WEEKS 32-39

NOVEMBER 24

This week I will have 9 months!! What?!?!?!!? I don;t know where the time went! The weeks go by so fast its not even funny! I have learned a lot in this 9 short but amazing months. I´ve learned how to be paciente, to look at things in different ways, learned how to smile through hard times and the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of us. 

The more I study the plan of happiness and the Gospel the more I can see how much he loves us. He has done sooo many things so we can be forgive of our sins and return to him. Such has having faith in His Son. repentance, baptism which includes receiving the whole Ghost(He tells us what we should do), and the sacrament. But above else He sent His Son to pay the price of our sins. It is through the power of the Atonement that we are cleansed, and we can find happiness once again. During my Thanksgiving meal, Sloppy Joes, I will be giving thanks to my loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son to die for us.

We went to the temple again this week! Ive been through the temple in spanish as many times has in english! This time we had a multi zone training with pres Riggins! He was the director for us, he kept smiling at us during the session. During our training he taught us if we want to defeat the enemy we only 

need to be obedient. It is such a simple fact that sometimes we forget it. He declared repentance in our mission. He is powerful. Above else he is inspired of God. I love my mission pres!

with much love,

Hna Olsen

NOVEMBER 17 

This week has been absolutely amazing!! We were able to go a sealing of a family that hna ori "rescued!" The covenants we make in the temple are so important and the blessings we receive upon or faithfulness are amazing! The knowledge that we have has members of the true church is powerful, inspiring, and gives hope of something great to come after life! My wonderful family, I know with all of my heart that this is the church and only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints we can perform all of the saving ordinances that we need. The Holy Spirit has testified of this truthfulness to me time and time again. And there is nothing better than watching the people you have helped make and keep these covenants!  Im so happy that I know that I will be able to live with my family forever!!  

How are my invests.? Paul from the family Lopez is progressing REALLY GOOD! He already knows the Church is true and is ready for baptism, he only needs 1 more church attendance! His wife due to the time of the year works until 9 at nigh and hasnt been able to listen to us but has a desire to learn more. Richard, he gives me a headache... we will explain one lesson superful powerful, wipe away all of his doubts and the next day we come back its like we didnt even teach him..... Please pray for these invest. We have a couple more these are the ones weare focusing in. 

Another tale from the Gringa in Ecuador: yesterday in ward counsel they asked me to give the closing prayer but in english! I thought "this is my language, I can do this!" but when I gave the prayer i felt like i was 3 yrs old and all of my 19 years of english disappeared!! Oh was my face red! The whole ward counsel laughed along with me after the prayer! The Bishop( his family has adopted us has their kids) ran up to me and said "Can you see your experience now with spanish?" and congratulated me! Hahaa we will see how my spanish at Christmas! 

I love you my dear family! 

Hna Olsen

NOVEMBER 10
Im doing great!! My stomach is fine this week, the members love feeding us so the exces of food made me a little sick.

Our baptisms will be the end of this month or the started of this month. They are progressing but the people here progress slower than the people in the pueblos. 

My comp is from Peru! She is really sweet and we can joke around so its really fun! 

In Alma 26 I read this today:

 1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?

 2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

 3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how manyof them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

 4 Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God.

 5 Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.

 I Love being a missionary! I Love bring people into the fold of God! Sometimes its hard but watching people change makes it all worth it! I get to rejoice everyday in the work of the Lord. My dear family, share the gospel with everybody!! Its addicting!

NOVEMBER 3
Im doing great! Thank you for the recipes! Yes im a little tired of Ecuadorian food! This sector is trying my gringa stomach! Im excited to make some american food! leah´s tummy is cute! Its little too! 

 Halloween isnt huge here like America. The Kids to do trick or treating but not a lot and nobody does pumpkins... I was sad that i couldnt do a pumpkin this year but that´s ok! Its crazy that its already nov! and when we skyp ill have 10 months in the mission! What?! 

We have three invetigatores with a buatismal date! 2 are a married couple with 2 kids and are golden investigatores! The want to be silled(<-- is that rigtht?) in the temple! I heard that Klever in Triunfo is going to be baptized the 15! I might be able to go to his baptism too! I Love being a missionary! Its amazing to watch some one change with the gospel in their lives! I lovge watching people apply the Atonement in their lives and overcome their weaknesses. It may be hard sometimes to be a misionary but its sooo worth it! The blessings we recieve for ourselves, our investigatores and our family makes everything perfect!

OCTOBER 27

We are in summer here! At its defiantly really hot! Hotter than usual... and guayaquil is the hottest place in Ecuador! But luckily we were blessed with like 4 days that were breezy and overcast. But i still sweat like no ones business! The people here are very different. You have to go SLOWLY with them! We had 5 people committed to come to church and none of them came. We went to pick up or "golden family" but they werent even home when we showed up and they were the most excited to come! Its a little frusturating here but i know the success will come!

Today went to "Isal Santay." Its a beautiful, nature place were you rent bikes, and ride along paths and you can see crocs! dont worry they cant get to us, the path is like one huge bridge. It was awesome! I defiantly have the coolest mission ever! 

With all my love!

Hna Olsen!

