Enfermedades!!!!!!!
My companion got sick and I had to stay inside for 2 days, it was really hard for me to sit and study for so long. I studied a lot of spanish at least!! This was a good week, we went to the tourist area valle grande again with our zone, with lots of elders. It was cool to see the scenery there again. We didn´t have too much time to work this week because of zone conference and my companion´s sickness that he got.
We had to leave a few of our investigators, It seems that it wasn´t the right time for everyone, I always hope for that but sometimes we have to let people go. We have found a few others, specificly one lady who became good friends with a member of the church. Her name is roxana funes, and she has told us some interesting things and it seems like she is ready to hear us. She told us something, and I realized as members of the church we can make a huge difference. In the case of roxana funes, she has been told that missionaries are bad people. Roxana saw someone talking to missionaries, and asked the person why she was talking to them. The person was a member, and explained that we are good people. Thanks to that member, she didn´t say no when we found her on the street.
I have been focusing on chapter 2 in preach my gospel, and trying really hard to improve my study skills. I was able to learn with experience that the spirit is really important as we study, in this case, the gospel. As we pray for the help from the spirit, to help us to understand, our understanding and comprehension grows to a great level. In Jacob he tells us, 4:8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of all his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. .
The spirit is key... I know it´s true. Some things were so hard for me to understand, but as I strived to learn with the help of the spirit, I am able to comprehend things I though I never could before
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Carta de Elder Olson 3-15-2010
Enfermedades!!!!!!!
My companion got sick and I had to stay inside for 2 days, it was really hard for me to sit and study for so long. I studied a lot of spanish at least!! This was a good week, we went to the tourist area valle grande again with our zone, with lots of elders. It was cool to see the scenery there again. We didn´t have too much time to work this week because of zone conference and my companion´s sickness that he got.
We had to leave a few of our investigators, It seems that it wasn´t the right time for everyone, I always hope for that but sometimes we have to let people go. We have found a few others, specificly one lady who became good friends with a member of the church. Her name is roxana funes, and she has told us some interesting things and it seems like she is ready to hear us. She told us something, and I realized as members of the church we can make a huge difference. In the case of roxana funes, she has been told that missionaries are bad people. Roxana saw someone talking to missionaries, and asked the person why she was talking to them. The person was a member, and explained that we are good people. Thanks to that member, she didn´t say no when we found her on the street.
I have been focusing on chapter 2 in preach my gospel, and trying really hard to improve my study skills. I was able to learn with experience that the spirit is really important as we study, in this case, the gospel. As we pray for the help from the spirit, to help us to understand, our understanding and comprehension grows to a great level. In Jacob he tells us, 4:8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of all his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. .
The spirit is key... I know it´s true. Some things were so hard for me to understand, but as I strived to learn with the help of the spirit, I am able to comprehend things I though I never could before.
Love,
Erik
My companion got sick and I had to stay inside for 2 days, it was really hard for me to sit and study for so long. I studied a lot of spanish at least!! This was a good week, we went to the tourist area valle grande again with our zone, with lots of elders. It was cool to see the scenery there again. We didn´t have too much time to work this week because of zone conference and my companion´s sickness that he got.
We had to leave a few of our investigators, It seems that it wasn´t the right time for everyone, I always hope for that but sometimes we have to let people go. We have found a few others, specificly one lady who became good friends with a member of the church. Her name is roxana funes, and she has told us some interesting things and it seems like she is ready to hear us. She told us something, and I realized as members of the church we can make a huge difference. In the case of roxana funes, she has been told that missionaries are bad people. Roxana saw someone talking to missionaries, and asked the person why she was talking to them. The person was a member, and explained that we are good people. Thanks to that member, she didn´t say no when we found her on the street.
I have been focusing on chapter 2 in preach my gospel, and trying really hard to improve my study skills. I was able to learn with experience that the spirit is really important as we study, in this case, the gospel. As we pray for the help from the spirit, to help us to understand, our understanding and comprehension grows to a great level. In Jacob he tells us, 4:8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of all his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. .
The spirit is key... I know it´s true. Some things were so hard for me to understand, but as I strived to learn with the help of the spirit, I am able to comprehend things I though I never could before.
Love,
Erik
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Carta de Elder Olson 3-8-2010
I´m getting more responsability as the days go by. It´s a little stressful here in bowen because I did not see myself doing all of this. From family home evening with all the members (every monday, I did the activities and the lessons) to deciding every step of the day. I´m trying to work on ideas to work effective and visit people near by incase appointments fall so that we don´t waste time (Some project I´m working on during the ciesta). I´m very busy all the time. As I go I start to realize more and more of my potential. We are all sons and daughters of god, and we all have the same potential. We limit ourselves.
