Hello Family!
I had quite an eventful and surprising week. So I am staying in south shore, last presidents interviews i asked president bennion if I could get green dotted(which means that I can drive) he told me that he would look into it for me. Cause I got a lot of tickets before my mission. last Saturday night president calls me up and well mom your never gonna believe it he got me green dotted! haha you said that I would never drive on my mission. He told me that and then he told me that the real reason that he called is because he wants me to train a new missionary this transfer. Well I was pretty shocked and still am; I feel like I just barely got trained tomorrow at transfer meeting I meet my kid I am pretty excited! We had to take our car into the shop last week so we have been without a car for a few days. I probably won’t have one for at least another week but it could be more than that. we are walking everywhere as of now. I feel kind of bad for my kid because he is not going to be used to walking allot and our area is huge so we are going to be doing a lot of walking. Sometimes we can get a ride from the Spanish elders that we live with but not all the time. At least it will teach him how to work hard right at the beginning of his mission. So everyone pray for me; I don’t feel adequate to be training someone yet. yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and it was awesome. I would say that 70 percent of the testimonies were missionary related! It was amazing. I shared a really neat story of how we found a lady named Jane. I don’t remember if I told you guys about it or not it was great. The work is really starting to pick up; one of the members brought a friend from poland to church yesterday She is 19 and has been here for 8 months ; she is really cool we gave her a polish book of Mormon that we happened to have in the pad. She really liked church I am excited for her! We haven’t been able to get in contact with cynthia and her kids this past week; were not sure what is going on. I hope that she didn’t get anti'ed.. Please pray for her as well. I don’t have very much time today. I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and support! You are all awesome!
Hurrah For Israel!!!!!!!!
Elder Olsen
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Hello Family!
well we had a pretty good week. Thanks for all of your e mails! it
Sounds like everyone is doing great! This morning we had to drive to
Freeport which is about 40 minutes away to get our car estimated from
The accident that we had last week; we probably won’t have to take
It in to get it fixed until next week sometime. This is week 6 of the
Transfer so don’t send anything unless you think that it will get here
By next Monday, I will find out this next Sunday night what is going
to happen. I think that it is like a 99 percent chance that I will stay
but you really never know, I guess that we will see. I have a
Really cool story that happened last week. I was on exchanges with
My district leader. It was an overnight exchange so he slept at our
pad the night before. so we were doing follow up and planning out the
next day. we had a dinner appointment at 6 o clock so we planned to
knock some doors from 5 to 6 around sister fishers home where we were
going for dinner. well we didn’t end up making it out there until 530
so we only had 30 mins to knock. we park and start walking to this
house and a lady comes out of a house from acccross the street and
tells us that she is a in-active member from a different ward but she
saw us from the window and came out to warn us not to knock on the
door that we were about to knock on cause the lady appartently that
lives there is really crazy. so we talked to her for a few minutes and
than decided to cross the street and start on the other side of the
street tracting the other direction. so we get down to the end of the
street and it is about 5:55 and we are right in front of sister
fishers home. I decided to call her and see if we were still good
to come over. she said that her husband was not back yet but that he
would be any minute . I told her that we were going to tract for
about 20 more minutes and then we would come over. So we crossed over
a different street and on the 2nd door that we knocked on this lady
let us in and we taught her the restoration. she is probably 45 she
has at least 2 kids, she is a school teacher. She is catholic and has
a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ. she goes to church every
week; the lesson went amazing! the spirit was really strong. I was
actually really nervous during the lesson which I haven’t felt for a
long time. I think because she is a rich white intelligent lady. I
have never had success tracting in those type of neighborhoods.