OCTOBER 20

I'm doing great! We have investigators that are coming along really well! We are working with a lot of less actives too! Its a little harder in Guayacanes but i, learning how to be a better missionary! I cant believe that i already have 8 months! It doesn't feel like it at all... I still remember stepping on the plane to go to Mexico! I feel good with my spanish! My Spanish isnt perfect but its a whole lot better than it was 8 months ago! 

I certainly have learned a lot on my mission and still have a lot to learn! But what i have learned and hope to learn more about is the power of the Atonement. A lot of people think that the Atonement is how we are forgive of our sins but its soo much more than that! There is a healing power that comes from the Atonement. Because our savior felt everything that we have felt and will ever feel he knows how to help us. He is that one person that one "best friend" we can always talk to, that we know he will help us. He can take the worst of the worst and make them the best of the best. He is always waiting with his arms wide open to comfort us! I have also learned how merciful our Heavenly father is! He gives us every chance (more than me deserve too) to repent and come unto Him. He wants ALL of our us, His children to come back to Him
Love

Hermana OIsen

OCTOBER 13

Well this week has been better! This week i had a companion exchange for a day. Every once and a while you have a companion exchange with the sister training leader so you can learn new things and she can help you if you need it. We were able to teach a lot that day, which lifted my spirits and i was able to refocus! We finally have some people to teach! we have like 3 families, one single, and A LOT of less actives! The Lord is blessing us for our efforts. Thank you for all the prayers which are offered in our behalf, they help more than you guys can know!! 

So I taught someone in english!! Well kinda of.... We found some one how was born here moved to New York when he was 4 and has lived there for years! So he speaks english and prefers english. i started explaining the restoration but he had other family members there and i felt bad speaking a language that the rest of his family cant understand. So I asked him if I could teach in Spanish, he said yes. As soon as we started teaching in spanish his Evangelic parents jumped in and well it went south from there.. they only like to bible bash. So we started our testimonies about the restoration, invited them to church and left. Oh well, he said he´s going to find missionaries in the stated when he goes back tomorrow.

The pic says: Here we are Catholics and we are not going to change religion. our parents were Catholics, we will always be Catholics. Please don't insist.

It just makes the mission a little bit more interesting!

OCTOBER 6

I don't know if you got my last email but I got transferred to Guayacanes in Guayaquil! The people here are really hard because they haven't been humbled by poverty... but that just means ill learn how to be a better missionary!

I don't know how Klever´s doing but i sure hope he will get baptized, i work soo hard with him! 

I loved GC!! I listen to all of it in Español! Pues, hablo espñol! I loved how much they focused on listening to the prophet! Having a Prophet is what makes us sooo different from the rest of the churches! We are so blessed to have a prophet in the Earth that receives direct revelation from God Himself. 

SO these last two weeks in Guayacanes have been they hardest weeks of my mission. The people here don't want anything to do with another religion that isn't their own.ESPECIALLY the Mormons. Haha a couple funny stories. We got contacted by Jehovah Witnesses! We were getting ready to do our weekly planning session when we heard a knock on our door. Hna Orihuela looked out the window and said "Hna the Jehovah Witnesses are outside go talk to them!" I thought this will be interesting... Long story short, the conversation was going just fine until we disagreed about if Jesus has a body or not. This 50 yr old JW spoke with the face of the devil! "Where does it say that in the bible, show me in the bible!!!" WE started explaining one verse in John but before we could even read the verse "but in 1 Peter it says that he is a spirit!!" I was thinking, "well is you would stop talking we could teach you the truth!" 

The other story: we walked by one house with their door opened they said hello to us so I decided to contact them. I tried asking them where a certain address was but before I could even finish asking my question the old man said: "no, hay nadie" (No one's here.) Uhhh... I can see you...

Thank you, my dear family and friends, for all of your support and love and prayers! I pray that all is well with you guys! 

Love,

Hna Olsen

WEEKS 25-31

WEEK 31

So last week while i was in the cyber around 3pm my zone leaders called me and told us that Hna Orihuela and i have transfers! What?!?!?! We got tansfered together to Guayacanes, Guayaquil.... we are openig a sector together here. so we dont have any one to teach... we contact all day long... and thats not easy here. All the house have litterally walls infront of their house with little windows. so they dont have to leave if they dont want to. the people here are not humble like my last two sectors The people here are a lot harder and dont like to listen! We knock a door, introduce oreselves and they say like 80% of the time "im Cathlic(christian, evangelico, etc) and im strong in my religion, and i rather not talk about your faith." and then theyslam the door! but the members here are great and my mission leader is awesome!

 They are taking all of the Hermanas out of the branches( like were i was in Triunfo) and putting only Elders inthe branches. 

So yesterday our mission leader accompanied us so we could find the conversos and less actives. We passed one mane who was like 50 years old and he said, "where did this doll come from?" referring to me, we just kept walking and he continued to say "I will love you in silence." This line tops all the rest! Let me tell you, its not boring being a gringa in Ecuador! 

One the more spiritual side I have really gained a testimony about our loving Heavenly Father and his plan for us. During this last week we contacted a lady whose husband passed away sometime ago and she cried while talikng about it. I beared testimony about the plan of salvation and how see could see her husband agian. but all I could do was smile while doing it because i knew what i was saying was true! Then agian today during my personal study I was reading in Abraham about how God stood in the midst of the noble and great ones. All I could feel while i was reading these verse was that I was noble and great in the pre-existence. Maybe not apart of that group but Heavenly Father choose me to fulfil something here in ecuador. WE all play an important part in Heavenly Fathers plan. May we all strive to do our part!

