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

PICTURES FROM ZONE CONFERENCE

training at Zone Conference

Time to eat.

PAMONHAS

regular Pamonha

Pamonha Assada

Pamonha frita (fried)

Pamonha Canjica (pudding)

Week 19: I'm a trainer

Week 19, 1st week of 3rd transfer

December 16, 2019

This week I had a trip into the city again. Luckily this time it wasn't by bus. We had a member take us in because Elder Rodriguez was transferred into the city. He's a zone leader there now.  And I had to stay with him and pick up my companion the next day so we got there...we left tuesday and we spent the afternoon cleaning the transfer house because it was TRASHED. And then that night, I stayed with Elder Rodriguez and his new companion, and we worked for a couple of hours making contacts and stuff. The next day, in the morning, I went to the bus station to pick up my new companion Elder Bezerra. I'm training him! He's from the north east part of Brazil. So that was kind of a LONG trip. It kind of took away from...I lost a day and a half of work basically. But it was kind of fun because it was different. I got to see a lot of other missionaries. I got to see some of my old friends. 

This week, all of my friends I had been teaching with Elder Rodriguez, well, we basically had to cut all of them so we basically started over here with teaching people and finding people. We've been doing good with making contacts with everybody. We made a goal to see how many "no's" we can get basically. So once we finished our real goal of contacting people, we still want to contact more people to see if they'll say no. Not that we are trying to force (or even want) people to say no but we are trying to motivate ourselves and be happy even when we get rejected.

We had a reference from a member this week and it was WAYYYYYYYYYYY out off our map. Like it wasn't even on our map. It was a 30 minute speed walk, because we only had 1 hour left of the night. And when we got there, All we were able to do was to say Hi, tell them who we were and then leave because we had to get back home before 9. So that was basically running to get home. My legs are still kind of tired from it. Haha.

So yeah, this week has been good but we haven't been doing a lot teaching. Mostly trying to find new people to teach. We had an activity with the members this week. We had a Christmas family home evening, which was good. It's funny because it started at 7 but nobody showed up til 8:00. So that's kind of annoying, haha, but it's all good. Then yesterday we went caroling with the members to some of the older members of the ward. Some of them aren't able to make it to church because of their age or health problems because of old age. So that was kind of a cool spiritual experience.

So on to things that I hate: The transfer house. I had to sleep on this mattress that was basically springs and without a pillow so I basically didn't sleep and I had to get up at 5 (an hour and a half earlier than usual) to go get my new companion. Me and another elder who were going to the bus station to get our companions, we had to ask people on the street to get an uber for us because we didn't have a way to get to the bus station. (and we don't have smart phones with the necessary app). 

Things that I like: In the bus station I got to see a companion from the CTM, Elder Neely. So that was cool to catch up and talk with him. The first thing he said when he saw me was "Oh, you've gotten fatter!" Haha. Which was funny. But which is very true. It was funny because in the CTM they all made fun of me for being really skinny and now I've gained like 20lbs. But yeah, that was good.

This week was a lot of work, a lot trying to find new people and hopefully this next week we'll be able to do more teaching.

Spiritual Thought: I watched the new nativity video the church released, and thought a lot about the example of the shepherds and the wisemen. They dropped everything to search for christ, and when they find him, you can see the pure joy in their eyes. I want to invite you all to watch this video, The Christ Child, then think of what you need to give, or give up, for Christ. Have a great week and a Feliz Natal!

Elder Olson

1st transfer souvenir t-shirts

The 4 ninja turtles

New missionary, new companion Elder Bezerra

week 16: Many new friends

Week 16, 4th week of 2nd transfer

November 25, 2019

This is week 4 of transfer 2. This week was good. We had splits this week with Zone Leaders so that was good. So I was with Elder De los Santos and we found a man that doesn't believe in God, which is interesting here, because almost everybody is religious and believes in God and Christ here. So that was interesting, trying to explain our religion to him because I haven't really had to do that yet, without people having a knowledge or a basic belief and understanding of God and Jesus Christ. So that was interesting, trying to teach a person that doesn't have the same basic belief. 

This week in church we had 5 friends come. Which is an improvement because we've had 1 or 0 the past couple of weeks. So Larisa was in church again. I think I talked about her before. Like I said, it's been hard to teach her because her mom doesn't like us and she's always really busy. We've only been able to teach her one more lesson than the first and we've spoken with her a few other times. Then, two of the other people were siblings, Iago and Kelen, brother and sister. And we found them the other day. It was actually pretty interesting. So we had passed this house once before, a week or two ago, and the man there said they were busy, so we said we'd pass by another day. So it was raining and we were looking for a different person on the same street and we couldn't find the person but my companion said, "we could knock on this door here." I said, "oh, we already did. But we can again." So we did and they invited us in. It's a family. Moises is the dad and he has 3 kids, Iago, Kelen and João Vitor. Iago is 22. Kelen is 17. And João Vitor, I think he's 15 or so. But the lesson went well. Then we came back this week to them and we had left a Book of Mormon for them and left a part for them to read. And when we came back, Kelen had read the part (3 Nephi chapter 11) about when Christ visits the people in the America's after his crucifixion. But the lesson was really awesome because we asked her about how reading the Book of Mormon was and she shared the parts that she liked, the verses that she liked. And we talked more about them and shared more about the restoration and we asked how Kelen felt about the book, the Book of Mormon, and she said she believes it's true and that she feels that the Church is right. Which is really awesome because she hadn't even gone to church with us yet. So today, her and her brother Iago came to church. So that's exciting. We invited them to be baptized too. So we have a baptismal date set for them...the 7th of December. Hopefully we can get them ready in time, but I think we will.