So I guess i´m going to leave bowen. I talked with president in a interview, he said "It´s time for you to take a new oppurtunity", I don´t know what exactly to expect, but they are sending me out of here. I have no idea where. I just got comfortable. I´m really sad because I love the familia medrano (the family from bolivia). They are like family to me. I only have 2 transfers in total if I leave. I know it´s necessary though, I love the investegatores or the people we are teaching too.
So far our investigators are doing great but there is 2 great families (Bustos, and santillan) who can´t make it to church because of their jobs. So it´s hard for them to continue without visiting the church. We can only teach so much. We are trying so hard to figure what to do, such a job I never would have imagined myself doing. Calling the shots...
We had a really great zone conference today, I learned a lot about teaching, such as keeping the kids focused on something while teaching so that they can pay attention, and to get them involved some how. And just every little thing that can better the situation. We have to be attent to everything.
We learned a lot about the 40 days of christ as well (After the resurrection) in the conference, but I won´t get into detail with that because there is a lot to explain. We had a good week me and elder Holinger, we must help bowen grow.
Have a great week everyone
Love,
Elder Olson
So I guess i´m going to leave bowen. I talked with president in a interview, he said "It´s time for you to take a new oppurtunity", I don´t know what exactly to expect, but they are sending me out of here. I have no idea where. I just got comfortable. I´m really sad because I love the familia medrano (the family from bolivia). They are like family to me. I only have 2 transfers in total if I leave. I know it´s necessary though, I love the investegatores or the people we are teaching too.
So far our investigators are doing great but there is 2 great families (Bustos, and santillan) who can´t make it to church because of their jobs. So it´s hard for them to continue without visiting the church. We can only teach so much. We are trying so hard to figure what to do, such a job I never would have imagined myself doing. Calling the shots...
We had a really great zone conference today, I learned a lot about teaching, such as keeping the kids focused on something while teaching so that they can pay attention, and to get them involved some how. And just every little thing that can better the situation. We have to be attent to everything.
We learned a lot about the 40 days of christ as well (After the resurrection) in the conference, but I won´t get into detail with that because there is a lot to explain. We had a good week me and elder Holinger, we must help bowen grow.
Have a great week everyone
Love,
Elder Olson
Monday, March 1, 2010
Earthquake
Earthquake, as you all know
I was really near, I felt the tremble, the floor was shaking at 3 a.m. We woke up, it was a pretty interesting experience. A lot of people are devastated, down here.
Ok well I have to be short this week, we have a few appointments today, later in the night, everything is fine down here. We had a rough week because of the festival, we tried to be effective but there was nothing to do. a 2 day festival (Festival of siruelas, i´m not sure how to spell it, it is dried prunes) where everyone gathers to party. We went for an hour, because we had permission and we had nothing to do. It was awesome because it was a interesting culture event. It made it really hard for us as missionary this week, in church not even half the members came. Our church is so small too. We have to give family home evenings every monday (Today) for the members, it is kinda demanding but we are learning. I will send some pictures of our activities sometime.
Our church has like 25 members. Here in bowen it´s almost like as if we were the leaders of the church, we take care of everything, prepare the sacrament table, prepare the chairs, open the church, the only thing we aren´t suppose to do is give talks on sunday. It´s an awesome learning experience, we are trying so hard to help this church grow. Bowen is very catholic, and most the people don´t like that we are here. We heard some complains about us, that came from the radio (members told us). The catholic church says that we are a sect and that we aren´t christians.
We are hoping for a good week, no more interruptions after the festival. Well thanks for all the support!
Love,
Elder Olson
I was really near, I felt the tremble, the floor was shaking at 3 a.m. We woke up, it was a pretty interesting experience. A lot of people are devastated, down here.
Ok well I have to be short this week, we have a few appointments today, later in the night, everything is fine down here. We had a rough week because of the festival, we tried to be effective but there was nothing to do. a 2 day festival (Festival of siruelas, i´m not sure how to spell it, it is dried prunes) where everyone gathers to party. We went for an hour, because we had permission and we had nothing to do. It was awesome because it was a interesting culture event. It made it really hard for us as missionary this week, in church not even half the members came. Our church is so small too. We have to give family home evenings every monday (Today) for the members, it is kinda demanding but we are learning. I will send some pictures of our activities sometime.