With all my love!

Hna Olsen

WEEK 30

Im doing great! Klever had an interview for his bauptism and he came out point at me with a phamplet of the word of wisdow and said determinedly "youre going to be my Godmother." Haha ive explianed to him that we dont do that but he still says it! He REALLY REALLY wants to be baptized! Ive been working with him the whole time ive been here and its a miracle that he is going to be baptized! 

We have other investigatores, we are still working with the lady from 666 and im teaching pretty much the whole entire fsmily of the president of the branch here. We have a tons of less actives. Its hard to balance out the investigatores, the converts, and the less actives.

The people here in triunfo are soo loving. Random people i judt meet will give us food and the miembers always want to have dinner with us, so there is now way im going to loose wieght here!

Funny story from earlier today. So its rude here not to say "buenas tardes( manaña or noche) to someone even if you pass them in the street. So we were walking to go buy are food for the week and I said buenas tardes to some random guy and all he says, in english, "white girl" Hahaha we laughed so hard! The poeple here think its impressived to speak in english to me but that was the first time I heard
"white girl!" 

Im also very grateful for parents who tuaght me how to work. Last Tuesday we did a service project, under the HOT Ecuador sun, bagging huge bag full of sand. One of the Elders here ask me how Iearned to work so hard, needless to say i impressed some of the Elders. I truely am born from goodly parents, thank you mom and dad!

I Love you all

Hermana Olsen

WEEK 28

Hello!!

I have a new companion! Hermana Orihuela, she is from Lima, Peru. She has 15 months in the mission. She was in my Zona pack in quevedo so were already friends and are really excited to be comps!

We had a baustism Saturday, Veronica Macías! She was very excited to get bautized! My investigador from 666 is doing great! She loves learning and going to church but she wasnt able to go to church last Sunday and now see cant get bautized until the second saturday of the next month. We have new bautismal rules: 3 church attendance for all three hours, one Sunday has to be a Fast Sunday, they have to fast and give fast offering. It makes the work a little harder but we will have convierts and not bautisms. 

So... I left the mission field this week for like 5 hours... calm down! I had permission! haha We had a meeting for all the sister missionaries in the house of pres and hna Riggins and they live just the tiniest bit out of the boundries! But something i learned was that Christ ask us to come unto Him and to be perfected by Him. Everyone knows that. But how we are perfected by Him is that he gives us weaknesses and trails so that we have to rely on Him and His Atonement to overcome our trails. There is no other way we can be perfected. Christ came to earth so that He would now how to help us in the flesh; so He could experience what we experience. SO that He could take upon Him the sins off the world so we can have a forgiveness of our sins. But through the power of the Atonement we can also turn our weaknesses into strengths. It Is only through Christ we can ever became better. That one day we can become everything that God sent us to become. I will never be able to doubt this. I have seen the healing power in the lifes of my investigadores and myself. Everyday is a new day to perfect ourselves in Christ! 

Love,

Hermana Olsen

WEEK 26

Its crazy that i have 6 months already!! 

The work here is going great! We went to the temple with our branch and it was fantastic! I uploaded pics to dropbox!

To answer your questiones: yes i have a shower but its ice cold and it will always be, where i live is the city and the roads are  cement, the side roads are dirt our sometimes brick. 

we have a new rule that we have to do 10 contacts each day and wednesday we only contact all day long. So i have gotten pretty good at contacting. One night there was a man that was smoking and we were waiting for someone, so i told my comp that i wantedto contact this guy and give him a paphlet of the word of wisdom. She said if i did she would by me a hambruger. So I did it. It was so funny! when we walked up to him he looked at us with these big wide eyes, looked at his cig and then dropped it; we hadnt said a word yet either! but we explianed the WoW a little and gave him a pamphlet. He say he smokes because he´s stressed so we explianed to himthat he can get rid of his stress by praying and how to pray. 

But the awesome thing about all of this is that before we said anything he could tell that we were someone that he should have respect for. It amazes me that as a 19 year old girl I have the power and authority of God to help peolpe and to change lives. I teach people that are 2 or three times my age but they can see that as missionaries, we have something that they need! I love sharing the gospel! 

Love you lots!!!

Hermana Olsen

WEEK 25

WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! Finally! So Triunfo is an hour away from Guayaquil and my sector is huge!!!! I have a lot of "campo" in my sector with alot of cows on the side of the road just chilling there! My first day we went 45 minutes away(to Bucay) from like our main sector to go teach Miguel, the one that got baptized, and appearntly there is still a little bit more of our sector. Out in Bucay it is so green and beautiful, there are moutians and rivers, and its nice and a little bit cooler! We have 3 other people with dates right now and working with two other families that we hope to set a date with soon!