Usually white people are so mean. But wow the lesson really was
amazing. It was such a cool feeling, elder peterson and I had never
taught together and didn’t even get to do comp study that morning cause
we had service early. But because we were both in tune with the spirit
And personally prepared the lesson went amazing! it was definitely the
most powerful lesson of my mission so far. After the lesson the woman
told us that she thinks that Jesus sent us to her, and told us that
she felt the spirit very strong. then she also said that we were
both very good at what we do. ha so we are meeting with her this
Wednesday so please pray for her. her name is jane, the thing that
makes this story so amazing to me is how we ended up knocking on her
door there were so many reasons why we shouldn’t have knocked on her
door; God needed us to go there that night and he directed us
there. well I don’t have much time left but I love you all! Thanks so
much for all of your support and prayers. It sounds like Tyler is doing
Amazing! I am so proud of him!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder MIkey Olsen
well we had a pretty good week. Thanks for all of your e mails! it
Sounds like everyone is doing great! This morning we had to drive to
Freeport which is about 40 minutes away to get our car estimated from
The accident that we had last week; we probably won’t have to take
It in to get it fixed until next week sometime. This is week 6 of the
Transfer so don’t send anything unless you think that it will get here
By next Monday, I will find out this next Sunday night what is going
to happen. I think that it is like a 99 percent chance that I will stay
but you really never know, I guess that we will see. I have a
Really cool story that happened last week. I was on exchanges with
My district leader. It was an overnight exchange so he slept at our
pad the night before. so we were doing follow up and planning out the
next day. we had a dinner appointment at 6 o clock so we planned to
knock some doors from 5 to 6 around sister fishers home where we were
going for dinner. well we didn’t end up making it out there until 530
so we only had 30 mins to knock. we park and start walking to this
house and a lady comes out of a house from acccross the street and
tells us that she is a in-active member from a different ward but she
saw us from the window and came out to warn us not to knock on the
door that we were about to knock on cause the lady appartently that
lives there is really crazy. so we talked to her for a few minutes and
than decided to cross the street and start on the other side of the
street tracting the other direction. so we get down to the end of the
street and it is about 5:55 and we are right in front of sister
fishers home. I decided to call her and see if we were still good
to come over. she said that her husband was not back yet but that he
would be any minute . I told her that we were going to tract for
about 20 more minutes and then we would come over. So we crossed over
a different street and on the 2nd door that we knocked on this lady
let us in and we taught her the restoration. she is probably 45 she
has at least 2 kids, she is a school teacher. She is catholic and has
a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ. she goes to church every
week; the lesson went amazing! the spirit was really strong. I was
actually really nervous during the lesson which I haven’t felt for a
long time. I think because she is a rich white intelligent lady. I
have never had success tracting in those type of neighborhoods.
Usually white people are so mean. But wow the lesson really was
amazing. It was such a cool feeling, elder peterson and I had never
taught together and didn’t even get to do comp study that morning cause
we had service early. But because we were both in tune with the spirit
And personally prepared the lesson went amazing! it was definitely the
most powerful lesson of my mission so far. After the lesson the woman
told us that she thinks that Jesus sent us to her, and told us that
she felt the spirit very strong. then she also said that we were
both very good at what we do. ha so we are meeting with her this
Wednesday so please pray for her. her name is jane, the thing that
makes this story so amazing to me is how we ended up knocking on her
door there were so many reasons why we shouldn’t have knocked on her
door; God needed us to go there that night and he directed us
there. well I don’t have much time left but I love you all! Thanks so
much for all of your support and prayers. It sounds like Tyler is doing
Amazing! I am so proud of him!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder MIkey Olsen
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Elder Olsen Letter March 16 2009
Hello Family!
