Zone Conferences and Downtown

Oi gente!

This week was good, it started off with zone conference. We did a lot of roleplays to practice teaching, and I had to do lots of them in front of everyone. I was kinda nervous, but it was good and everyone learned a lot. After Zone conference, we had exchanges. This time, I went to the assistant area in downtown Goiânia. It's a cool area. We took advantage of the fact that lunch was close to the Goiás soccer team stadium, and I bought myself a Jersey. 

The work in our area was a bit more difficult this week. Sadly, it is looking like we won't be able to teach Erik anymore because of some problems. But, we were able to find some really awesome people. Also, we received the referral of a pastor who lives in Goianira, and we might be able to go and preach in his church this next week! We are keeping our fingers crossed, because that would be an excellent opportunity to find new people in Goianira.

Spiritual thought: At Zone Conference, President Piros talked a lot about "widening our vision". It reminded me of what I learned at Timberline: "vision is what future success looks like." If we want to succeed, we have to really see the possibilities, and then set goals to achieve our vision. Without vision, we can't progress.

Photos!!!!

1-2 Zone conference

3. Reunited with Elder Arias 

4. Exchanges (in front of the Goiás team stadium)

5. Exchanges 

Zone Conference

Hi everybody,

Happy Fathers day to all the dads out there! This week we had zone conference! My companion and I were supposed to give a training, but it went a bit differently than we thought it would. We kept asking how they wanted us to do the training, and the assistants kept putting it off, so we ended up just winging it. Luckily, our training was last and there wasn't much time left, so when we got up to talk, our mission President was like "you have 5 minutes." 

But, I learned a lot this zone conference. We focused on the importance of setting goals and planning. Goals are the desire of our heart, and planning is how we reach those goals. If we don't set goals and make plans, we won't progress in this life. 

Teaching lessons and bringing people to church this week was pretty rough. The majority of our lessons fell through, making it difficult to invite people to church. But, we are praying that people will soften their hearts so that we can help them. 

Spiritual thought: At zone conference, President Piros talked a lot about how to become a better missionary, we have to act, and not receive action. It is the same in everyday life. I invite you all to act! You can become the person you want to be as you choose to act.

-Elder Olson

Photos!

1. There's a food called stroganoff, that's like chicken in creamy red sauce, and we had the genius idea to make a pizza out of it.

2. The finished product

3. Lunch at zone conference

4-5 the zone

6. Running in the morning with a recent convert

Mission Impossible

Hello everyone!

This week was not an ordinary one. On Thursday, we had exchanges with the assistants. It was a lot of fun, we worked hard all day, and that night I made pizza for everyone. Then on Friday, we had zone conference. Because I am a Zone Leader, I had a big part in that. It was my first time giving an instruction in a zone conference. I was nervous, but it went great!

Then on Sunday, we had Onaldos baptism! It was different than most. I am going to try and summarize Onaldo's story, because it's pretty special. Onaldo is an older man who suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease that is slowly destroying his body. He has been suffering from the effects of it for the past 12 years. He has to lay down most of the time, and can only sit and stand for no more than 30 minutes. But, he is super smart. He has a library in his house, and can read in 7 languages! He also has written 5 books, and was a pastor in the United states, as well as a professor of philosophy.

2 years ago, he saw an add for the Book of Mormon and requested one. But, the missionaries at the time never brought it to him. A couple of weeks ago, I was randomly messaging people on Facebook, and was prompted to send him a message. We started talking, I brought him a Book of Mormon, and he asked to be baptized! He then read the Book of Mormon in 6 days! We had no idea how we were going to do the baptism, but we gave him a blessing that he would have the strength to go through with it.

Today for his baptism, Elder Arias and I both had to get in the water to support him, but I was able to perform the baptism. I could tell the whole time he was walking into the front that he was in pain. I am so amazed by his extreme faith and determination to fulfill God's commandment to be baptized. Luckily, we were blessed to have everything happen quickly and smoothly, so that we could get everything done in 30 minutes. What seemed like an impossible task all worked out in the end. There was even enough time to give him a quick tour of the chapel.

I am so grateful that God was able to use me as an instrument to bring another soul to Christ!

Spiritual thought: Moroni 7:33 "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." Through faith all things are possible!

Photos!!

1. Onaldos baptism!

2. Drinking Tereré with some members

3. Pizza while on exchanges 

4. Lunch at zone conference (for some reason this photo is super green haha)

5. Waiting for an Uber for freaking 1 hour last pday at atacadão (basically Brazilian Costco)

Last Week in the Baltimore Mission

Oi gente!