Hermana Chil is awesome! She has 15 months in the mission and is an excellent teacher! We are getting along great! The members are fantastic here! Im morking in a branch of around 125 members. The branch pres only has like a year as a member. The church is still growing here. Right now im the music condutor(or wahtever you call it). HAHA Ecuadorians dont know how to sing.. you can ask any gringo and they would tell you the same! But I love my Ecuadorian Brothers and sisters, they are like sponges and soak everything up! They love learnig new hymns and how to do things! The mebers have welcome me in with welcoming arms. The YW love giving me hugs and just stay there for awhile or play with my hair. There is one member, Hna Elizabeth, who is like our mom her accpeted me the first day when usually takes a coupke of days. When hna Chil asked her which of the 3 Guayaquils missions was the best Hna Elizabeth said "None, except Hna Olsen!"   

So this week has been really busy! Transfers(with only an hours notice), a couple of trips to Bucay to teach Miguel and help`build his house(thats right I know how to build a house well mas o menos), a couple of trips to and from Guayaquil, we did a session with 2 other zones. And guess what?! I DID IT ALL IN SPANISH!!! I have such a great love for Pres and Hna Riggins! When I made it into the celestial room and saw them standing there waiting to greet us as we made it through for a moment they reminded me of the frist time i made it into the celestial room and saw my mom and dad standing there waiting for me! Pres Riggins with a big and proud smile on his face shook my hand and said "thats right you shake that hand gril, you did it in spanish! among other kind and encouraging words! Haha love him! Hermana Riggins pulled me into a warm embrace, I love her lots too! Later day when we were say goodbye Hermana Riggins wishpered in my ear "Usted es tan buena" or in ingles you are really amazing! I have been privileged to build a relationship with Hna Riggins! I love my Mission! 

This week the Lord has allowed me to feel a great love for the people here in Triunfo! At times I have wanted to cry because of the love that was burning in my heart! I have a feeling that something great is going to happen here! I know that Im suppose to be here and I cant wait to see what happens here!

I have a testimony of the Priesthood. The Priesthood is literaly the power and authority to act in Gods names. EVerything that we do, every coveant we make is possible because of the Priesthood. Without the Priesthood in the earth we litterally could not have our salvation. We could not bautize or make coveants in the temple. And without these coveants we cannot gain our exaltation or have eternal families. As it says in DyC, Joseph Smith as done more for the world than anyother person besides Jesus Cristh. This is so true. Through Joesph Smith the Priesthood was restored on the earth. Without him we would still be walking in darkness and our souls would be lost. I am so grateful that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, this is his church. It is not a church of some random man. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints is the only true church, the only church that has all of the Gospel truths and the most important thing, the only church that has His authority and power. Im so grateful to a repersentative of JesusChrist and His church.

Hermana Olsen

Pictures of Kendall! Looks like she is having fun!

Weeks 16-24

Here are some updates from Kendall's letters for the past number of weeks...I will not count how many :

WEEK 24
I got transferred!!!!!!

Right now I'm in a place called Triunfol! My new comp is Hermana Chil. She is from Florida but her parents are from Peru and Dominic Republic. Another gringa companion, but she looks Latina! I don't have a lot of time to right but I'm doing great and excited to work in a new place! There will be news and pics next week! Thank you for all of your love and support! 

I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us and there is a reason for everything. Why we are in a certain place, why we are in the family we are in, and everything that we experience. There is no doubt in my mind that I'm here in Ecuador for a reason. I'm so very grateful that I am a missionary! That my job is to preach the gospel! We are so very blessed as members of the church to have the truth of the gospel! Ive seen the atonement change lives. The Atonement is so much more than a cleansing of sins but a power to change us. To make us better people! I know that my Savior lives and that families are forever because of Him!

WEEK 23

Everything is going good here in Quevedo. We contacted two girls in the street and got to know their family. It turns out the dad is an inactive member and was baptized with 12 of his siblings. He says he doesn't remember why he stop going to church, so we are going to work with him(Miguel) and his wife(Gina) and his daughter(Angie) and his niece(Melissa). Angie and Melissa came to church with us Yesterday and accepted a bautismal date right there in the church! We meet them saturday night and just got to know them, and did "how to begin teaching" which is we pretty much just present what we do as missionaries and how their lives will be blessed by the gospel. Then sunday morning we decided to stop by their house by surprise and invite them to Church(which would start in only an hour) and they said Yes! We were having a hard time just to commit our other invests. to come to church when they had time to plan for it, and Angie and  Melissa only had an hour notice! I feel good with this family! 

   Some times the work is hard but it is so worth it! Im so grateful to be working here in Ecuador! This next week I'm probably going to be a trainer! We are having like 30 new missionaries coming in. like 3 weeks ago all the missionaries had interviews with pres Riggins and in my interview he asked me if I was ready to train. I said If its what the Lord wants me to do, I am! Then he wrote down by my name "ready to train." So we will see what happens! 

   SO I live in a 3rd world country, right? I had the "amazing" opportunity to eat COW STOMACH! It is EXTREMELY chewy. Luckily it was prepared well and drowned in the peanut butter like sauce. Do i want to eat it again? No.