Wow well what a week! okay so i will start with the coolest story first. . sowe have this investigator Lazaro he is about 40 years old. and has know about the church for 20 years ever since he was a navy seal and some one on his team was a member of the church. ever since than off and on he has been investigating the church. he has been commited for baptism and has not kept his committment several times. welll the last few weeks we have been having a really hard time getting a hold of him; he is most likely going to be getting a divorce very soon. he has 3 kids that are all awesome. 12, 10 and 8 years old the oldest is a girl. so he has been really busy. but a few weeks ago at our weekly planning session we made a goal to get him baptized by the 15th of march. so this last wednesday we called him and couldnt get in contact. and than we got the idea to text him which we have done in the past but we decided to tell him that we have a goal to get him baptized this sunday, and asked him what he thought. so he calls us later that night and says that he wants to get baptized this sunday! it was awesome! so we got him interviewed the next day and got everything ready.Well he got baptized yeaterday before church and than confirmed the same day at sacrament meeting. it was a really sweet experience. his kids all came and a good number of the people in the ward as well. elder ------ baptized him and we asked the bishop to confirm him. he is a really cool man and it is great that he finally joined the church! he has an amazing testimony and probably knows more about the church and the gospel than most members. we are hoping that we will be able to baptize the kids soon but who knows with the divorce. His wife is not supportive of the church. so please pray for his family and especially the kids. well in other news elder ------ rear ended a man in a truck the other day. it didnt really do anything to the guys truck except a small dent in the bumper but it mest up our car pretty good. it will probably be going into the shop sometime this week so we will be walking everywhere for a few days. and than elder------- will most likely lose his driving privledges so either they will let me drive or they will send me a new comp.. who knows. I guess I will find out soon. I cant believe that this transfer is almost over, this is week 5! we have presidents interviews tomorrow. I dont remember if I told you or not but we found out who our new mission pres is going to be. President Nelson, it will be weird getting a new mission president. we have a few really cool investigators right now, I dont have time to talk about them today. we have gotten a few referralls from the members that are solid and i think that we will be getting alot more soon. the ward is really picking up. how is tyler doing? I got a letter from him the other day but it was like 3 weeks old. I will be writing him a letter today. well it was good to hear from you! I am so gratefull for my family! you are so amazing! I will try and write some letters today. thank you for all you do and mostly for your prayers.
Hurrah For Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
Wow well what a week! okay so i will start with the coolest story first. . sowe have this investigator Lazaro he is about 40 years old. and has know about the church for 20 years ever since he was a navy seal and some one on his team was a member of the church. ever since than off and on he has been investigating the church. he has been commited for baptism and has not kept his committment several times. welll the last few weeks we have been having a really hard time getting a hold of him; he is most likely going to be getting a divorce very soon. he has 3 kids that are all awesome. 12, 10 and 8 years old the oldest is a girl. so he has been really busy. but a few weeks ago at our weekly planning session we made a goal to get him baptized by the 15th of march. so this last wednesday we called him and couldnt get in contact. and than we got the idea to text him which we have done in the past but we decided to tell him that we have a goal to get him baptized this sunday, and asked him what he thought. so he calls us later that night and says that he wants to get baptized this sunday! it was awesome! so we got him interviewed the next day and got everything ready.Well he got baptized yeaterday before church and than confirmed the same day at sacrament meeting. it was a really sweet experience. his kids all came and a good number of the people in the ward as well. elder ------ baptized him and we asked the bishop to confirm him. he is a really cool man and it is great that he finally joined the church! he has an amazing testimony and probably knows more about the church and the gospel than most members. we are hoping that we will be able to baptize the kids soon but who knows with the divorce. His wife is not supportive of the church. so please pray for his family and especially the kids. well in other news elder ------ rear ended a man in a truck the other day. it didnt really do anything to the guys truck except a small dent in the bumper but it mest up our car pretty good. it will probably be going into the shop sometime this week so we will be walking everywhere for a few days. and than elder------- will most likely lose his driving privledges so either they will let me drive or they will send me a new comp.. who knows. I guess I will find out soon. I cant believe that this transfer is almost over, this is week 5! we have presidents interviews tomorrow. I dont remember if I told you or not but we found out who our new mission pres is going to be. President Nelson, it will be weird getting a new mission president. we have a few really cool investigators right now, I dont have time to talk about them today. we have gotten a few referralls from the members that are solid and i think that we will be getting alot more soon. the ward is really picking up. how is tyler doing? I got a letter from him the other day but it was like 3 weeks old. I will be writing him a letter today. well it was good to hear from you! I am so gratefull for my family! you are so amazing! I will try and write some letters today. thank you for all you do and mostly for your prayers.
Hurrah For Israel!!!
Elder Olsen
Elder Olsen letter March 4 2009
Hey family!