And then the other person that was in Sacrament meeting that we brought today was Dalma. She's an older lady, I think in her 50's. She has 2 kids, 12 and 7 years old. She brought them too. She also said she that the Church is true and so we have that same baptismal date set for her. So that's exciting because we hadn't really been finding people that wanted to progress until now. So that's really exciting. So hopefully they can continue to progress and not fall away. 

On to things that I hate this week: We're going to start with RAIN. Because it makes the power go out. So one day the power went out in the entire city. It was night and there were no street lights and it was SUPER dark and it was hard to get back to our house.

Things that I like: RAIN. Because it makes it not so hot when it rains. It's a LOT cooler when it rains. It's probably still 80 degrees but to me that is soooooo much cooler because usually it's like 90 to 100.

Also, an interesting experience I had this week: I met a man from Sweden here, which is crazy because it's a really small town and there aren't usually tourists here or anything like that and he doesn't even speak Portuguese. But I talked with him in English and he was visiting with his wife who's from here but it was just kind of a random experience to meet someone from Sweden in Hidrolandia, porque (oh oops, I'm starting to put in Portuguese instead of English), anyways, because it's a really small city.

Spiritual Thought: Always be ready to follow the spirit. I had a cool experience this week finding the family of Moises (that I spoke about in my Email, Iago, Kelen, and João Vitor). We had already knocked on his door once before, and he didn't let us in to share a message because he was busy. Another night, we only had one hour left, it was dark and rainy and our appointment fell through. We were passing that same house and my companion told my to knock and the door of Moises again. I was reluctant because he had rejected us once before. But, I did and it lead to finding some great people to teach. Sometimes we have fear to follow the spirit, but when we just go and do, we will be blessed.

So that's all for this week!

Elder Olson

week 11: I saw a monkey!

Week 11, 5th week of first transfer

October 20, 2019

This week was good but it was SOOOOOOO hot this week. Today was probably 102 degrees (plus humidity) so that's not fun. But other than that, the week was really good. Tuesday we had lunch at a members house that was really far away, kind of out in the countryside a bit more. So that was a really long walk. But I saw a monkey which was pretty cool, because you don't see much wildlife here except insects so I was kind of surprised to see a monkey. For lunch at the member's house, they said "Do you like pepper?" And I said, "yeah." So they put this chicken down in front of me and it's just black, and I was like, ok, it's probably just burnt because they like to cook things really thoroughly here. So I go and bite the chicken and it's just....all you could taste was pepper. And it was already super hot outside and my eyes started tearing up and there was sweat running down my face. I almost coughed it up. They were laughing at me the whole time. I don't know why they put so much pepper on everything. And they're like, "You don't like pepper?" I'm like, "I like pepper but not when you cover the entire chicken in it." So that was kind of a funny experience.

This week was also good because we brought 5 people to church today which was really good because the past 4 weeks we've had 1 or 0 people. So that's awesome. One of them we taught his parents, a couple of weeks ago, and then Saturday this week we went to invite them to come to church and the parents couldn't because they were going to Goiania Sunday morning but the son who'd we'd actually never taught before, he goes,"um, I think I'll go." So he came with us Sunday morning to church which was kind of surprising because we've really been struggling with getting people to church. Then, after church, we went and taught him a lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. He wants to be baptized so that's pretty cool. So we have another baptism date set for the 2nd of November. He looks like he'll be going through with it. His name is Carlos Enrique. He's 14 and we want to help teach his whole family. It's a really good family. They are really nice and really accepting of what we have to teach. So that's cool.

Also, this week, I had a pretty interesting experience. We knocked on a door and a guy answered and he didn't live there but he was a friend of the person there. We came in and they started asking us all sorts of questions about our work. They were super interested in missionaries and stuff. And then the one of them said, "How can I be a missionary?" I thought that was pretty funny. So we taught a whole lesson and explained that the first step was to be baptized. Then he said, "Yeah! I think I want to be baptized." So we'll see where that goes. But that was a pretty crazy experience. 