 
WEEK 22

So we are still trying to find new people to teach. We are working with a lot of less/inactive members. There are like 300 inactive members in my ward. Yes three hundred. finding them is half the battle. They dont have addresss here like USA. this is an address for example: by the school "Issac Montes," Street O(we are lucky if we get a street name), blue house, in front of a big tree. One thing, like maybe every third street is marked and no one knows street names and there are like 6 blue houses in every street. You walk around the area asking random people if they know the person you are looking for and most of the time they dont. Or they live in the other ward or they moved. Once you find them(sometimes it can takes an hour) you talk with them why they left church, if they have family members we can teach and you have to discern if its their time to come back. You can usually get a feel if its time in the frist lesson, if not the second. But one awesome experience that we had was we spent like a good half hour looking for some one and we could tell once we found her(Laura) it was her ime. She left the church becuase she had heard some things that werent true. In that first visit when we were clearing up here doubts the spirit was so strong. she started to cry and she told us that she knows the church is true! We are working with her son, who is inactive, and his significant other and they have three Kids together. The mom wants to better her family and has an interset in our message.

I have learned some much in these last 5 months! But the thing i have learned the most is that we cant do anything with out the help of the Lord. HE is their in every moment of our lives we just have to trust in Him and heed His warings. I know with all of my heart that the Church is true. I know that only through our loving Savior that we can overcome all things! And because of His Atonement and power we will all live agian; but we determine if we are going to be happy in the next life. WE do that by keeping the commandments. 

I love you guys so much!

WEEK 21

So this week hasn't been that great far as investigatores.... We have dropped a lot of people... Including karen and Jennifer...... :(Niether of their dads want them to be baptized right now. But I have faith that in the future they will be baptized. We litterally spend all day now looking for new people to teach, Its not fun, but i still love my mission! 

we had an amazing oppourtunity to work with Hermana Riggins!! She accompanied us while Pres Riggins was in a priesthood meeting! She is abousetly amazing, and her life storing is inspiring! She is so down to earth and I love her a lot!

We played volleyball today with our elders abd it was so much fun! With our last pres we were not allowed to. All of the elders are super funny and cool. We are like a family! 

Thank you for sending all the stuff! Im looking forward to it!! Tell Mckay that I love her and to keep studying the scrpitures! It will be good for her to focuse on piano if she gets called foriegn... they dont know how to play down here... Haha they singing is pretty fantastic too!! They have their own way of singing the hymns! 

Thank you for all your love and support! Love you guys lot!!!

 WEEK 20

I'm doing great!! The days are long and the weeks are short. Im still with Hermana Scott! Its rare when you stay with you're trainer for more then your training but I love working with her! So right now we are kinda in a stand still... we have dropped a lot of our investigators because they are not progressing, and we are working a lot with the members so we can have new people to teach.(ps help the sisters out and give them some of your friends to teach). Jeniffer, is living with her aunt right now who is a member, and we have been teaching for like 3 weeks now, that's a long time. She has a date for the 24th but she wasn't able to talk with parents this week and she cant until the 26th.... which means she probably will not be baptized on her date.... This makes me sad. She is so amazing and she understands everything we teach her and she knows the church is true but she wants the support of her parents. Her parents live like 3 hours away in the "campo" and its almost impossible to get a cell signal out there so we are going to have to wait.

  we are still teaching Karen, Wagner, and her mom, Mayra, and they're coming along nicely!

Our mission pres and his wife are awesome!!!!! They are very personable and caring. His wife served a mission in Mexico so she speaks Spanish. Pres Riggins is so wise in regard to the gospel! We have a new baustimal "rule." We always have to ask, whether we just contacted or its the first lesson, "As you come to  know what we are teaching are true will you be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ?" If they say no we drop them right then and there. Of course we ask them why and try to help them with any doubts but if they still say no, we drop them. The Lord is really hastening the work and there is no time at all to waste. 

   I love being a missionary. I love studying and teaching the gospel all day long! I know that this is the only true Church on the earth and the only church that holds all the keys of the Priesthood. There is truly a hunger for the gospel that everyone has, some people don't realize it but its there. I testify that if you pray, study the scriptures, and attend church every Sunday that there is no trail that you cant overcome. I'm so grateful for my Savior. It is only through him that we can have peace in this life and the next to come.

WEEK 19

We having been working really hard this week. we have a lot of referrals from the people in the ward and people we have meet in the street and the investigators we have been teaching. Remember Karen? it turns out her mom is a member, she was baptized when she was 13! So we are working with the both of them and also here little brother(Wagner) who also has a baptismal date! We have another Family, the San Lucas family. Edith the mom, Edith the daughter(16) and María(13). We have tried to teach the dad too but he always escapes when we come. The mom is amazing, she already believes that the church is true, from the very frist lesson. we tuaght them The plan of salvation first, and Edith(the mom) said she was laying in bed thinking about everything we taught her and was talking to her husband about it and even prayed about it! The only problem is that they are really strong in their religion and are a little scared to change their lifes but we are working with them! 

I love being a missionary! All the hard work is worth it! my Spanish is coming along really well! My zone leader told me he is really impressed with my spanish and said that there are a lot of gringos that have 8 months in the mission that are just beginning to speak as well as i do! HECK YA! 

