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 27: 6 months in the mission

Week 27,  3rd week of 4th transfer

February 10, 2020

Hello!

This week I reach 6 months in the mission! So I followed tradition and burned a tie...but it wasn't my tie. It was a ties of my companion. It was really crappy and old. I bought him a new tie 'cause he doesn't have very many and burnt one of his old really crappy falling apart ones. I'll include pictures.

Also this week, we had Zone Conference. I was late to the leadership meeting because nobody told me that I had to be 30 minutes early. So that wasn't cool. Also, this week in church, I had to give a talk, but it was actually a really cool experience because the microphone was broken in the chapel (because they are renovating the chapel there so the microphone wasn't working there) and so I had to speak really loud. But the Bishop had asked everybody to be extra reverent because of this problem with the microphone, so it was actually pretty cool because everybody was really reverent, which isn't usually the case. Usually people are like talking or on their cell phones. But it seemed like everybody was a lot more focused this meeting. So that was cool. It was my first talk in a ward here in Brazil in Portuguese. But yeah it went really well.

Onto our friends:

Jose, who I talked about last week, who was in church, the friend of Rafael and Elizabeth. Well, We scheduled a few appointments this week to teach him and every time we scheduled one in the morning and one at night and he wasn't there. It happened four times this week and then he wasn't in church either, so we are pretty upset about that. Sadly, he definitely won't be baptized next week. 

Then the other people...in church we had 5 people this week. Rafael, Elizabeth, again, which is great. And they brought their friend Milton, who was in church a couple weeks ago, maybe last week...yeah last week. But yeah he's not married legally so that's a problem...we can't baptized him. His situation is difficult because his girlfriend that he's living with is only 16 and so she needs her parents to be there when she gets married to be witnesses to sign the marriage documents or whatever, but they live WAYYYYY on the other side of the country. So that's not going to be happening any time soon. So we've just been inviting them to church and activities. But we are going to teach them but not use a lot of time there, but they are really interested so that's good so we are just going to keep sharing the gospel with them and hopefully one day they get married legally and somebody can baptize them.

Then the other two people in church, was the other Jose (surprisingly) and his wife Elezangela. So we passed by their house just one time this week and just shared a scripture and he came to church. We know that he REALLY likes the church but he just doesn't feel like he NEEDS to be baptized. He doesn't understand the need for proper authority. So our plan is just to help him feel the spirit, share scriptures with him, continue inviting him to activities and to church until he realizes he needs to be baptized basically.

Onto things that I hate: I kind of talked about this already, but....cleaning the bathroom. This week we had to clean the house completely...a deep clean. So basically you clean the house the same way you clean the bathroom...throw water and soap everywhere and scrub and throw more water and scrub and throw more water and then throw more water. So yeah, it's not very fun. It took like 3 hours this morning. 

But things that I like this week: It was like 65-80 degrees this entire week! IT WAS AWESOME! Right now it's super nice. My companion is freezing to death but it's great for me. 

Spiritual Thought: This week I had the opportunity to talk in church about Charity. I found a great quote from this last conference I want to share with you. President Nelson said...

"Latter-day Saints, as with other followers of Jesus Christ, are always looking for ways to help, to lift, and to love others. They who are willing to be called the Lord’s people “are willing to bear one another’s burdens, … to mourn with those that mourn; … and [to] comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”3

They truly seek to live the first and second great commandments. When we love God with all our hearts, He turns our hearts to the well-being of others in a beautiful, virtuous cycle.

We should always be looking for opportunities to help one another. 

That's it for this week!

-- 

Elder Olson

6 months! tie burning

fire

Churrasco!

João Vitor da Paixão 1, An old man in the ward with alzheimers who is hilarious.

week 25: I've been called as a District Leader

Week 1 of transfer 4 (FYI a transfer consists of a 6 week period of time)
January 27, 2020

Hey everybody, I recorded my email but it didn't save again.

Last night, I got a call from President Piros to tell me that I am the district leader here in Hidrolandia now, because there was an emergency and Elder Santiago was transferred to be a zone leader in another area. I was pretty surprised, because this is only my 4th transfer. But, the more responsibility you get, the faster you learn I guess.

This week Jose and Elezangela came to church! Jose is on track to be baptized, he is keeping the commandments and has received all the lessons. But, he still has doubts that he needs to be baptized again, because he was baptized in a different church already. We taught him about fasting, and this Sunday we fasted with him so that he could receive an answer to his prayers. Hopefully all goes well and he is baptized this Saturday.

Rafael and Elizabeth are still having problems with documents, but they are trying to solve them.

On to things that I hate: -being sick in the mission. I had a little fever and headache during my fast, but it was gone in one day. I really am blessed to be better already.

Things that I like: -Elizabeth's sister let us borrow her cuscuzeira (a pot they use to make cuscuz, the cornbread stuff) So we are gonna be eating a ton of that

Spiritual thought:
1 Nephi 15: 8-11 

8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?
9 And they said unto me: aWe have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.
10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?
11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

When we have questions, struggles, or doubts, all we need to do is diligently keep the commandments and use our faith. God will respond. Follow the example of Nephi. Have the faith to ask. It's ok to have doubts. It's ok to have struggles. God will help you.

Love you all and have a great week!
-- 
Elder Olson

(A 17 yr old boy they contacted sent this photo via instagram direct message)