Hey dont have a lot of time right now. but had a great week. Jennine came to church but not the rest of the family :( That is the Brazilian family, everyone please pray for them. i really want to help this family come into the church! I am really excited for General Conference! It is funny last night we were talking right before we were going to bed with the other elders in our pad, and we were all talking about our favorite speakers and previous address' etc... And i was thinking how funny it was that we were all talking about general conference the same way that i would talk about the super bowl or the NBA finals. haha. And we talk about Elder Holland and Eyring and all the others like i used to talk about Kobe and Shaq or Michael Jordan. i just kind of realized that as we were talking that i would have never seen myself having that kind of conversation a few years ago. Well i love you all! have a great week. everyone take notes during the conferences, and tell me which ones were your favorites. thanks i love you!
Elder Olsen
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
22 March 2010
Hey mom and dad...
well i will answer some of your questions to start off.. Well for missionary month, Really everything is from New York. so it doesn't matter what you cook. But some things that new york is famous for is hot dogs, pizza, pretzels, cheese cake, yeah that's pretty much it. but there are literally food from everywhere here. I have tried foods from so many different places. But if you do get pizza you need to get new york style pizza. I live right next to the mission office, literally right next to it. its a tiny little house next to the church. we live on the top floor and a senior office couple lives on the bottom floor. I don't even know the address. but i think its 86-08 60th rd. Elmhurst, NY. 11373. but don't send anything to that address. We are in the mission office every single day usually, so i can just get my mail there, they actually put it on my desk. I do actually need some new shoes. :) i am really hard on shoes and the ones that i am wearing right now are getting pretty bad, it doesn't look to good. so if you can that would be awesome if you have some extra money to send so that i could buy some shoes. but if you don't, than don't worry about it. i will be fine and will figure something out.
Dad to answer some of your questions..
Well i don't really know what a typical p day is yet cause this is only my 4th one. but to give you an idea, last week i didn't have time to do my laundry, luckily i have enough garments and white shirts to last me exactly 2 weeks, so right now i am wearing my last pair. ha ha Well this morning we got up and did the morning routine. than we came into the office at 10 am. we are doing e mail right now, after this we are going to go to the grocery store and than my companion has to go to the post office. than we will head back here and we have allot of stuff that we have to get ready for the week. We have 2 more zone conferences this week. so we have to print off all of the papers that we will need for those. (programs, talks, newsletter, etc...) we have to update the baptismal commits for the upcoming week, and find out about all of the baptisms for last week. We have a lot of planning and things to get ready for this week, we will be here in the office doing this stuff until about 3 than we have planned to go see a man named Salvador, he came to church yesterday. he got baptized about 2 years ago in Florida and than moved here and has been in active ever since. well i guess that he googled to find out where the church was and showed up. he is living with his aunt and uncle whom are not members. I think that he will be a really good source to help allot of his friends and family come into the church. so we have an appointment with him at 4, than we will head back here to the office. cause we have a meeting with President Nelson every Monday at 5 o clock. that will most likely last for the remainder of the evening, but if we get let out before 9 than we have planned to look up a part member family and do allot of fear-lessing! so yeah a pretty busy day. I am really excited. Dad thanks for all the cool stats.