WEEK 18
The work is going really good!!!!! We have 5 people with a bapt. date for the next two saturdays!! One was suppose to get baptized last saturday, bryan palma, but it didnt work that sat so it will be this saturday with a girl named Nicole. Her mom(Glenda) actually wanted to speak with us! we were talkng with a member and said that there was a lady that wanted to talk to us so we went over and started talking with her and started teaching the first lesson but the spirit just wasnt there and the lesson was just not going good.... she had to take a phone call all during it, the moment she walk away hna scott and I looked at each other and both said that it wasnt working out. When she got back I felt like I should ask her why she wanted to talk with us and she explained that she has a daughter (nicole) that she is worried about especially with her boyfriend and she wants us to talk to her. SO that's what we did! -nicole is awesome! I asked her to be baptize our very first lesson and she was about to say yes when her whole family came storming in... totally ruined the spirit!! But we were able to teach her the next day and thats when she accept a date!!
    we also have another family that is bien Catholic. We have only been able to teach the dad once. But we have taught the mom, and 2 out of 4 kids. One has special needs the other is always at college but has gone to church with his friends in another ward. They have two daughters Cynthia and Laidy. Cynthia is so escogida(choosen)!!!!!!! We extend a baptismal date for the whole family like a week ago, none of them accept they all said they want more time. But when Cynthia explianed why she didnt want to accpet then she said she want more time but that she felt this peace and tranqulidad(i forgot how to spell that in eng.) when we come and she was crying! BUT we set a date with Her and Laidy Sunday for the 28th!! what is even crazy id that Cynthia said she had prayed about baptism and then dreamed about getting baptized! and then we ask her to be baptized!! The Lord truly does work in mysteripus ways!!
   The last person we have is named Kelvin. We have only taught him about the sabbath day and invited him to church. After church we were talking with him about it and he said that he felt good and peaceful here. So i asked him to be baptized for the 28th of this month and he said YES!!
  The church is so true! You dont need to know everything about it to want to be apart of it! There is nothing like being a missionary and I love it!!!   


WEEK 17

Hello!!

Im officially out of my training!!!!!!! I could train a new missionary if they asked me too! Im still with Hna Scott, I love her lots!! We are like best friends! Pres Riggins(our new pres) comes tomorrow and we get to meet him Friday! 

  Hna Scott and I are working hard. We teach all day long, walking around 10 miles a day! I love being a missionary, it brings me so much joy! A couple of days ago we ran into a old investigator, Karen. When we were frist meet her she accepted a baptsimal date right then and there. But we were never able to teach her because she was never in her house and never came to church, this was over a month ago. We ran into her acouple of days ago and said that "I want to go to your church." She was able to attend church with us Sunday, and she accepted a date to be baptized the 17 of July! But we still need to get the permission  of her parents... Her mom is really nice so hopefully that will be easy! we are teaching a lot of people but she and Jennifer are the only one with dates right now.

 
WEEK 16
All of our previous baptisms have dropped because once agian nobody came to church..... but we found a family who seems really promising and we do have a girl named Jennifer who has a date(she was the only one that came to church) and a another guy named Luis Vergara who were are teaching but he works A LOT and is really hard to find.  

  Because we had like none of our investigators come to church and Nicole disappeared I was really sad on Sunday before church. But during Sacrament meeting as I watched Bryan Palma being sustained to receive the priesthood, Bryan Bravo passing the Sacrament, Virgina is now the 2nd counselor in RF, and one of our really less active coming back to church for the first time, I was filled with joy that I was able to help these people that I have truly come to love. I may not be having the success I wish for but the Lord has helped me and He will continue to help. 

  I testify that this church is true and that it is the only church that has the authority of God. The Atonement is powerful. Ive seen it change people and through the Atonement everything we do, all the covenants we make, in the church are made possible. I love being a missionary!

Momma's behind!

Oh my goodness! It has been over a month since I have updated Kendall's blog! Call me a slacker-Momma! Go ahead, I will own the title! Here are some updates from Kendall:

Week 16

SO this week was a hard week. But also rewarding. So we had the baptism for Bryan Palma on saturday and he was confrimed on Sunday. All the other baptism we had planned for the next two saturdays dropped becuase none of them attend church! I was so sad sunday.... Invests have to have 2 or 3, depending on age, church atendance before the can be baptized and since it was father´s day none of them could come to church. We went to all of their house to try to get them to come, some had already left to spend time with their dads or were about to leave. But when I watch Bryan get confirmed it made the day a little better. We work so hard with that kid! We begged him to come to church one time and did everything we could to make feel redy for baptism. Our hard work paid off with him.

