Blessings

Oi pessoal!

This week was super awesome, except for the 12 hours I spent on the bus to pick up my companion haha. My new companion is Elder Arias. He is from São Paulo. He is a great companion, it has been awesome to work with him. 

We had some awesome miracles happen this week. We went to pick up lunch one day from a member at his work, and one of his coworkers was feeling sick. He told her we could give her a blessing, so we did. Later that day, the member messaged us and told us that she didn't feel sick anymore! We also got to give a blessing to our friend Onaldo. He is our friend who has a degenerative disease who accepted to be baptized. It was super spiritual. Also, he read the whole Book of Mormon in a week! He is a super smart guy. He has a huge book collection in his house, and has written 5 books. He even gave us each 2 of his books! Please keep him in your prayers so that his health won't impede him from being baptized.

We also got to give a blessing of comfort to a member who is going through a hard time, and a blessing to Elder Casteñeda, who spilled boiling hot water on his hand. It was awesome to be able to have the opportunity to serve others using the priesthood this week. 

Spiritual thought: Mormon 9:19 "And if there were ^amiracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he ^bchangeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles."

I want to bear my testimony that miracles still happen. God is a God of miracles and miracles will never cease to be.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

- Elder Olson

Me and my new comp, Elder Arias. Finally got into our apartment one night. We only have one key for the main building door and the other missionaries in our apartment had it and weren't back yet. We had to do some creative problem solving involving the garage, a "borrowed" garage door opener, and the return of said opener. We have 2 keys for the apartment door, but only one for the building. Not too helpful most days. 

Transfers already

E aí gente,

This week flew by. We have been staying really busy. We found some great new people and walked quite a bit to drop off Books of Mormon for them. Also, there is a member here who requests 10 Book of Mormons every week to hand out to people. There are so many awesome members here.

Also, we just got transfers. I thought everything was going to stay the same, but boy was I wrong. Sadly, Elder Bowen is leaving after only 2 weeks of being with me. I will be staying here to be a Zone Leader of a reopening zone! Crazy stuff. But, I do have to travel 5 hours to Uberlandia with my companion to pick up my new comp.

We had a pretty amazing miracle happen. I was messaging someone on Facebook, and it turns out missionaries had knocked on his door before. He wanted to learn more, but the missionaries never came back. We taught him about the restoration, and then brought him a Book of Mormon the next day. When we gave him the book, he asked about baptism. He told us he had prayed about our message. He felt that he needs to continue meeting with us and following the gospel path. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted!! He has many health problems, and I have no idea how we are going to baptize him, but God is a God of miracles. Gilberta hasn't really been progressing, but we are hoping we will be able to help her. Please keep them both in your prayers.

Spiritual thought: "God has sent us right here, right now, at this momentous time in history, so that we can do the greatest possible good with the talents and gifts we have. This is our time!"

- S Gifford Nielson

There is a reason we are where we are. People always ask: why would they send you back to Brazil for only 3 months?? I know I have a purpose here, there is so much to do.

I love you all and always appreciate all the support and emails I receive.

- Elder Olson

Photos!

1. Delivering a Book of Mormon 

2. My newfound addiction 😂 tereré 

3. Me and my companion with a giant avocado

4. I made Pizza! It was really good

5. The tiniest vw bus I have ever seen

6. Us missionaries with a recent convert that is preparing for a mission

7. Us and a friend we are teaching who bought us icecream

There is a work to do

Oi gente, bão??

This week has been absolutely crazy and awesome. So much has happened. We had zone conference, and then took a 3 hour van ride to our area. Elder Bowen and I live with our District Leader, Elder Lopes, and his companion, Elder Jhonsson. They are both from Brazil. The first night here, we had 8 Elders in our apartment and only 4 beds. Luckily I got a bed haha. It has been super fun to be back in Brazil. It is really hot, but luckily, we are going into "winter" so sometimes the temperature can be in the 70's. 

Our apartment is pretty small, and kinda messy. We live next to an Avenue, and for some reason everyone in Brazil loves to straight pipe everything. I'm pretty sure motorcycles just come standard that way haha. The noise has given me quite a few middle of the night scares haha, but I'm getting used to it.

As far as the work goes, the quarantine rules are pretty similar to the states. But, this area is a big city and there is tons of work to do. The ward is really struggling, and there are many new people who want to be taught. We have already marked a baptismal date for May 8th for a lady named Gilberta! We also had a miracle happen on Facebook! On Sunday, Elder Bowen messaged someone and he responded telling us that he had just been praying to hear a message about Jesus, and BAM! We sent him a message. We had an amazing lesson, and then right after he watched church online and loved it. Sorry for the length of this email, but a lot has happened haha.

Spiritual thought: since this email is already long, I will keep this short. Miracles do happen and God has a plan for all of us!

 I love you all and appreciate all the support you give me!

-Elder Olson

Photos:

1. Reuniting with my son and other past companion (my trainee, Elder Bezerra, who is now my zone leader)

2. Me, my companion Elder Bowen, and our friend Elder Locey 

3. Tiny Banana

4. Pizza time

5. 8 Elders, one house

6. District Rio Verde!

Reuniting with my son and other past companion (my trainee, Elder Bezerra, who is now my zone leader)

Me, my companion Elder Bowen, and our friend Elder Locey

Tiny Banana

Pizza time

8 Elders, one house

District Rio Verde!

Opa, bão?

After the longest day of travel, I made it down here to Goiânia! When we got here, we had dinner at the mission President's house, and got our area assignments! I am going to Rio Verde with Elder Bowen to open an area. Elder Bowen has one less transfer than me and was reassigned, serving in New Jersey. It's going to be interesting because we are both trying to remember our Portuguese haha.

Right now, we are staying with the assistants until Tuesday after zone conference. We watched General Conference at the church on our phone. But, it was really good. There were so many good talks, I can't wait to go back and listen to them all again. 

It is so hot. 

Sadly, due to federal law, we have to wear masks while walking in the street. It makes the heat awful. But, I am so happy to be here. There is a lot of work for us to do, so it is exciting.

Spiritual thought: My favorite session of conference this time was the priesthood session. One thing that stood out to me was when Elder Gifford Nielson talked about how the courageous decisions we make now will affect eternity. We need to have the courage to do what is right. We need to have the courage to serve the Lord, even when it is hard. I invite you all to pray to have that courage.

If any of you have things from conference that you liked, I'd love it if you wrote me an email to share with me!

Photos:

1. Our conference setup (we put the phone next to the microphone for surround sound)

2. Me and my new companion, Elder Bowen

3. A Bakery called "the holy supper" which here means sacrament

4-5. Saying goodbye to the Maryland Baltimore mission 😪