Transfers again...the last 12 weeks

Hello hello!

This week was transfer week. Time is flying by. On Sunday night, we said goodbye to Elder Casteñeda, who lived with us before, and on Tuesday we welcomed Elder Lewis, who's from Logan, Utah. But, it looks like soon enough the other Elders will finally be getting their own house, so in the next couple weeks it will just be Elder Arias and I.

As far as the work goes, this week we found a couple of really cool people. But sadly, we don't get to teach any of them because they live in the area of the other Elders. This Sunday, we held an online activity for the ward, and we had around 18 people there! That's a great turn out, so we were really happy about that.

But yeah, that's all for this week! Thanks for all the support, I appreciate all the people who send me emails!

Spiritual thought: I came across this scripture in my studies this week. Doctrine and Convenants 50:24 "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." As we accept God and his teachings, we receive more. Every day we have to strive to help the light we have grow!

Photos:
1. A restaurant  called "Bom churrasco" it was super good
2. The new district (and a recent convert)

Faith and Trust

Hello everyone!

Yet another great week here in Brazil! This week we visited a lot of members. We are trying to help the ward get more people to come to church. As we get more members to come back to church, we hope to be able to help others find the gospel and feel more welcome as they come to church.

We haven't been teaching many people as of late, but we still have been super busy! Nothing too different this week, except for my birthday. To celebrate, we ate a lot of different food haha. We ate sushi the night before, pamonhas the day of, pizza the night of, and pudim for dessert. It was definitely a different birthday. It's the only one I get to have on the mission. I am glad I got the opportunity to serve the Lord on my birthday, it is one I will never forget.

Spiritual thought: This Sunday I got to give a talk in church. I talked about faith and trusting in the Lord. After me, the stake President also spoke about faith. His talk was better than mine, so I'll share what I learned from his haha. I really learned a lot from it.

Often times, we get into a comfortable routine and keeping the commandments isn't difficult. When this happens, we need to exercise our faith. If we aren't sacrificing anything for the Lord, than we need to do more. We can't be content with the minimum requirement, Jesus Christ taught "Be ye therefore perfect" (Matthew 5:48). To be perfect, we have to keep learning everyday. I invite you all to sacrifice something more from the Lord.

Thanks to all of you who read my emails for the support you give me, and thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday!

-Elder Olson

Photos:

1. Pamonhas

2. Pudim (it's kinda like flan)

3. Sushi

More to the Story

Oi pessoal!

It was another awesome week down here in Brazil! We had an online mission tour with Elder Parrella, the area president, and it was super motivating! Other than that, the missionary work this week was pretty normal. The week flew by.

But, I do have a story to tell! Earlier in the week, we were passing by a members work because he bought us lunch. As we were talking, we shared the photo of Onaldos baptism and he said that he recognized Onaldo. He said that a few years ago, he had gone there with the missionaries to teach him. We found out that Onaldo had actually been taught a ton by missionaries, but he didn't accept the gospel. We asked Onaldo why he hadn't told us, and he told us that the stroke he had a little while ago caused him to forget basically everything from the past couple years. He didn't accept the first time, but this time he did! Super crazy story!

Spiritual thought: I read this scripture in my studies recently, and it really stood out to me. 2 Nephi 2:6 "Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. 7 Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered."

Our Savior offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, but we need to be humble enough to repent and accept his gift.

Photos!

1. Mission tour and pão de queijo (I'm happier than I look haha)

2. Cristo redentor in Rio Verde

3. Burger King (we walked 45 minutes just to get there, but that bucket of icecream was only $2 soooooo... it was worth it)

4. After church with a recent convert 

5. One more photo of Onaldos baptism 

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)

The Biggest Miracles

Hi everyone!

First of all, I would like to thank you all for the prayers and support you give me. I noticed my mom asked you all to pray that my toilet would get fixed, haha. Well, miracles are real. Last Tuesday, after living without a working toilet for 3 weeks, the landlord finally fixed it!

Anyways, this week was pretty good. We have been super busy. Our friend Onaldo is preparing to be baptized this Sunday, and we are very excited. He already read the Book of Mormon and has been asking for other books from the church. We also have been teaching Fernanda. Her baptismal date was for this week, but will probably have to change to be next week. Please keep them both in your prayers.

Another interesting thing that happened this week is a member invited us to come teach a group of recovering addicts. We thought it was like a alcoholics anonymous type deal, but to our surprise, it's just a bunch of dudes who live in a walled-off piece of land owned by this member. Definitely not what we were expecting, but it went well.

Spiritual thought: I recently rewatched Henry B Eyring's talk from conference, "bless in his name." He talks about magnifying our calling in the priesthood, but I believe this applies to other things as well. He said that as we learn to do God's will and not our own, our service to others will be so much greater. 

Thanks for all your love and support,

Elder Olson

Photos

1. Elder Castañeda made us all fried rice!

Sorry for the lack of photos recently, I have been super busy and forget to take any.

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