11 Jan 2010

This is a “homework assignment” that I gave to Shantel Smart last week. Elder Wiggins and I baptized her about 3 months ago. “homework” is something that I am doing with all of my investigators now. I have found that it works really well, it holds people accountable for their commits and we as missionaries are really able to help people keep their reading commits. In stead of just shoving a book mark into 3 Nephi 11 and asking them to read and pray… I am giving them homework assignments with questions and steps to follow. It really helps people learn how to study and have spiritual experiences on their own. It helps them develop a deep love and understanding of the scriptures. Thus making a lifelong conversion more likely! I’m sure that you are impressed with Shantel’s answers to these questions and she has only been a member for 3 months! It has been working really well with all of our investigators and we have a lot of people that are progressing towards baptism. Each homework assignment is different (tailored to the person) some are really deep like this one and others are much more simple. The steps for this assignment were;
1) Pray out loud, tell god what you’re going to do, ask for the spirit…
2) Read the questions and than read Alma 42…
3) Write your answers to the questions…
4) Pray out loud again (ask god if your questions are correct)
5) Ponder for a few minutes and than read Alma 42 again…
6) Re-write or revise or add to your answers…
7)Pray out loud, Ask god if your answers are right, thank him for helping you learn…

Shantel was so excited when she finished the assignment. She actually did it twice. It was a really spiritual experience for her. And her testimony has grown a lot. I just thought that I would share this with you all. Elder Tyler Olsen I will send you a lot more information on this method of committing. I have a few case studies on it.
Elder Michael Olsen

11 Jan 2010

Hey everyone
Well I had a pretty good week. This is week 6 of the transfer so don’t send anything to my apartment. Send everything to the mission office address (8569 60 Dr. Elmhurst, NY, 11373) I think that I am going to be staying here but you never know. I really do hope that I will be able to stay here for at least one more transfer. So everyone please pray for me that I can stay! We have a lot of really good things happening right now. Yesterday we only had 3 investigators at church. But all 3 of them are moving well and should be ready to be baptized in the next few weeks. The Frazier family was sick yesterday or else they would have come. So pray for them that they will be feeling better soon. They are really awesome. I don’t remember if I told you guys about them last week. But basically troy got baptized over 10 years ago and was never really active. Now he has a wife and 4 kids. We stopped by last Sunday night and found him. We have taught them 3 times this last week and they are doing awesome. Tuesday night was the first time that we met the wife. They have a 2 year old daughter that is a little crazy most of the time. And she was going crazy while we were teaching the lesson. We watched the Restoration movie, and the whole time that the movie was going the mom had to tend for the little girl. She was really sidetracked; she even had to leave the room a couple of times. We had all ready met with the dad and the kids before this night and we knew that they were all good and that they would accept the gospel, the mom was the only one that we were not sure about because we had not met her yet. So basically the mom is the make it or break it one. Eternal family sealed in the temple or not! So we were really hoping that she would be receptive. Especially because troy and the kids were so awesome. So right at the start of the movie I just started praying, I prayed all through out the movie. I was seriously pleading with the lord. That she would feel the spirit and know that these things are true, that despite all of the distractions that she would be able to feel the spirit and be touched by it. I remember actually saying those words. Well the movie finished and we testified and committed them all to pray and ask god if what they saw in the movie really happened. The next day we came by again, opened with a prayer and than asked if they had all prayed. They all had prayed, the mom said that she had a question but that she was embarrassed to ask it. She told us that she didn’t know if it was normal or why she felt the way she did… but that yesterday when she was watching the movie she just felt like crying. Ha-ha it was awesome… so we taught about the fruits of the spirit. God truly answers our prayers and hears our cries. When we are sincere and have faith and our will is aligned with his it will be done. I love this work. Please continue to pray for me and our investigators. I love you all
Hurrah for Israel!!!
Elder Michael Olsen

30 Dec 2009

Hey everyone !
Well it was really cool talking to everyone on Christmas! It sounds like everyone is doing great. I am so happy to be here on a mission. The work right now is going so great! Yesterday we committed a few more people for baptism on January 17th. We should have 7 baptisms on that day! I am really excited. It is going to be stressful getting all of them ready, but I have learned that stress is a gift from god. At least that is how I look at it. When I am stressed I am always on edge. I am always thinking about what I can do to help my investigators progress, my brain never stops thinking, constantly looking for opportunities to share the gospel and bare testimony. It is very tiring but the lord gives me the strength that I need. We have a few other people that are eligible to be baptized on the 17th, one is the Richards family! They are really awesome and they need all the prayers that they can get... So please everyone pray for them. Also the Jimenez family. They have been to church many times. The kids all want to be baptized but the dad will not let them. He is the boyfriend of a member in the ward, and the missionaries have been teaching him and his 3 kids on and off for the last year. But he has read a lot of anti Mormon stuff and he has seen a lot of bad fruits from the church directly in his life. Example… the bishop in his home country Ecuador disappeared with everyone’s tithing money. Just a lot of stuff like that. He says that he really does want to know if it is all true and that he prays but doesn’t get an answer. I committed him to live the law of chastity and than pray to know if it is true. He said that he would do so. Please pray that he will be able to recognize his answer, and that he will have the strength to live the law of chastity. Really the kids would be baptized next Sunday if he would just give them permission. Pray that his heart will be softened and that he will see the truth. Everything is going great! I hope that I will be able to stay here in Jamaica for another transfer… but you never know what the lord has in store. This is my 11th transfer in the mission!! I am getting old… I am going to set a goal to quadruple the number of baptisms that I have had so far before I go home. Please pray that I will continue to be able to find those that are prepared and that they will be led to me and my companion. And please pray for the people to be baptized on the 17th. I love you all and I know that this church is true. I know that families can be together forever! How amazing is that! We are really going to be together as a family forever. That is my favorite thing to teach. Hurrah For Israel!!!
Elder Olsen(michael)