Thanks so much for all of your support and letters and Emails! it really means so much. I am so thankfull that i have such an awesome family!unfortunately i dont have much time right now. we had a few extra minutes so we thought we would just say hi real quick. As you have probably heard we got like 14 inches of snow here in NY. So last monday we couldnt make it to the library. Well everything is going well; I am having a little bit of a hard time with my comp, he doesnt see the importance of obedience, and he really doesnt love the people that we teach and the ward. I am working on him, he is a good guy i think that he is just going through a rebellious phase. this next sunday i was asked to speak to the ward on how i prepared for my mission. and the first thing that came to my mind was that it would be alot easier to talk about how i didnt prepare for my mission. ha. the work is going pretty well, the members seem to really like me so that is a plus. I just want all of you to know that i know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer! and that if we truly accept him and follow his example we can truly be happy in this life! Sharing this gospel is the most amazing feeling i have ever had or probably ever will have in my life! I love it! Well i gotta go but if any of you have any good advice for me please let me know. I love you all so much!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder MIkey Olsen
Thanks so much for all of your support and letters and Emails! it really means so much. I am so thankfull that i have such an awesome family!unfortunately i dont have much time right now. we had a few extra minutes so we thought we would just say hi real quick. As you have probably heard we got like 14 inches of snow here in NY. So last monday we couldnt make it to the library. Well everything is going well; I am having a little bit of a hard time with my comp, he doesnt see the importance of obedience, and he really doesnt love the people that we teach and the ward. I am working on him, he is a good guy i think that he is just going through a rebellious phase. this next sunday i was asked to speak to the ward on how i prepared for my mission. and the first thing that came to my mind was that it would be alot easier to talk about how i didnt prepare for my mission. ha. the work is going pretty well, the members seem to really like me so that is a plus. I just want all of you to know that i know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer! and that if we truly accept him and follow his example we can truly be happy in this life! Sharing this gospel is the most amazing feeling i have ever had or probably ever will have in my life! I love it! Well i gotta go but if any of you have any good advice for me please let me know. I love you all so much!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder MIkey Olsen
Elder Olsen Letter Feb
Hey Family!!
So how is everything going for everyone back home? that is really cool that mom got to go to the airport and see tyler! I am way jealous. How is steve doing? is he still enjoying byu-I? what is justin up too now? is he doing anyintense physical training for the marines yet? was is a dance competition that janessa got trophys in? well this week was pretty exciting. it really feels like i am in a different mission. so after packing all of my stuff, which was alot. i now have 2 duffle bags added to the luggage that i came out with. but one of them is filled with just my bedding and stuff which you mailed to the office. so anyways i had 4 pretty large and heavy bags. , and we had to carry it up and down multiple stairways in the subways to make it to the mission office in Queens. that was pretty exhausting.. transfer meeting was spiritually uplifing and motivating. and than at the end of transfer meeting is when they announce where everyone is going. so we have 8 zones in our mission and they start at zone 1 which is staten island and than it just goes east from there, park slope was in zone 2. so they are announcing where everyone is going and it just keeps going and going. . .. i was getting pretty nervous. i didnt think that i was going to come out here to the island. but sure enouugh i am in Zone 8 the farthest one out on the island. the one good thing about that right from the start is that i just threw all my bags in the car and didnt have to worry about carrying them in a crowded train. oh and My companion is Elder -----. I was actually in the MTC with him. he was in the same room as me. he is from Idaho. He was home schooled growing up and than went to byu i for a few years. I think that we will be able to have a succesfull transfer together. President bennion said to me at transfer meeting good luck with elder -------, and he said it in kind of a weird sackastic way. and i was thinking about it. but now i understand. so It was about an Hour and a half drive out to our pad. it was pretty weird it felt likei was driving through utah. it looks alot like it. It is alot different out here but also alot of the same. Our weekly planning session on thursday was alot different than what i have been used to lately. we have 2 investigators total. one is progressing and has been investigating the church for about 20 years. he is areally cool guy though. and he is going to be baptized sometime in march. Church on sunday was alot different! In park slope average attendance ranged from like145 to 175. i was up at the front to bless the sacrament and i counted 40people! I guess the average is a little more like 75 usually. but alot of people were out of town. But the ward seems pretty awesome and they definitely need alot of help. President Bennion told me that the bishop is one of the best in the missions, he wasnt there on sunday cause he was out of town but we are meeting with him in a few days. I am excited for that; The elders chorum president seems really cool too. and the relief society Pres is awesome!we ate dinner at her house a few days ago. We met with a few of the ward members this week and yesterday we were able to make alot of appointments with members. I am excited to get to know the ward really well. well i dont have much more time but i love you all! and i hope all is well. thanks so much for all of your support!