Week 15
The work is going really good!!!!! We have 5 people with a bapt. date for the next two saturdays!! One was suppose to get baptized last saturday, bryan palma, but it didnt work that sat so it will be this saturday with a girl named Nicole. Her mom(Glenda) actually wanted to speak with us! we were talkng with a member and said that there was a lady that wanted to talk to us so we went over and started talking with her and started teaching the first lesson but the spirit just wasnt there and the lesson was just not going good.... she had to take a phone call all during it, the moment she walk away hna scott and I looked at eachother and both said that it wasnt working out. When she got back I felt like I should ask her why she wanted to talk with us and she explianed that she has a duaghter(nicole) that she is worried about especially with her boyfriend and she wants us to talk to her. SO thats what we did! -nicole is awesome! I asked her to be baptize our very first lesson and she was about to say yes when her whole family came storming in... totally ruined the spirit!! But we were able to teach her the next day and thats when she accpet a date!!
    we also have another family that is bien Catholic. We have only been able to teach the dad once. But we have tuaght the mom, and 2 out of 4 kids. One has special needs the other is always at college but has gone to church with his friends in another ward. They have two daughters Cynthia and Laidy. Cynthia is so escogida(choosen)!!!!!!! We extend a baptismal date for the whole family like a week ago, none of them accept they all said they want more time. But when Cynthia explianed why she didnt want to accpet then she said she want more time but that she felt this peace and tranqulidad(i forgot how to spell that in eng.) when we come and she was crying! BUT we set a date with Her and Laidy Sunday for the 28th!! what is even crazy id that Cynthia said she had prayed about baptism and then dreamed about getting baptized! and then we ask her to be baptized!! The Lord truly does work in mysteripus ways!!
   The last person we have is named Kelvin. We hace only tuaght him about the sabbath day and invited him to church. After church we were talking with him about it and he said that he felt good and peaceful here. So i asked him to be baptized for the 28th of this month and he said YES!!
  The church is so true! You don't need to know everything about it to want to be apart of it! There is nothing like being a missionary and I love it!!!  


Week 14

We have been working really hard this week! We had plan to baptize like 7 people this upcoming Saturday but only one progressed...

His name is Bryan Palma and he´s 16. It was super easy getting permission! We basically said to the mom ''we need your permission to baptize your son, here's the paper, you can read it and think about it for as long as you want.'' she look at it and then ask for a pen!! Hahaha that never happens! My comp and I were in amazement! We teach two of his older siblings but they are not progressing. We are also teaching his Best friend Yohan. We couldnt get permission for him. We talked to his dad that had the lessons when he was younger but his parents said that they want their son(the dad) to have more knowledge before he gets baptized and thats the same excuse he gave for Yohan. Yohan is so chosen you can tell he truely believes! He is always happy to see us and always reads the part of the BOM we leave for him to read and when we ask him to pray about something he does it! Investigators rarely always do the things we ask them to do the very next time we see them.  So we are going to teach his family and work with them until we can baptize them all!!

Week 13
So we have set 5 baptismal dates! 4 of which needs permission from parents.... that can be hard! 3 of those is a group of boys that we have only contacted and invited to church. When we showed up to their house to bring them to church they were waiting for us!! that never happens! we usually have to wake our investigators! They then excepted their baptsimal dates at church when they were interviewed by our zona leader... we also never interview our investigators that soon! We have only taught them about about the sabath day! That was a miracle! 

Week 12
Hello!!

Im doing perfect!! Dont worry about me!!

Thank you for sending all that stuff for me! I cant wait to get it! We have been really busy teaching new people. I dont have any stories to share from this week. oh!! I had to give a talk in church yesterday! Everyone said that I did really good and that they could understand everything I said! They say that my spanish is getting really good!

Week 11
This last week we had two baptism! Yuri and Bryan, they are some of the coolest guys I know. We also worked the hardest with them. When they were baptized my eyes got all teary because I could see "the fruits" of my labor! There is no greater work then bringing people to Christ. There is nothing more amazing then watching lives change. Im so grateful to be a missionary! There is no doubt in my mind that the Atonement is real, and that it is for everyone.

With these last two baptism, we now have to find a new group of people to teach! Just means spending more time walking in the sun and getting even tanner! ;) Haha

Please pray that we will find a family!

Speaking of families, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! Mine was! It was so great to be able to talk to my family!

Week 10
Ok so my week! We had another baptism! Karla, she is only 9 years old but her mom is a member. She is the cutest little thing ever. Some times she get a little frustrated with my Español, its kinda funny! All the members in my ward say that my Spanish is so much better than when i first came so i guess I'm doing good! I bore my testimony in church this fast Sunday, i made some people cry!

We have two baptism set for Saturday! One of them we have to get permission for because he is only 17, we almost had to drop him. The moment i meet him I wanted him to get baptized! When he had his interview he still wasn't sure if he want to get baptized but when he came out he was so excited to be baptized! Its crazy to watch the gospel change lives even in just an hour! the church is so true! 

This week was a safe week and i didn't almost get robbed! The lord has my back 'worry! even during that moment I felt calm.

Week 9--3-2-3-2

This is why I call this post 3-2-3-2:
3rd Baptism, 2 months down, 3 weeks in Ecuador and two experiences with robbers :) (not what Mom wants to hear about!)

This week I had my third baptism and completed 2 months in the mission and 3 weeks in Ecuador! I love the people here. They are very friendly and open to learning new things.

This week I had a crazy experience! I almost got robbed twice... and it all happened within like 10 minutes! Don't worry, I'm fine! The Lord protects His missionaries! So this is the story:

We were going to go talk with an Investigator to see how he was doing with his upcoming bapt. date this Saturday. His mom is super Catholic and he is worried what his mom is going to think. He is in his early 20s. The area where he lives is the more dangerous part of my area. There are tons of robbers there. While we were walking there we ran into a group of three guys, on of which my trainer knows from before I came. The convo was friendly but the way my comp was talking to them seemed different. (I can understand alot more spanish then I can actually speak but i cant understand everything yet) once we said goodbye and walked away I asked her what happened. She said "that group are robbers, I was making friends with them in hopes they don't rob us." 