well we had an okay week. it was super busy. we had 2 zone conferences, those were really hectic, plus we had 2 exchanges with zone leaders. We didn't have allot of time to work in our own area. but we have got some big potential right now. especially with this Brazilian family. The mom Jennine is making great progress. she is really awesome! its just the dad Edison. everyone please pray for him. he really needs it allot. I think that he is just scared to change and to do something different. please pray that he and his daughter will come to church with Jennine. This family is awesome. i really love them so much and want them to be sealed in the temple. I love doing this work and being able to be an instrument in Gods hands. I think that as missionaries we get a special gift from God to every once and a while, even if it is just for a second to see people the way that God See's them. last night we had a lesson with Jennine, and she was just talking as the lesson began and this feeling came over me, I really felt a pure love for her and her family. it brought tears to my eyes, as i imagined them getting baptized and being sealed in the temple. I know that this is the love of Christ that God was allowing me to feel for a short time. I know that days when i am in tune with the spirit and when i am really fulfilling my purpose is when i am able to look at people, complete strangers and feel this way about them, just an overwhelming feeling and desire for their salvation. Well i love you all so much thank you for all of your prayers and support. take care and have a great week!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen
well i will answer some of your questions to start off.. Well for missionary month, Really everything is from New York. so it doesn't matter what you cook. But some things that new york is famous for is hot dogs, pizza, pretzels, cheese cake, yeah that's pretty much it. but there are literally food from everywhere here. I have tried foods from so many different places. But if you do get pizza you need to get new york style pizza. I live right next to the mission office, literally right next to it. its a tiny little house next to the church. we live on the top floor and a senior office couple lives on the bottom floor. I don't even know the address. but i think its 86-08 60th rd. Elmhurst, NY. 11373. but don't send anything to that address. We are in the mission office every single day usually, so i can just get my mail there, they actually put it on my desk. I do actually need some new shoes. :) i am really hard on shoes and the ones that i am wearing right now are getting pretty bad, it doesn't look to good. so if you can that would be awesome if you have some extra money to send so that i could buy some shoes. but if you don't, than don't worry about it. i will be fine and will figure something out.
Dad to answer some of your questions..
Well i don't really know what a typical p day is yet cause this is only my 4th one. but to give you an idea, last week i didn't have time to do my laundry, luckily i have enough garments and white shirts to last me exactly 2 weeks, so right now i am wearing my last pair. ha ha Well this morning we got up and did the morning routine. than we came into the office at 10 am. we are doing e mail right now, after this we are going to go to the grocery store and than my companion has to go to the post office. than we will head back here and we have allot of stuff that we have to get ready for the week. We have 2 more zone conferences this week. so we have to print off all of the papers that we will need for those. (programs, talks, newsletter, etc...) we have to update the baptismal commits for the upcoming week, and find out about all of the baptisms for last week. We have a lot of planning and things to get ready for this week, we will be here in the office doing this stuff until about 3 than we have planned to go see a man named Salvador, he came to church yesterday. he got baptized about 2 years ago in Florida and than moved here and has been in active ever since. well i guess that he googled to find out where the church was and showed up. he is living with his aunt and uncle whom are not members. I think that he will be a really good source to help allot of his friends and family come into the church. so we have an appointment with him at 4, than we will head back here to the office. cause we have a meeting with President Nelson every Monday at 5 o clock. that will most likely last for the remainder of the evening, but if we get let out before 9 than we have planned to look up a part member family and do allot of fear-lessing! so yeah a pretty busy day. I am really excited. Dad thanks for all the cool stats.
well we had an okay week. it was super busy. we had 2 zone conferences, those were really hectic, plus we had 2 exchanges with zone leaders. We didn't have allot of time to work in our own area. but we have got some big potential right now. especially with this Brazilian family. The mom Jennine is making great progress. she is really awesome! its just the dad Edison. everyone please pray for him. he really needs it allot. I think that he is just scared to change and to do something different. please pray that he and his daughter will come to church with Jennine. This family is awesome. i really love them so much and want them to be sealed in the temple. I love doing this work and being able to be an instrument in Gods hands. I think that as missionaries we get a special gift from God to every once and a while, even if it is just for a second to see people the way that God See's them. last night we had a lesson with Jennine, and she was just talking as the lesson began and this feeling came over me, I really felt a pure love for her and her family. it brought tears to my eyes, as i imagined them getting baptized and being sealed in the temple. I know that this is the love of Christ that God was allowing me to feel for a short time. I know that days when i am in tune with the spirit and when i am really fulfilling my purpose is when i am able to look at people, complete strangers and feel this way about them, just an overwhelming feeling and desire for their salvation. Well i love you all so much thank you for all of your prayers and support. take care and have a great week!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Monday, March 15, 2010
