Elder Olson's Church Mission 2019-2021: week 28: New friends!

Week 28, 4th week of 4th transfer

February 17, 2020

This week was awesome!

But Jose, who I had been talking about last week won't be baptized because basically he doesn't really have a desire. He just basically has a fear of saying no. Yeah, he doesn't keep appointments or commitments at all. So that's that.

But this week we had 4 new people in church which was awesome because we've been having the same people come to church every week, (which is good too of course). But there's a really cool story about two of them. So the first is Maria. She's a bit older. And it was really cool how we found her. So we were just sitting on the curb after an appointment fell through, we were sitting there waiting. She passed by and we said "Good morning." And she stopped and suddenly said, "Do you guys pray in people's houses?" And we were like, "yeah." And she was like, "will you come pray in my house?" So we were like, "of course." So we passed by. We realized she had actually rejected us many times before when we had knocked on her door but she said she felt like she needed to invite us to pray in her house this day. So we went and shared a message with her and her grandson and prayed. And then she came to church Sunday, so that was really cool.

And then the other friend is, Francielli. So she's a friend of the Bishop we've been teaching. Well we've been passing by her house for a long time, but we'd only been ablwe to teach her 2 times before because she basically only had time Saturdays. So basically it's been a lot of time. But this Saturday we went there and she'd finally read the Book of Mormon passages and something clicked. She had been trying to choose between the Catholic Church to attend or the church of her mom which is this other Christian church. She knew the Catholic Church wasn't completely true but it was where she felt the most peace. But also the church of her mom because that's where all of her family already is. But she read in the Book of Mormon about when Christ visited the Americas and she felt really good about it. So we had a really awesome lesson Saturday and at the end of the lesson she said, " I guess I just have to stop drinking coffee now." And we were like, "Yup! Awesome!" And then Sunday she came to church and brought her daughter also. They both loved it. Then we went to her house after to talk to her about how she felt. We started talking and then we invited her to be baptized and she accepted and said that during church she had been feeling that she needed to be baptized. So that was really awesome. So that will be next Saturday the 22nd. So we are super excited about that. Actually finding someone who actually is excited about the gospel and actually wants to follow and keep commitments. So that was really awesome this week.

Now on to things that I hate: This week is SMART PHONES sometimes. Because people need to put them away sometimes. We've had people, and even members, during lessons, not pay attention and just sit on their smartphones. We're like, "if you don't want to hear, just tell us, no." haha. Don't waste our time. So yeah, Be aware of what you're doing on your phone.

So things that I like: a thing called Pamonhas. I've talked about it before. It's like a tamale with basically no seasoning. And not very much meat. It's super good. Basically like a corn mush thing. But it's good. They also use it to make other stuff, this corn mush, to make a cake. MMMMMM! It's called Pamonha Assada, and also to make a pudding kind of thing which is called CANJICA. And they also fry it too. We had it at lunch the other day. We had all three kinds at lunch. I didn't know you could make so many things out of corn. But yeah it's pretty great.

Spiritual Thought: 2 Nephi:19-21

19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of
Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the
devil, and death, and chell, and that lake of fire and brimstone,
which is endless torment.

20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth call things,
and there is not anything save he knows it.

21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will
hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men,
yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and
children, who belong to the family of Adam.

Jesus Christ suffered everything for us. God is so merciful, and all we need to do is accept his mercy. He is waiting with open arms. We can use the atonement everyday to become better people.
--
Elder Olson

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