Hurrah For Israel!
Elder Olsen
So how is everything going for everyone back home? that is really cool that mom got to go to the airport and see tyler! I am way jealous. How is steve doing? is he still enjoying byu-I? what is justin up too now? is he doing anyintense physical training for the marines yet? was is a dance competition that janessa got trophys in? well this week was pretty exciting. it really feels like i am in a different mission. so after packing all of my stuff, which was alot. i now have 2 duffle bags added to the luggage that i came out with. but one of them is filled with just my bedding and stuff which you mailed to the office. so anyways i had 4 pretty large and heavy bags. , and we had to carry it up and down multiple stairways in the subways to make it to the mission office in Queens. that was pretty exhausting.. transfer meeting was spiritually uplifing and motivating. and than at the end of transfer meeting is when they announce where everyone is going. so we have 8 zones in our mission and they start at zone 1 which is staten island and than it just goes east from there, park slope was in zone 2. so they are announcing where everyone is going and it just keeps going and going. . .. i was getting pretty nervous. i didnt think that i was going to come out here to the island. but sure enouugh i am in Zone 8 the farthest one out on the island. the one good thing about that right from the start is that i just threw all my bags in the car and didnt have to worry about carrying them in a crowded train. oh and My companion is Elder -----. I was actually in the MTC with him. he was in the same room as me. he is from Idaho. He was home schooled growing up and than went to byu i for a few years. I think that we will be able to have a succesfull transfer together. President bennion said to me at transfer meeting good luck with elder -------, and he said it in kind of a weird sackastic way. and i was thinking about it. but now i understand. so It was about an Hour and a half drive out to our pad. it was pretty weird it felt likei was driving through utah. it looks alot like it. It is alot different out here but also alot of the same. Our weekly planning session on thursday was alot different than what i have been used to lately. we have 2 investigators total. one is progressing and has been investigating the church for about 20 years. he is areally cool guy though. and he is going to be baptized sometime in march. Church on sunday was alot different! In park slope average attendance ranged from like145 to 175. i was up at the front to bless the sacrament and i counted 40people! I guess the average is a little more like 75 usually. but alot of people were out of town. But the ward seems pretty awesome and they definitely need alot of help. President Bennion told me that the bishop is one of the best in the missions, he wasnt there on sunday cause he was out of town but we are meeting with him in a few days. I am excited for that; The elders chorum president seems really cool too. and the relief society Pres is awesome!we ate dinner at her house a few days ago. We met with a few of the ward members this week and yesterday we were able to make alot of appointments with members. I am excited to get to know the ward really well. well i dont have much more time but i love you all! and i hope all is well. thanks so much for all of your support!
Hurrah For Israel!
Elder Olsen
Elder Olsen Letter Feb 16 2009
Hey family!!