21 Dec 2009

well we had a pretty good week. we got dumped on here with the snow! there is seriously tons.. but it looks like alot of it is going to melt today. my back hurts pretty bad today, we did alot of shoveling yesterday. All of the snow made it really hard for people to come to church(or it just gave them a descent excuse not to come) haha ... we only had 26 people at church yesterday. but we were able to have 8 investigators there! I was calling all of our investigators at around 8 am in the morning to see if they were coming to church. Marcia richards one of our gators told me that she would come but she cant get her car out of the driveway.. so i told her that we were going to be there in 20 minutes to shovel the driveway and get the car out so they could come to church. well i went into the other room to inform my comp and well he was still asleep :( so i had to wait for his slow butt to get ready and it took forever! but oh well.. really though its kind of rediculous what kind of zone leader sleeps in till 8 o clock. so when we finally made it out to our car we realized that we didnt have a shovel and our car was buried with snow. so we ran down the street looking for some one with a shovel, we found one and ran back and dug out our car as fast as we could. when we got to the richards it was about 8:55.. church starts at 9 am. luckily there driveway was not that bad and i was able to shovel it in about 5 minutes but the family was not ready to go yet. so we waited for everyone to get ready which took about 30 minutes and than they followed us to church, marcia drives extremely slow in the snow. she is from jamaica(the island) and probably hasnt experienced much snow driving. so they missed sacrament meeting but made it to the sunday school classes. they liked church alot. after church i was taking marcia around the church and showing her the different pictures and explaining it. when we got to the one portraying the second coming she flipped out. she said that she had seen that before, she was really in shock. she explained to me that 5 or 6 years earlier she had a vision and saw the second coming and she said that is exactly what it looked like. ha it was really awesome! she is really prepared to recieve the gospel. their family is going through some really rough times right now tough. satan is trying everything he can to keep them from the truth. the husband/Dad is in jail on what marcia believes to be false charges, and their house just got forclosed on last friday cause marcia got scammed somehow. big long story but anyways just pray for them. . right now we have 5 baptismal commits for this transfer. and i think that marcia and her kids will accept a date for this transfer this week. we set a goal at the begining of the transfer for 6 baptisms. i think that we will be able to do it. Well we had a zone leader council this week and we talked about the finding missionaires again. it looks like if I do do it i will not be finding all of the time. rather i would be a full time finding trainer, basicly go on one day exchanges with everyone in the mission and train them on how to find more effectively. we are planning on doing a trial transfer next transfer. i guess i can tell you more about it on friday. well please pray for our baptismal commits and those that are really close. i love all of you and i pray for you often. i know this church is true and i love sharing this gospel. pray for these people. (richards fam, Nijiyah edwards and mom, david watson, felicia and saquan bethea, antoinette finley and fam, penny, miranda, JimeneZ family. . thank you i love you
Hurrah For Israel!!
Elder Michael Olsen

Elder Michael Olsen Address

For those of you that would like to send Mikie something for Christmas here is his address..



88-20 parsons blvd, # 4A...

Jamaica,Ny 11432

15 Dec 2009

well we had a good week. it is good to be back here in jamaica, its a little weird being back in a car. i am not able to talk to as many people everyday :( it kinda sucks.. i went from talking to hundreds of people everyday on trains and buses and on the streets to talking to well alot less. but its okay. we just have to set time apart everyday that we can go finding. we were able to commit 3 people for baptism this week. they are all pretty solid. please pray for them, their names are Jijiyah haighs edwards, felicia bethea and antoinette finley. they all need alot of help. so please pray. i know that it will help. my comp is elder good man. i was with him before for 1 transfer when i was here before. I am excited for this transfer. there is alot of potential in this area. and alot of people that i think are prepared to be baptized this transfer. we will just need to work really hard to help them and do everything that we can to keep their commits. Being on a mission has been an interesting thing for me, i just never feel satisfied. i always want more. as i study and apply the atonement in my life everyday i get a stronger desire to do this work better and harder. I feel more and more determined. our zone did okay last transfer, about the average of what this zone usually does. I am hoping to be able to help change that this tranfer. please pray for me and my companion. that we can set the example for the zone. i love you all and hope that you have a great week! Hurrah For Israel.!!!
Elder Olsen

7 Dec 2009

well i am getting transfered after just six weeks here in midwood brooklyn :( its kinda sad, well its really sad. i really love this area and the ward and the people that we are working with. but i guess the good news is that i am going back to jamaica. yup i guess i just took a six week break from jamaica and now im back. there is alot of work that still needs to be done there and so im ready to work hard. I will be with elder goodman whom i was with last transfer. the zone did good last transfer, pretty much the whole zone is changing from what is was when i was there before everyone is getting a new companion. there will only be a few of the same people that were there before. And i will be back in a car :( which means less talking to people and me getting fatter. haha i'll be okay. Mom dont worry about the package that nannie sent, the sign language missionaires can take it to the office for me and ill be able to get it next monday if it arrives by that time. ummm i dont know what other questions that you asked. oh yeah my camera broke!! i know it totally stinks,