Our church has like 25 members. Here in bowen it´s almost like as if we were the leaders of the church, we take care of everything, prepare the sacrament table, prepare the chairs, open the church, the only thing we aren´t suppose to do is give talks on sunday. It´s an awesome learning experience, we are trying so hard to help this church grow. Bowen is very catholic, and most the people don´t like that we are here. We heard some complains about us, that came from the radio (members told us). The catholic church says that we are a sect and that we aren´t christians.
We are hoping for a good week, no more interruptions after the festival. Well thanks for all the support!
Love,
Elder Olson
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
2-22-2010 Carta de Elder Olson
We never are challenged with trials more than we can handle...
Now that Elder Armstrong is gone, I am leading the area and I guess I am senor companion. I was really nervous at first, but I realized that I have been leading the area this whole time, thanks to Elder Armstrong in letting me take the chance to learn to be a leader (He gave me those responsabilities that helped prepare me). I make the final call in all of our decisions, I never saw this day coming.
Elder Hollinger seems like a good companion, hes really great. I can´t ever argue with him. He is an example to me, in the sense of being positive and cheering me up, I try to do the same. It´s hard to get use to someone else after you had a great time with the last person, but I must be long suffering and patient with whatever challenge I might have to face, sometimes I find it hard because we are so different, but I can´t let that be a reason to not get a long.
I read a powerful talk in the liahona. In the work of the gospel, we teach to save lives. To save lives? Yes, but how? we teach key doctrine, invite to do action, and explain promised blessings. Through teachers of the church, and missionaries, there is no greater calling than to serve others by sharing the knowledge of the gospel. We have manuals such as preach my gospel to learn how to teach, then in turn We draw to the spirit to help teach the principles that meet the needs of all those we teach. We invite those we teach to take action, and we invite trusting them with great confidence so that it is an invitation very dificult to refuse, then of course we mention the promised blessings that will come for their efforts in taking action.
We are having a few dificulties in helping our investigators come to church, we invited them to take action, but we must learn to invite them showing confidence in them, that it might be dificult to refuse our invitation. As members of the church, we are expected to do the same that we might be able to save lives.
Everything is great here in Argentina, I hope all of you have a great week. The weather isn´t so hot anymore. Our efforts are never in vain!!!
Take care,
Elder Olson
Now that Elder Armstrong is gone, I am leading the area and I guess I am senor companion. I was really nervous at first, but I realized that I have been leading the area this whole time, thanks to Elder Armstrong in letting me take the chance to learn to be a leader (He gave me those responsabilities that helped prepare me). I make the final call in all of our decisions, I never saw this day coming.
Elder Hollinger seems like a good companion, hes really great. I can´t ever argue with him. He is an example to me, in the sense of being positive and cheering me up, I try to do the same. It´s hard to get use to someone else after you had a great time with the last person, but I must be long suffering and patient with whatever challenge I might have to face, sometimes I find it hard because we are so different, but I can´t let that be a reason to not get a long.
I read a powerful talk in the liahona. In the work of the gospel, we teach to save lives. To save lives? Yes, but how? we teach key doctrine, invite to do action, and explain promised blessings. Through teachers of the church, and missionaries, there is no greater calling than to serve others by sharing the knowledge of the gospel. We have manuals such as preach my gospel to learn how to teach, then in turn We draw to the spirit to help teach the principles that meet the needs of all those we teach. We invite those we teach to take action, and we invite trusting them with great confidence so that it is an invitation very dificult to refuse, then of course we mention the promised blessings that will come for their efforts in taking action.
We are having a few dificulties in helping our investigators come to church, we invited them to take action, but we must learn to invite them showing confidence in them, that it might be dificult to refuse our invitation. As members of the church, we are expected to do the same that we might be able to save lives.
Everything is great here in Argentina, I hope all of you have a great week. The weather isn´t so hot anymore. Our efforts are never in vain!!!
Take care,
Elder Olson
Monday, February 15, 2010
It´s a shame that my companion had to leave, Elder Armstrong. It was a very sensitive moment for me when he had to leave. We had built a great friendship, and it didn´t hit us until the day he had to leave. It was sorta hard for me to take, I love Elder Armstrong as a great friend. He gave me a lot of responsabilities, which helped me grow as a missionary. He put his trust in me and now I passed a lot of doubts in myself. Every companionship should be like that, I know we will see eachother again.