well this was a great week! also a very dramatic week. it felt like i was in an episode of One Tree HIll! haha but really it was nuts.. i wont have enough time to write about all of it cause i gotta pack and everything.. i am not looking forward to that at all. So as it turns out that Alex the father of the family that we have been teaching is a Heroine and Crack Cocaine attict. . he has been doing it since he was a teenager. I always felt like there was something going on with him, but i thought that it was just alcohol or something. so Carmen is the mom right. well she has been getting pretty sick of him and his habits. Stealing stuff, pawning stuff from the house. you know your typical attict. . so wednesday alex stole some money from carmen and threatened her with a knife and than threatened maria the daughter with the knife as well. and than later that day he got caught by the cops for smoking crack on the roof of the building. and than come to find out that he is allready on parole for a bunch of other stuff. and he is not allowed to be living with carmen and the kids. and if child services finds out that he has been they could take away the kids. so he went to jail and than got out the next day. im not sure how. and than that same day he got arrested again for going to carmens house. So carmen was pretty stressed out. we have been going over to their house every day checking up on them . So we decided after alot of prayer to still go through with the baptism. so sunday rolls around and about 20 minutes before the baptism starts alex shows up at the church. So he was able to be there. i think that it was a good thing for him. the baptism went amazing. the spirit was really strong. i Baptized alejandro, Elder - baptized alex and a member of the ward brother - baptized maria. it was really cool. an amazing feeling. I am so happy that the lord led them to us when he did. cause if not there family would be a mess right now. and the kids lives would really go down the drain. especially growing up where they live, it is amazing how the lord works when you put your trust in him. So after the baptism we took alex into a room and talked to him about his problem. he is going to a Rehab facility for 30 days and than i told him about the 12 step program and he said that he will go to that. well all is well with the family now. carmen is being a really strong woman, i'm really impressed. her 6 kids are not easy to take care of. especially when you have a husband who is worthless. Ah well alot more stuff happened but i just dont have enough time. i will write a good letter though. I am really sad to be leaving this ward! I truly love this ward and i feel like i could do so much more work here. but i have to move on. i dont know where i am going yet. they dont tell us until tuesday morning at transfer meeting. well i hope all is well back home. i love you all and thank you for your support. i can feel the impact of your prayers every day! Hurrah For Israel!!Elder Olsen
well this was a great week! also a very dramatic week. it felt like i was in an episode of One Tree HIll! haha but really it was nuts.. i wont have enough time to write about all of it cause i gotta pack and everything.. i am not looking forward to that at all. So as it turns out that Alex the father of the family that we have been teaching is a Heroine and Crack Cocaine attict. . he has been doing it since he was a teenager. I always felt like there was something going on with him, but i thought that it was just alcohol or something. so Carmen is the mom right. well she has been getting pretty sick of him and his habits. Stealing stuff, pawning stuff from the house. you know your typical attict. . so wednesday alex stole some money from carmen and threatened her with a knife and than threatened maria the daughter with the knife as well. and than later that day he got caught by the cops for smoking crack on the roof of the building. and than come to find out that he is allready on parole for a bunch of other stuff. and he is not allowed to be living with carmen and the kids. and if child services finds out that he has been they could take away the kids. so he went to jail and than got out the next day. im not sure how. and than that same day he got arrested again for going to carmens house. So carmen was pretty stressed out. we have been going over to their house every day checking up on them . So we decided after alot of prayer to still go through with the baptism. so sunday rolls around and about 20 minutes before the baptism starts alex shows up at the church. So he was able to be there. i think that it was a good thing for him. the baptism went amazing. the spirit was really strong. i Baptized alejandro, Elder - baptized alex and a member of the ward brother - baptized maria. it was really cool. an amazing feeling. I am so happy that the lord led them to us when he did. cause if not there family would be a mess right now. and the kids lives would really go down the drain. especially growing up where they live, it is amazing how the lord works when you put your trust in him. So after the baptism we took alex into a room and talked to him about his problem. he is going to a Rehab facility for 30 days and than i told him about the 12 step program and he said that he will go to that. well all is well with the family now. carmen is being a really strong woman, i'm really impressed. her 6 kids are not easy to take care of. especially when you have a husband who is worthless. Ah well alot more stuff happened but i just dont have enough time. i will write a good letter though. I am really sad to be leaving this ward! I truly love this ward and i feel like i could do so much more work here. but i have to move on. i dont know where i am going yet. they dont tell us until tuesday morning at transfer meeting. well i hope all is well back home. i love you all and thank you for your support. i can feel the impact of your prayers every day! Hurrah For Israel!!Elder Olsen
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