15 March 2010
We had a wonderful week here. we had a big time miracle! The Lord is really blessing us here. We have an investigator named Yury (pronounced Judy) she is from Colombia she had been investigating for over 2 months. But she would just never accept a date to get baptized. last week we set up a day that we would fast together about her getting baptized and picking a specific date. . . so she started praying about it. we stopped by Tuesday morning to start the fast together and she told us that she wanted to get baptized this Sunday! ha ha we hadn't even started the fast yet. so we still went through with the fast and the following morning we made her a big American breakfast, finished teaching her everything and than she got interviewed. yesterday she was baptized! it was an awesome experience... Oh and i forgot to even tell you guys but last Sunday David Watson got baptized as well. I was working with him for 2 transfers, and we committed him for baptism 2 weeks before the end of last transfer. so he got baptized my first week here in Rego Park. sadly i was not able to go to the service, we were way too busy. But they took a picture with just David and said that they were going to photo shop me in ha-ha. We have a really busy week ahead of us. we have zone leader council tomorrow and than we have 2 zone conferences that we have to do. as well as 2 zone leader exchanges. so it is going to be kind of a crazy week. We are not going to have a lot of time in our own area. so we are going to be praying like crazy for miracles. we have some really good people that we are working with that could very likely be baptized this transfer. We are teaching a family from Brazil actually. There names are Jennine and Edison, they have 2 kids, a 15 year old girl and a 6 year old son. Jennine is really awesome and she basically all ready has a testimony. Edison is really awesome as well he is just scared of the change He has never been very religious and going to church and reading and praying are all very new to him. but he is making progress. they are a really nice family though. well everything is great. I am loving my mission. I honestly hope that i don't have to spend very much time in this assignment, we don't have allot of time do just do regular missionary work. we have to do allot of office type stuff and a ton of planning and meetings. ah I hate meetings. But i am getting used to it, its just a lot different than what i have been doing the last year and a half. but it will be nice to go back to just being a regular missionary. I am learning a lot though, President Nelson is amazing! Well i love you all. I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants on my free time lately. It has been pretty awesome. Section 130 has got some really deep stuff in it, if you have a D and C study manual it will help you understand it a lot more. you should share with me what you all have been studying... well i love you all! the church is true. i love doing this work
Hurrah For Israel
Elder Olsen
Hurrah For Israel
Elder Olsen
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
9 March 2010
Hello family!
hey well it was a good week. we were really busy with a lot of stuff. President Nelson has been in Bermuda for the last 3 days and today we are going to go and pick him up at the airport, than we are going to have a meeting with him at the mission home for the whole night. that is one thing about this assignment we have alot of meetings< really a lot. On average we have about 3 to 4 hours of regular proselyting each day. so we are going to have to work really smart, so that the time that we do have is as effective as it can be. we found a few families this week. that are looking really good. we set a goal to have 3 baptisms this month. so we really have to get to work and see some miracles. I am still trying to get settled in here, i am definitely not used to it yet. i am going to have to learn fast cause my companion is going home this transfer. all right these are the people that i want everyone to pray for this week. Yury Cruz but you say it Judy Cruz, she has been to church 5 times now and is praying about a baptism date. she is really awesome but is just scared of commitment. The miranda family, they are awesome they are a family of 5, they are really catholic. But they are humble and i think that they will accept everything but the only thing that i could see them struggling with is the fact that they are catholic, and in the spanish culture that is a big deal, even though they never go to chutch.. haha alright and than jennine and eddison and their family, they are brazillian! they are a great family wtih 2 kids. they really need to come to church next sunday, but jenninne needs to get work off. so please pray for all of those people. i love you all and i love my mission. i am having the time of my life! Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen
hey well it was a good week. we were really busy with a lot of stuff. President Nelson has been in Bermuda for the last 3 days and today we are going to go and pick him up at the airport, than we are going to have a meeting with him at the mission home for the whole night. that is one thing about this assignment we have alot of meetings< really a lot. On average we have about 3 to 4 hours of regular proselyting each day. so we are going to have to work really smart, so that the time that we do have is as effective as it can be. we found a few families this week. that are looking really good. we set a goal to have 3 baptisms this month. so we really have to get to work and see some miracles. I am still trying to get settled in here, i am definitely not used to it yet. i am going to have to learn fast cause my companion is going home this transfer. all right these are the people that i want everyone to pray for this week. Yury Cruz but you say it Judy Cruz, she has been to church 5 times now and is praying about a baptism date. she is really awesome but is just scared of commitment. The miranda family, they are awesome they are a family of 5, they are really catholic. But they are humble and i think that they will accept everything but the only thing that i could see them struggling with is the fact that they are catholic, and in the spanish culture that is a big deal, even though they never go to chutch.. haha alright and than jennine and eddison and their family, they are brazillian! they are a great family wtih 2 kids. they really need to come to church next sunday, but jenninne needs to get work off. so please pray for all of those people. i love you all and i love my mission. i am having the time of my life! Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen
Monday, March 1, 2010
1 March 2010
Hello
Well what a week of miracles! seriously probably one of the coolest weeks of my mission. So tuesday we had a huge snow storm and my comp and I were doing some planning in the church. We were looking at our transfer baptismal goal (it was 5 baptisms) and well we had only had 1 so far. I really wanted to hit this goal. so we made a plan for each one of our investigators that could be baptized that next sunday(yesterday)... so you guys remember the frazier family right..? Troy the father joined the church when he was 17 years old in the bronx. he has never been active, didnt recieve the priesthood or anything. Well last transfer after the hardest day of the transfer when elder goodman and i had to drop 6 baptismal commits cause they just were not progressing, we were both just having a bad day. it was sunday night gettting close to 9 o clock. all of our appointments juked us and our back up plan was to look up less actives on the ward list that no one knows who they are. well we had been doing this all night and the very last name that we looked up was troy frazier, when he answered the door the first thing that he said was how did you find me? haha we talked to him on the porch for only 2 minutes left him with a book of mormon and a chapter to read, when we left he said man this feels good! we went back a few days later and met his family, he has a wife (Nakisa) 3 sons and 1 daughter.. L.J, Troy Jr, Javon, and Aquila..
we taught the whole family for like 2 weeks and they were progressing great but than we hit a major road block. Troy called me crying saying that Nakisa's father is a preacher and that he doesnt want us coming over any more(they live in the basement of his house) so we tried to meet at other locations but it never worked out. Troy lost interest and hope for a while. well i kept on calling him frequently and would never get an answer, we would stop by whenever we were in the neighborhood but would never get an answer to the door. My new companion was always wondering why we kept stopping by someone who never even opened the door. but I just always felt like there was something special about this family, and that i sould not give up on them. and than one day they answered and it was like the light switch was turned back on. they were full board on everything. we met with them that day and than later that night Nakisa told her father that the Book of Mormon testifies and teaches about christ and that it makes her feel good, and that she is a grown woman and should be able to make her own decision. so from that day forth we started teaching them again. a little more than 2 weeks ago i guess. Well they all came to church last week for the first time, and loved it. and than came tuesday when we were doing our planning. that night we went to their house and watched the Testaments movie, it was awesome! the spirit was there so strong. after the movie i asked them all what they would have done if they had been there when jesus christ appeared to the people, i asked them if they would have been Baptized right than, they all answered yes.. the spirit was truly guiding me in the words that i was saying and than i commited them all to be baptized that sunday. they all gladly accepted. we met with them every day. we had not yet taught any of the commmandments, the next day we taught the word of wisdom and Nakisa drinks 5 cups of coffee and also alot of iced tea and she smokes occasionally. she commited right than to live the word of wisdom. they progressed so fast it was such a miracle. and yesterday they got baptized! God truly answers prayers. This was such a cool experience, Its awesome to