   So we finally get to the Investigators house and we see that they the group of boys had been following us and were coming our way. WE had been knocking on the door trying to get inside but no one was home! so we gave up and decided to hurry over to a couple down the street to talk with them so the group of guys wouldn't try to rob us. This whole time we are praying for safety and help. we were not going to make to the couple in time but luckily we were able to stop a random man that had just turned down the street right by us. The group of guys walked away but watching us the whole time. We contacted this random man and once we were done another guy came running out of his house, yelling "Hermanas, Hermanas!"

    WE started talking to this man like the first, just talking about the gospel like good missionaries, the moment the first man was out of ear shout the man stop his sentence bad said "do you know who you were talking to? He's a bad guy, he's a robber! I felt like I had to come out her to save you!" 

  The man then walked us out of the area to a safer part.

This whole time I felt super uneasy and like I had to get out of there. The whole time I was praying that the Lord would send us someone to help. The very moment that man ran out I felt save. He wasn't a member and we will teach him with someone to accompany us in that area.

The Lord loves all us His children. Trust in Him and he will keep you safe both temporarily and spiritually! 

Love Hermana Olsen

    

 What missionary work looks like---

                                                               Learning Spanish

Much needed relief!!!

Week 8 -- Life in Ecuador-- rain, humidity and another baptism

Quevedo is great!! I can understand most of what is being said but im still learning how to speak! So we get feed lunch by the members everday. basically we have some kind of soup with a hunch of meat in it and then lots of rice with another hunch of meat on top.... I eat that everyday! We have like 10 investigators! We had another baptism this week! Her name is Virginia and she is super awesome. At first she was super catholic, she wouldn't even read our pamphlets but slowly she started to be more interested and she loves being a member! I dont not have hot water.... needless to say my showers are short... Its super humid! I dont wear my hair down ever because its too hot and im like always sweaty! the rain come randomly but you can usually tell if its going to rain like im pretty sure its going to rain today! so there are a lot of Jehova witnesses here and they always carry around umbrellas so we are not allowed to use umbrellas.... 

   I didnt even know it was easter... so I guess they dont celebrate it. 

 

                                                           Virginia's baptism

                                                     

First area-Quevedo, Ecuador-Week 7 and a baptism already!

So I'm in Quevedo, Ecuador! its great out here mom! the members are so welcoming and feed us lunch every day! I love the food here.... but not the fish, luckily I've only had it once! My trainer is Hermana Scott! She is from Ohio and super sweet and loving! She has been out for 6 months now. she is helping me with my Spanish! 

So i have some cool stories for you! so we had a lesson with a lady for the very first time (on my very first day) and I'm still learning the language so my comp does most of the teaching but at the end I felt STRONGLY impressed to share my favorite scripture with her which his 2 Nephi 22:2 after I shared it I testified about it and why it is my fav and I started crying and she was crying! She felt the spirit sooo strong It was amazing! 

we had a baptism on Saturday! my first baptism! when I got there Jorge Peña, the guy that got baptized already had like all of the lessons and a date. I only taught him one lesson but I love him and his wife which was less active until they started having the lesson. My comp said that when they started teaching them, Jorge would not look at them but now he is baptized! haha ive only known them for a week but they already love me so I count him as my baptism! that was my week!!

I love you so very much mom and very grateful for all that you have given me! 

Hermana Olsen arrives in Ecuador! -- April 9

                                                   Kendall with Pres. Amaya and his wife
                                                         and the other new missionaries

                                                Kendall with President and Sister Amaya

                                               Kendall and her first companion and trainer
                                                                        Hermana Scott

Kendall is off to Ecuador!

Left for Ecuador Monday, April 7. Flying all night with a layover in Columbia to arrive

in Ecuador mid-morning on the 8th.

Safe travels Hermana Olsen!

 

 

Last week in the CCM

It's my last Pday in the CCM!!! Its crazy how fast these 6 weeks have gone by! My last week has been the same old thing for me.... learn Spanish, teach my "progressing investigator," coaching, and countless hours of studying. But there is nothing Id rather do!  

      If there is anything that I've learned while being here is that through Christ you can do all things but you can not do anything with out Him. There have been so many times while I have been teaching that I sent a silent pray to our Padre Celestial begging for Him to help me with Español. He always answers. But He only answers according to my faith. I have to open my mouth first, saying what I do know and then He will make up the rest. If we want something we have to act in faith first and then He will give us what we need or strengthen us. Rely on the Lord and He will help you!

   I'll be in Ecuador this Tuesday and my mission will really begin! I cant wait to be there with all of my brothers and sisters! I got an email from a friend in the Quito mission, right above me. This is what he said, "Let´s see... Ecuador is not what I thought it would be, I knida pictured like jungle and animals and things like that but it´s really not. A lot of cities in the Quito mission haha. It´s still pretty awesome! You always have soup, before every meal that you eat when you don´t cook. And I´ve never used anything other then a spoon to eat here. The people are so sweet and just want to feed you all the time. You see people in total poverity just giving you so much. Such a humbling experience." I cant wait to be with these amazing and giving people!

     Thank you for all your guys support and prayers!

 

Love,

Hermana Olsen!