asphalt. We had to pull the bike off of him and call an ambulance because he was knocked out cold and there was a LOT of blood. His head was bleeding a lot. Finally he woke up but he was still drunk. He was kind of freaking out a bit, spitting blood everywhere, and we had to calm him down. In the end, we left him with his friend and a bunch of other people who had seen him crash. And the ambulance came and got him. So it turned out fine.

So this week, I talked about it last week, but it was my first week as District Leader. It really wasn't much different. The only difference is that I have to make sure the other companionship is doing what they are supposed to. And it's pretty easy because the new elder, Elder Pyva, he's from Paraguay, and Elder Burt, they both work really hard so it's a pretty easy job.

With our friends, Jose and Elezangela they weren't baptized this week and I don't have very much hope that they'll be baptized any time soon. When we were there with Jose, he was asking for signs. Basically, he said I'm gonna test the Lord. And we were like, "Uh, you probably shouldn't do that." And we read some scriptures with him and talked about faith but in the end, he ended up saying that he didn't really want more lessons. So that's pretty sad that he wasn't able to exercise his faith and follow the answer that he already had. He had already been praying and we had already helped him and realized that he had received an answer. Because he had been praying and was telling us about all the feelings of peace and joy that he had in the church and when he prayed about the church, but he refused to accept that this was an answer that the church was restored. 

But this week we had 7 friends at church. I think that's a record. The problem is, 6 of them, 3 couples, and they aren't legally married. They all have kids but they aren't married legally so we can't baptize any of them. But the 7th person, is name is also Jose, he's the ex-stepdad of Elizabeth and the boss of Rafael. So he spends a bit of time at the house of Rafael and Elizabeth so we invited him to church the other day when we were visiting them and he came and he really liked it. So we went to house after and taught him one of the lessons and marked a baptismal date for next Saturday (the 15th). Hopefully he continues progressing. But that was pretty cool to be able to find someone in a different way...a friend of a friend. And we already kind of have a relationship with him because we've talked with him a lot in the house of Rafael and Elizabeth. So he trusts us already so that's good. 

Things that I hate: haha. For one,... when I'm trying to record my emails and I keep speaking Portuguese instead of English and also...trying to understand Spanish. The new ward mission leader is a Venezuelan. He's really awesome but he only speaks Spanish and he talks REALLY fast. If he talked slow I could understand a bit because Portuguese and Spanish are really similar, but he talks really fast. So we had a meeting with him and I had a headache after because he talked so fast and I was trying to understand. It used a lot of effort. It reminds me of when I was starting to learn Portuguese. About the same level in my Spanish comprehension.

Things that I like: This week we made CuzCuz with sausage and tomato sauce. Sounds kind of weird but it was actually really good. I'll send a picture of us making it. 

Oh yeah, it was kind of funny, I had a rash on my arms one day, I don't know why. It's gone now. It didn't like hurt or anything, it was just a rash. And we were at Rafael and Elizabeth's house and they were worried that I had Dengay fever or something because I had a rash and two days after they called me and asked, "Hey are you ok? We haven't talked to you in two days." they thought I was in the hospital or something. So that's pretty cool to have people who really are our friends here. It's cool to make relationships with people that you are teaching the gospel and help them and they help you too. So that's pretty cool.

 So that's all for this week. Hopefully we can get a baptism this transfer because it's been almost 3 transfers without a baptism. Pray for our friends!

Spiritual thought: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2020/02/the-first-vision-a-pattern-for-personal-revelation?lang=eng This talk by Elder Eyring is a great thought about personal revelation. We can learn a lot from how Joseph Smith received the revelation of the first vision. 

-- 
Elder Olson

cuz cuz