We've had a lot more people open up this week. The past few weeks people have been pretty closed to us, but this week was good. Also, another interesting experience, today we had church and then a member drove us to their house because it was probably a 30 minute drive out into the middle of the savannah here, the middle of nowhere on this dirt road. Pretty crazy. We were just driving down this dirt road and there was nothing...just cows and fields. Then we got to a spot with like 4 houses. Apparently ALL their family lives there...cousins, and uncles and grandmas and such. They had a HUGE barbecue with tons of food and it was pretty awesome. It was pretty cool to see a different part of the country too, because we've mostly just been in the city. So it was kind of cool to see the countryside. It's really pretty. It kind of reminds me of an African savannah. It has lots of trees but lots of tall brown grass. I wish I would've had my camera with me because it was really pretty. Next time we have lunch with them I'll make sure I bring my camera.

So that's it for this week. It was good. Next week is the end of the first transfer and we will be getting 2 more missionaries in the house so that'll be interesting.

Spiritual thought: This week I listened to Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference in English, so I was able to get a bit more out of it. I really like his analogy with the cheetahs and topis. I have found this analogy to be very accurate. We need to always be watchful of the things that can distract us from what's important. During my mission, when I am not focused, the work doesn't go as well, and I don't feel the spirit guiding me. Be weary of how much time you spend on your phone and other things like that. Be focused on what's important, eternal life.

-- Elder Olson

Note: Elder Olson can't take his camera out with him during the week so I thought I'd explore google maps and get a feel for his area. 

Here's a link if you want to do the same https://goo.gl/maps/E6tUS9tkVpwtjrs18

These are all google maps screen shots below

just an idea of what the dirt roads he talks about may look like. This is in his area.  

another view from another dirt road just outside the city

The Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints building in Hidrolandia where he has church each week.

the chapel pews in the church

the pulpit area

the street the church is on

the street just in front of the church

He tells us about this big dip of a road they have to go down and back up to get to the other side of the city. Here it is.

week 9: First Baptism

Week 9, 3rd week of first transfer

October 6, 2019

I never thought I'd say this, but I found something worse than spiders and that's cockroaches. I hate them so much. Anyways...

I hope you all enjoyed conference. I tried. It was all in Portuguese so I just got bits and pieces but it was good. 

The other day at lunch, we were at a members house and the grandpa lived there and he asked our names and then asked where we were from and all that stuff and then we proceeded to have the same conversation about 30 times.He asked my name, where I was from, what the capitol of the United States was...hahaha. Then he told us this story about missionaries and then he bore his testimony and showed us a picture of his parents. And then he'd go into the other room and do something then come back and restart the conversation. It was pretty funny. There was also this man on the street and we were walking along the street at like 8 o'clock, we were finishing up for the night, and this guy would always follow us and he would be like "ELDERS! ELDERS!" so we'd stop and he'd  ask for a pamphlet because we hand out pamphlets sometimes and he was like, "I want a pamphlet about the word of god" (he sounded a little out of it) so we'd just give him a  pamphlet, haha. But it was pretty funny.

Last week I said the baptism of Juan wasn't til next week but I guess I was lost in translation because it WAS this week. The confirmation isn't until next week because of general conference. So I baptized him on Saturday. It was good. The baptismal meeting was supposed to be between sessions at 4pm in the afternoon but we went and opened up the font and the ward mission leader had forgotten to clean it (that's his job when we tell him there's a baptism) and it was full of centipedes which, oh, they're so gross. There was one the size of my forearm. It was pretty nasty. Luckily, other ward members came and cleaned it out because, oh, there was no way I could've done that. It was GROSS! But they cleaned it out and after the second session we did the baptism. It was good. The first baptism. Exciting.

We are also teaching a man named Uemerson and his girlfriend Ilani and his brother and wife (not really teaching the brother, he doesn't want anything to do with us) but they all live in the same house. We're trying to help Uemerson and Ilani get to baptism, so first off they have to get married. So we will see how that goes. They are in their mid twenties and they are struggling with money issues so he has been having questions about how he's supposed to provide for his family and stuff like that. So hopefully that can lead somewhere good. Uemerson really likes the lessons we share and we've shared a couple of videos with him and he's gone and watched a couple videos on his own, but they have a problem with keeping commitments. We've invited them to church quite a few times and they haven't come so hopefully they can progress or we will have to drop them because they aren't keeping commitments. 

Back to conference, I thought it was really cool that all the talks were focused on Jesus Christ and how He needs to be a central part of our lives and how we can only find joy in Christ. They talked about disconnecting from our phones and connecting to the spirit more and how the devil tries to deceive us with the things of the world but we just need to focus on Christ because He is the only way we can have joy. He atoned for our sins and all of our pains and afflictions. So when we have hard struggles, we can turn to Christ and he can help us. I also heard there were some changes to the organization of the church but I didn't really understand it because it was in Portuguese so I'll have to have that explained to me today when I call home. 

That's all for this week!

--Elder Olson

Pictures of the house where Elder Olson lives. Right now there are only 2 elders there but 2 more will join them in a few weeks at the next transfer.

Elder Olson's bed on the left

other end of bedroom

study area

bathroom

kitchen

back porch (the laundry area)

Elder Olson and Elder Rodriguez

First Baptism. Elder Rodriguez, Juan, Elder Olson