We had an interesting experience with a drunk person.

We saw from far away walking towards an appointment, a drunk guy in a ditch. Lots of people passed by him in bikes, and cars as well. We came up to him and he said "Me duele loco!", which means, I´m in pain, or it´s hurting me. They like to call everyone loco in a friendly manner. We helped him get out of the ditch, he was supported by his bike, and it appeared that his ribs were destroyed. So we carried him and layed him down, and looked for help. It supprises me how many people just passed by him when he was in so much pain. We had someone call an ambulance, and we layed him down and he used my scripture case as a pillow, (He was laying down on a rough surface, there is no sidewalks). This experience reminded me of the good samaritan, (Lucas 10:25-37).
I´m with my old companion!! It´s incredible. I´m with Elder Leany, I was with him for 2 transfers before (3 Months). We are great friends and this will be a very enjoyable transfer. I consider him one of my best friends.
I love you, take care

Elder Olson

I´ve learned something interesting this week. It compares with the story of Nephi, when he had to go back and get the plates, 2 times from the first original attempt in order to finally get the plates. It applies because in this week, we had a choice to lose our courage and desire to work because of some of our experiences.
        Nephi could have lost that desire to go find the plates from their first attempt like his brothers did, but he didn´t stop. He was obedient and knew because of his testimony that the Lord always fufills and provides a way to fufill with his commandments. By having that certainy and trust he did not give up. And I did not give up either, we had experiences that could have easily provoked us into getting angry but like Nephi, we have our testimonies and we chose not to because of the certainy we have that the Lord will be directing us even though before hand we don´t know what to do. I had walked into someone´s property to greet a man, and he was super upset when I stepped in his property, and he yelled at us. We left but we were fine with it. I recall this scripture when we have to suffer experiences such as that. Mathew 5 11 "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake". We ended up finding a family that was interested in hearing us, and they stated that they never had let missionaries in until now... There is only one explination, The Lord prepares people and works miracles among us according to our faith.
        We have been struggling in this area, but we hadn´t lost our faith. Because of that, we were able to find people. Yesterday, an old investigator felt the desire to come to church. She had stopped because her husband didn´t support her and didn´t let us come visit. Then she shows up and says she is seperated from her husband, and feels the desire to get baptized.

Today are transfers... sadly this is going to be my last transfer. I will enjoy this time to the fullest, and it is an honor to serve here.

Elder Olson

What Nephi did  1 Nephi 2:16 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart
that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers."

Because he had the desire to know for himself, he gained a testimony, and he did not rebel.

Laman and Lemuel rebelled because....1 Nephi 2:12 "And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them."

They rebelled because they did not have the desire to know and
understand for themselves. I believe this applies to us when we don´t
understand, we usually rebel.

Carta de Elder Olson 4-4-2011

I was busy responding a lot of e-mails so I am cut short on time. I´m
enjoying my time here, and as everyone knows, we had the privileged to
hear our beloved prophet, the 12 apostles, and many of the 70´s. I
really enjoyed the quote... The gospel comforts the afflicted, and the
comfortable is afflicted by it. It´s true, because there is no
stopping point in this life of perfecting ourselves. There is no
comfort zone.

I love you all, take care!!

Elder Olson

Carta de Elder Olson 3-27-2011

Something that has helped me push and fight on even when the difficulty and the intensity has increased, is thinking about the atonement of Christ and how he knows me. His bowels were filled with mercy, because of what he had felt in his suffering in Gethsemane. You and I may never have the same experiences, but the Lord has. Knowing that he suffered my pains, and for the punishment of my mistake help me imagine how great this act of love he did was for each one of us.
        His suffering was so great, that his soul and body was in total anguish. Our loving heavenly father sent him an angel to comfort him and he allowed this to happen... because of his love for us. Our heavenly father, and the Lord´s love for us is infinite. With that convincing evidence given to us, we can never say that we are not loved by God.
        I´m satisfied with what the Lord has made me from before and up to this moment of my mission (I have no regrets), there is still so much to change, and I will do my best so the Lord keeps on building me. I will keep working, and I want to come home needing help to get off the plane. I still got good time left!

Carta de Elder Olson 3-21-2011

It´s the coolest thing in the world to be a missionary. We always have the Lord at our back to protect us and guide us, I know that we are constantly guided and protected in the mission. This week we were able to find people to teach, a lot and it has been success given to us by the Lord.
       I have been working on an attribute of charity lately, and trying to apply what the Prophet Moroni suggested us about praying with all our heart to be blessed with this love, and I feel that as days go by, I can inch and inch a little more with this attribute. I know if we develop this attribute, we will have the unselfish desire to help others. Sometimes it is so hard to develop these a attributes, sometimes we feel like we can never develop them... we shouldn't feel that way, we should recognize our weakness and depend on the Lord to make them strong unto us. It works, I have lived it, and I know it´s true.
       The results are great, I don´t get upset when people reject me, instead of doing that I pray for them and be friendly to them. This is the greatest feeling in the world, to not get offended. Elder Bednard said that it is a choice to be offended.
       The bishop in my area is an excellent bishop. He had a dream about me having an interview with him. He asked me if I was O.k. and I said yes. He asked me again and I said no. So he pulled me into his office and he testified to me of the atonement of our savior. The spirit filled the room, and he told me that NOW is the time to apply the atonement more than ever before, and have the Lord carry some of my weight because I can´t do everything by myself. I need to have more faith that the Lord can carry some of my weight and help me with my trials... I felt a lot of stress and hearing that helped me a lot. I felt in my heart that the Lord used him as an instrument to communicate this with me.

The Lord works amongst us, and many times if we have faith he can work
miracles.

Elder Olson

Carta de Elder Olson 3-14-2011

I don´t feel old yet, but I guess I am old in the mission. It took me
awhile to get use to this life, and finally when I learn how to love
it, the time just flew. In my new area, we started with absolutely
nothing so in these past days we have been working hard to find a
teaching pool. So far we have been seeing great results from old
investigators that we started to teach again. I´m applying everything
that I learned and it seems to be working, we just have to be
constant.
        I really felt this passage of scripture has impacted me and helped me in my trials in the mission... "Alma 26:27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted
us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." I lived and know that the Lord blesses us as we are diligent, if we give up we
could be risking the loss of many blessings.
         I can assure you, our heavenly fathers love is immeasurable. If we embrace his word, we can come to feel his love. The spirit will confirm his love to us and our identity Romans 8:16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"

Carta de Elder Olson 07-03-2011

I called Sister Lindahl about a problem I am having with my shoes. Apparently my back is starting to ache because of the worn out shoes I am using. She called my father, and then called me back to notify my. In that phone call she assured me many things and what she had said to me, felt like one of the moments that I would call "Tender mercies" of the Lord. She said that I am good with keeping track of my "Expenses" and many other things, and she trusts that I am very ready for the next part of my life. I am now in San Raphael. It is a really green area, it´s very pretty In a area called pueblo diamante (Diamond town). This Sunday, I was able to share my testimony with the new members. When I shared my testimony, I could feel the change since the 6 months that I started in San Juan. The experiences I had in San Juan had totally strengthened me. I still have the district leader calling, usually missionaries get the calling sooner in there mission, and later they drop and slow down. By having this calling is going to help me not slow down and be strong from the beginning until the end.

I love you, take care!

Elder Olson