1 May 2010

Hey Mom and Dad
Hey I'm writing you cause i need to ask you a favor. Mom dad and janessa and well anyone else that would like to write their testimony to this family can read this below and send me their testimony. Actually i think that it would be really good for Justin to send his to Julia as well. So Justin you better do this or I'm gonna beat you up. haha


So I think that i have told you about Jennine and her family at least a few times. They are the ones from Brazil. We have been teaching them for a while now. Jennine is awesome! She has come to church a few times and wants to get baptized. She all ready considers this her church. She does pretty well at keeping her commitments but she has been struggling a lot lately because life has gotten a lot more crazy. This always happens anytime anyone makes any decision or progress for good, Satan will try even harder to keep us from our potential. So this has really been happening to her. Her husband Edison is really cool, but has been really cold lately. He will not come down and sit in the lessons, Well I'll talk more about him in a second. So Julia is there 16 year old daughter, She is really nice. But is going through a tough time right now. she is really rebelling. she stays out sometimes late at night or just doesn't come home at all. She is not going to school every day, she is smoking cigarettes. But yet she is still a nice girl. she is just lost. Like last Sunday night we went over and we were teaching Jennine and Julia just came in and sat in the lesson and wanted to learn, her and her mom got along great. we asked her what was it throughout her life that has made her truly happy, or like the moments in her life when she felt the most joy and happiness. She said that the times when she felt like that were when she was bonding with her mom. So we committed them to read and pray together every night and they said that they were going to do it. But than next thing we hear from Jennine is that Julia was out way late and didn't tell anyone where she was. and just the same old stuff. I know that she is a good person and has a desire to choose the right. She is just wounded by sin right now and doesn't know the way out. Last week she stole 300 dollars from her mom and the car and crashed the car. that same week she also got caught shoplifting and spent the night in Juvenile jail. ha ha i know this sounds a lot like my teenage years. So as a result of this Edison(the father) has started to drink. and went to pick up Jennine last week with there other son Nicholas(who is 6) and Edison was drunk. so Jennine got really mad at him and he has basically lost a lot of trust with her. and Jennine pretty much treats him like a child. So Edison cause of all of this is of course feeling really bad. and awkward because he knows that Jennine tells us everything. so this is probably why he is not coming into the lessons anymore and he is avoiding us. So yeah this is all a big mess... I hope that any of that made sense. I really love this family a lot! and i know that the Gospel could really help them right now. Jennine would do it if she just had a little more support. and i think Edison and Julia would come along as well. if only they could be softened a little. So mom i was wondering if you could write Jennine a letter, well actually just e mail it to me and i will print it off and give it to her. cause that will be faster. But i think that you would be able to help her, you having been a mom of a few wayward children. Just bare your testimony to her and tell her that you know that she leading her family in the gospel will solve all of the family problems and they will eventually be a "happy family" Just pray about it and follow the spirit as you write the letter. I really know that your testimony will be able to help her mom. Dad i would love for you to write a letter to Edison, Just whatever you want to say, Bare your testimony to him of the atonement(but don't use that word cause he doesn't know what that means) tell him that you know that there is a way to find peace of conscience and happiness in life. Tell him of your testimony and experience of how our family was blessed and saved by the gospel. And finally I would like to ask Janessa if she would be willing to write a letter to Julia, and since Becca is always over at our house maybe Becca would like to write her as well. that would be awesome! Tell them to write their testimony about the atonement as well. and how having the gospel and the church and faith in Jesus Christ has helped them find true happiness. not the fake temporary happiness that comes from doing the "cool" thing in high school (drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex etc...) Tell her about how it has blessed your life knowing that you are a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves you, and tell her that you know that she is such as well. Just seek and follow the spirit and i know that you will know what to write. I really love this family, I can imagine them as a family 1 year from now all dressed in white in the Manhattan Temple! They are a awesome family. I would really appreciate it if you guys could do this for me. i know that it will help.

So if everyone can write these and e mail it to me that would be great, than i will print them off and give them to her this Sunday night, this is when our next appointment with her. Let me know if you have any questions. I love you all so much! I know that this gospel is true and i know that Jesus is the Christ. We all can find comfort and true joy by experiencing the blessings of his Atonement. I love sharing this with people and helping them to find that peace and comfort.
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Olsen