We had a great week together, our last week, we went to a lot of panaderías, because Elder Armstrong won´t be able to eat the fatty pastries here in Argentina. A good excuse for me to go and take advantage. The family that we started to work with again, came to church. The father never wanted to go, but when they all came as a family, it gave ease to our hearts.
Our investigators are doing well, Silvio santillán (The cop) is reading and investigating a lot. We invited him to pray, and we still need to find him to check up on him (but I can´t for awhile because i´m not in bowen until this wednesday, he couldn´t come to church this week). Mercedes lucero, the señora we found when all of our appointments fell, is so prepared. She is commited to go to church, and she really wants to go. 1 of our good investigators went away on vacation, her name is adela, she will be gone for a month, but she is a great investigator, shes reading and investigating a lot too. Ramona and her family are doing well, but they had to get full times job´s so we can only talk to them on Saturday and Sunday...
So everything is well here in Bowen, I am stuck here with 2 other missionaries until wednesday, I don´t like trio´s. My companion is going to be Elder Hollinger, I already know him. He is a great missionary, it´s going to be great once we get to work together.
Have a great week everyone, Take care,
Elder Olson
We had a great week together, our last week, we went to a lot of panaderías, because Elder Armstrong won´t be able to eat the fatty pastries here in Argentina. A good excuse for me to go and take advantage. The family that we started to work with again, came to church. The father never wanted to go, but when they all came as a family, it gave ease to our hearts.
Our investigators are doing well, Silvio santillán (The cop) is reading and investigating a lot. We invited him to pray, and we still need to find him to check up on him (but I can´t for awhile because i´m not in bowen until this wednesday, he couldn´t come to church this week). Mercedes lucero, the señora we found when all of our appointments fell, is so prepared. She is commited to go to church, and she really wants to go. 1 of our good investigators went away on vacation, her name is adela, she will be gone for a month, but she is a great investigator, shes reading and investigating a lot too. Ramona and her family are doing well, but they had to get full times job´s so we can only talk to them on Saturday and Sunday...
So everything is well here in Bowen, I am stuck here with 2 other missionaries until wednesday, I don´t like trio´s. My companion is going to be Elder Hollinger, I already know him. He is a great missionary, it´s going to be great once we get to work together.
Have a great week everyone, Take care,
Elder Olson
Monday, February 1, 2010
2-1-2010 Carta de Elder Olson
We had a good time this week, we went to a tourist place for last p-day, it has mountains and a huge lake, we just went around to explore. There is a ton of rafting and kayaking, we couldn´t do it of course. Fun to watch. The place is called VALLE GRANDE, big valley.
Well it´s been a fast week and it´s hard to remember stuff, I try to write down things in my agenda so I can remember, it flew this week. Our investigators are doing well, we got a few new ones this week, which is pretty sweet. One of them is a cop.
It´s getting really hot over here, it was like 106 degrees, and dressed as a missionary doesn´t help haha, we are super brown from being in the sun for too long. Sorry I can´t send pictures this week, I got a few great ones, I´ll try next week. We had a funny moment, we were walking in a long road that leads to farms, and we knocked on the houses on the way, we ran into this old guy and he listened to us. We tried to talk to him but he was watching a soccer game. While we were there, he stomped a rat that ran by, I almost couldn´t control my laughter, it was crazy. The old man just left it there in the same spot (barely alive twitching... slowly dieing) the whole time we were with him, i´m sure it´s still in the same spot to this day. I looked at my companion when he stomped the rat, and his face was so hilarous, (he was shocked).
Take care everyone.
Love Elder Olson
Well it´s been a fast week and it´s hard to remember stuff, I try to write down things in my agenda so I can remember, it flew this week. Our investigators are doing well, we got a few new ones this week, which is pretty sweet. One of them is a cop.
It´s getting really hot over here, it was like 106 degrees, and dressed as a missionary doesn´t help haha, we are super brown from being in the sun for too long. Sorry I can´t send pictures this week, I got a few great ones, I´ll try next week. We had a funny moment, we were walking in a long road that leads to farms, and we knocked on the houses on the way, we ran into this old guy and he listened to us. We tried to talk to him but he was watching a soccer game. While we were there, he stomped a rat that ran by, I almost couldn´t control my laughter, it was crazy. The old man just left it there in the same spot (barely alive twitching... slowly dieing) the whole time we were with him, i´m sure it´s still in the same spot to this day. I looked at my companion when he stomped the rat, and his face was so hilarous, (he was shocked).
Take care everyone.
Love Elder Olson
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