This last week in Chambersburg went by fast. It's crazy to think I'm  leaving this week. We had my last zone conference in this mission, and also a stake conference on Sunday. The Stake conference was actually the creation of a new stake, so a 70, Elder Calderwood, came to form the new stake. It was streamed on YouTube,  and we don't have access to that. So, we got to go to a members house to watch it. There were some good messages shared, and it was cool to see the forming of a new stake.

Other than that, last P-day we got to go to Gettysburg to see some memorials and battlefields, and today we are going to Cowans gap state park to hike. We also found out today that a bunch of restrictions are being liftedI have loved my time in Chambersburg and the Maryland, Baltimore mission. I am so grateful that I was able to come here and meet so many wonderful people. Next time I write, I'll be in Brazil!

Spiritual thought: This week is a great time to remember the sacrifice our Savior made for us, and his resurrection. I invite you all to find something you can improve #startingtoday

NOTE from his mom: Elder Olson leaves for Brazil on Thursday, April 1st and arrives on Friday afternoon back in his original mission of  Goiania. He is really looking forward to it and spent the week getting ready. He had to ship home all his winter clothes, suits, boots and coat along with his guitar. I had to send him his Portuguese Bible, Portuguese study books, more white short sleeve shirts, and a few odds and ends. We are praying he travels safely and has positive, safe experiences there in Brazil.

Photos:

1. Gettysburg eternal flame of peace monument

2. Gettysburg Pennsylvania Civil war monument (we went on top of it too, but I don't have pictures)

3 & 4. The Temple barn, where Sydney Rigdon and his followers used to meet

2. Gettysburg Pennsylvania Civil war monument (we went on top of it too, but I don't have pictures)

5. P-day activity

6 - 9. We went out to Cowans Gap State Park, hiked a little, and explored. My mom camped here with her family when she was a little girl since they lived not too far away.

week 10: Zone Conference, Splits, & Spiritual Experiences

Week 10, 4th week of first transfer

October 14, 2019

It was a good week. We started off with Zone conference which was really awesome. We learned a lot about teaching people not just lessons. So adapting lessons to fit peoples' needs and we did a lot of practicing. The only bad thing about it was that we had wake up at 3:30 in the morning to catch the bus to the stake center in Goiania. So that wasn't fun but other than that it was good. Oh another great thing about zone conference was that we had Big Macs for lunch and they had 3 for every person so that was pretty awesome!

We had splits this week with the zone leaders Elder Gregory and Elder DeSantos. I was with Elder Gregory and I learned a lot. He's got almost 2 years. He leaves this next transfer so he's got a lot of experience. I learned a lot about how to contact people and stuff like that. And I was able to ask him questions about the language because he speaks English. haha.

So after splits, me and Elder Rodriguez had a pretty cool experience. So in the Zone conference we talked about praying for your companion and yourself while your companion is speaking during the lesson. So I decided to try it out. The lesson after we finished splits, we taught a man and his wife about the restoration and as Elder Rodriguez taught, I prayed for him to be able to teach better and I prayed for me for the gift of tongues. I shared the first vision with them and it was a REALLY spiritual experience! I could tell that they felt something and it wasn't just me and Elder Rodriguez feeling the spirit. We all felt the spirit really strong. So that was pretty cool. 

Alright so I am going to finish off the email with things that I hate and things that I like, to follow the example of Ben Shapiro, haha. So things that I hate: I got stung by a wasp in the middle of a lesson and there wasn't really anything I could do about it so I just had to hold in my pain. So that was fun. haha. But it's really no big deal. On to things that I like: So this week was fast sunday and after we finished fasting (they fast from lunch to lunch here, because lunch is the big meal), so Sunday afternoon for lunch we went to a members house and we had Churrasco, which is the Brazilian BBQ, which was basically a TON of meat and oh it was so good. Basically Tucano's. Sausage and steak and chicken and all sorts of stuff and then dessert afterward. So that was pretty great.

So that's this week. It was pretty awesome. Hopefully this next week we can get people to come to church because still this week we've had zero out of like 10 people we've invited to church actually come. So that's kind of discouraging but all we can do is invite.

I'd like to share a scripture about scriptures.

2 Nephi 2: 3

 ^aAngels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, ^bfeast upon the ^cwords of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will ^dtell you all things what ye should do.  

These past weeks I have found answers to so many of my questions in the scriptures. The Book of Mormon is really the word of God. I want to invite you all, if you arent already, to study the Book of Mormon daily, for at least 15 minutes with a question in your mind as you do so. I know that you can learn so much from it.

-Elder Olson

Zone Conference: Elder Olson is smiling so big

Big Macs from McDonalds=Happiness

Dinner on Splits

Elder Olson on splits. He enjoyed the communication and association with some other elders for a bit. Elder Gregory loved that Elder Olson had a BYU sweatshirt and wore it around the apartment.