see how the lord can use us in his hands. the frazier family is amazing! they are so excited to be in the church. the rest of the family is actually getting interested now too, so that is awesome! I am sad that i am leaving this area... but it has been amazing serving here. this transfer we broke records for the mission. we had 18 baptisms, this zone usually averages 6 to 7 a transfer. so we completely blew that out of the water. I have a really busy day ahead of me. i still have to pack all of my things and drive them over to the mission office and than i have to be to the airport with president by 2 to pick up the new missionaires. we are doing a street sweep with all of the greenies its gonna be sweet! I am going to go crazy, and were bringing a box to stand on haha. well i love you all. i know this gospel changes lives and that nothing is impossible with the lord! I love you!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen(michael)
Well what a week of miracles! seriously probably one of the coolest weeks of my mission. So tuesday we had a huge snow storm and my comp and I were doing some planning in the church. We were looking at our transfer baptismal goal (it was 5 baptisms) and well we had only had 1 so far. I really wanted to hit this goal. so we made a plan for each one of our investigators that could be baptized that next sunday(yesterday)... so you guys remember the frazier family right..? Troy the father joined the church when he was 17 years old in the bronx. he has never been active, didnt recieve the priesthood or anything. Well last transfer after the hardest day of the transfer when elder goodman and i had to drop 6 baptismal commits cause they just were not progressing, we were both just having a bad day. it was sunday night gettting close to 9 o clock. all of our appointments juked us and our back up plan was to look up less actives on the ward list that no one knows who they are. well we had been doing this all night and the very last name that we looked up was troy frazier, when he answered the door the first thing that he said was how did you find me? haha we talked to him on the porch for only 2 minutes left him with a book of mormon and a chapter to read, when we left he said man this feels good! we went back a few days later and met his family, he has a wife (Nakisa) 3 sons and 1 daughter.. L.J, Troy Jr, Javon, and Aquila..
we taught the whole family for like 2 weeks and they were progressing great but than we hit a major road block. Troy called me crying saying that Nakisa's father is a preacher and that he doesnt want us coming over any more(they live in the basement of his house) so we tried to meet at other locations but it never worked out. Troy lost interest and hope for a while. well i kept on calling him frequently and would never get an answer, we would stop by whenever we were in the neighborhood but would never get an answer to the door. My new companion was always wondering why we kept stopping by someone who never even opened the door. but I just always felt like there was something special about this family, and that i sould not give up on them. and than one day they answered and it was like the light switch was turned back on. they were full board on everything. we met with them that day and than later that night Nakisa told her father that the Book of Mormon testifies and teaches about christ and that it makes her feel good, and that she is a grown woman and should be able to make her own decision. so from that day forth we started teaching them again. a little more than 2 weeks ago i guess. Well they all came to church last week for the first time, and loved it. and than came tuesday when we were doing our planning. that night we went to their house and watched the Testaments movie, it was awesome! the spirit was there so strong. after the movie i asked them all what they would have done if they had been there when jesus christ appeared to the people, i asked them if they would have been Baptized right than, they all answered yes.. the spirit was truly guiding me in the words that i was saying and than i commited them all to be baptized that sunday. they all gladly accepted. we met with them every day. we had not yet taught any of the commmandments, the next day we taught the word of wisdom and Nakisa drinks 5 cups of coffee and also alot of iced tea and she smokes occasionally. she commited right than to live the word of wisdom. they progressed so fast it was such a miracle. and yesterday they got baptized! God truly answers prayers. This was such a cool experience, Its awesome to see how the lord can use us in his hands. the frazier family is amazing! they are so excited to be in the church. the rest of the family is actually getting interested now too, so that is awesome! I am sad that i am leaving this area... but it has been amazing serving here. this transfer we broke records for the mission. we had 18 baptisms, this zone usually averages 6 to 7 a transfer. so we completely blew that out of the water. I have a really busy day ahead of me. i still have to pack all of my things and drive them over to the mission office and than i have to be to the airport with president by 2 to pick up the new missionaires. we are doing a street sweep with all of the greenies its gonna be sweet! I am going to go crazy, and were bringing a box to stand on haha. well i love you all. i know this gospel changes lives and that nothing is impossible with the lord! I love you!
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen(michael)
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