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

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 😪

VERY unexpected changes!

Oi pessoal!

This week the craziest thing happened. So, we had interviews with President Nye, and nothing special happened. But then, like 4 hours later, I got a call from President Nye and he told me that I'm going back to Brazil on April 1st!!!!!! I was so shocked, I didn't know what to say. So yeah, that's super exciting. I guess I should have waited to buy a guitar haha. Sadly, I'll miss Kaci's baptism, but I'm still excited. 

We also got to go on in person exchanges with the zone leaders this week. It was fun, I went with Elder Lund and we got to help someone move. We didn't have a ton of lessons this week, but we did get to have 2 in-person lessons with Kaci. She is progressing well, but still hasn't come to church. Please keep her in your prayers so that she can reach her goal of being baptized on April 10th.

Spiritual thought: D&C 52:17 "And again, he that trembleth under my power shall be made strong, and shall bring forth fruits of praise and wisdom, according to the revelations and truths which I have given you." 

Humility is not weak! As we humble ourselves before God, and submit to his will, he will make us strong. Be humble.

Photos:

1. We made chicken stuffed soft pretzels

2. We went way out to a graveyard in the middle of nowhere to do billion graves, and I found this sign

3. District picture

4. District picture