FEBRUARY- WEEKS 49-52

FEBRUARY 23
One year.... WHAT?!?!?!

I refused to say i have one year... The time has gone by way toooooooo fast!! I LOVE my mission!!! I have learned, and changed a lot!! I'm never coming home!! Well... maybe to hold lil baby Lincoln.. but only for that! But that will have to wait. haha! Ive been praying for them and im glad to hear that he has turned!

Transfers are into 2 mondays.. I'm sure that ill have transfers.. i have like 5 months here! I love this ward, its my favorite!!! I have been accepted into many families here! Some of my greatest accomplishments are here too! I'm positive that hna Whisenant will train! Nothing is for sure but I would not doubt it at all! She is a fantastic missionary! 

We should have a baptism Saturday, Fredy Saenz de Viteri. He{s like 65 something years. He knows the church is true and has a strong testimony! His family are members and has waited for years for missionaries to ask him to be baptized and well his time has finally come! He is going to have interview tomorrow. Pray for him! 

Paul was confirmed Sunday! He was one of my first contacts and invest here! I always said that i will not leave this sector until he gets baptized, and it happened!! 

How are you doing mom? You never tell me about yourself! I love you lots and i am very grateful for the example you have set for me! 

Love 

Hna Olsen

FEBRUARY 16
Hello!!!

I got the package and the cards!! THank you soo much!! I loved it! Me and Hna Green(one of the other sisters) enjoyed the fact that everything was my favorite color but just in different shades!! Im enjoying my new shoes, they fit perfectly! I think that the first shoes were a mircale for Hna Whisenant, she didnt have good walking shoes. She picked up the language really fast!!

Best part of the week was that Diana Peñaherrera went to the temple and we were able to go with her! I cried as i watched her do the baptisms for the dead! She is progressing fantasticly and it amazes me how strong her testimony is!!

Worst part of the week..... was that Paul couldn't come to church to get confirmed..... He did get baptized just not confirmed....

Leah is huge!!! I love it!! How lil baby licoln doing??? Is he turning? I pray for him and Leah, a lot! 

Keep working with the 15 yr old! Keep up the good work!

Love hna olsen!!

FEBRUARY 9
HOLA!

What im 20?!?!?! 

I had a great birth day! the day and night before i was sick but the sisters took really good care of me and i was able to be healthy for my bday! I had a fever and a sore body... and well im not sleep well at nights.. At the end of the day the fam Valverde threw a surprise bday party for me! I got an awesome captain america shirt taht says "Capitana Olsen" on the back! We had cake and my converts were there! It was soo sweet! I heard you guys celebrated my birthday without me at Red Robins?! What is this? I want some red robins! 

Pual is still looking forward to his baptism on the 14! Pray for him though he´s going through a really hard time! Gabriel, Luis, and Diana are doing great! If you could also pray for Richard that would be awesome because he needs help too.

With all my love! 

Hna Olsen

FEBRUARY 2

Hola!!!

What im almost 20?!?!?!?!!!! Nope i refuse to accept that! 

We had a baptism!! Gabriel Avilez got baptized saturday! It was a fantastic service and he is really happy to be baptized!! 

I don't remenber if you guys remember Paul Lopez but ive been working with him for my whole entire time here. He´s going through some really hard times with his wife. We have been pushing really hard with baptism because we understand the blessings that are going to come from keeping this commandment and from receiving the Priesthood. we had a lesson about that yesterday and the spirit was so strong! The Spirit was yelling the 14 of feb in my head and my comp was speaking at the time and she stop at one point thought for a second and put that date with Paul! It was amazing experience, it confirmed the thought I had that I could not give up in him. Normally I drop people within 2 or 3 weeks if they are not progressing but Heavenly Father would not let me do it. He accepted the date for the 14 of feb!!!!! He will need a lot of help, if you could keep him and his family in your prayers that would help a lot!!

I have really grow to love this ward! I can feel the love from every member here! The Bishop wants you guys to know that I am well taken care of and you guys have no needed to worry about me! I have become his daughters! I dont want to leave! 

Thank you for all of your love and support! 

Hna Olsen  

JANUARY-WEEKS 45-48

JANUARY 26
DOUBLE BAUTISMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, can i just say I love being a missionary! The Church is true! 

 

Luis Luna and Diana Peñaherrera got baptized! It was defiantly the most powerful baptism i have ever had! Luis asked me to give a little talk in the bap. I cried, he cried, Diana cried, we all cried! Afterwards Diana came up to me and that me for being her missionary! Luis said, "I told you not to cry!" There confirmation blessings were beautiful too! Diana is going to be an amazing leader in the church! Luis is going to serve a mission! I will do anything to get him there. We are planning a temple trip on my bday! 

Gabriel is SUPER Excited for his Baptism this saturday! 

We had an activity in the ward we all the leaders and visiting teachers and people went out and visited the less actives and some converts and invest. Pres Riggins (the most powerful missionary you will ever meet!) came to join me and Hna Whisenant  with our visits. It was the coolest experience to teach with the Him! He´s powerful and mind blowing. And i could tell he really enjoyed our teaching( he was nodding his head in approval while i was teaching, made me feel awesome)! Called us his Daughters in one lesson!  

Hna Riggins told me that in her mission one of her nephews was born. Everyday her sister showed a picture of her to her nephew and said, "this is aunt Bonnie, aunt Bonnie is in her mission, Aunt bonnie loves you!" We she got back the baby already new here and loved her! If leah could that with me and Lincoln that would be awesome!!! 

With lots of love!

Hna Olsen

JANUARY 19
Hello!

Im doing great!! We will have 2 baptism this saturday!!! Diana Peñaherrera and Luis Luna! I dont know if you guys remember Luis Luna, I had dropped him 2 weeks a go and last sunday he said he wanted us to teach him again. So we went over to his house last tuesday and i was prompted to ask him who is God for him, he told us that he knows that God is his father and he is His son! I was then prompted to ask Will you be baptized the 24 of Jan. He looked me straight in the eys and said "Yes, Hna, I want to be baptized!" He is 18 and has had some troubles but the gospel is blessing his life! 

Diana just esta the gospel up! She takes notes during church and tells us she loves us! Gabriel Avilez is also excited for his baptism! he will be baptized the 31 of enero! 

Its been raining a little here! The heavy rains haven't started though. At this time there are full crickets! There are huge here and gross....

Lots of love! 

Hna Olsen

JANUARY 12
Hi mom!!!

Im doing great! This week has been a really good one! It started out a little shaky but it ended really well! 

We have an invest called, Diana Peñaherrera, She had her baptismal interview Sunday. When she walked out she had tears in here eyes came up to me gave me a hug and handed me her baptismal record  just a way of saying "I really want to do this!" We stood there hugging me for awhile. 

We also contacted a random guy called, Gabriel Avilez(25), he attended church only because we invited him to. later that Sunday we visited for the first time and accept a baptismal date!

Later that day we received a reference (Segundo Israel, husband and father of 2 kids) and as we were talking to him getting to know him the Lord let me see, just for a few seconds, him wearing white baptizing one of his kids! That was amazing experience! We are going to continue to work with him more! Im excited to see what happens with him!

I Love being a missionary! Its the best thing ever!  

Im happy to hear everyone is doing great! Happy to hear that the church is growing back at home! Happy to hear that Leah is bigger than I am! Hahaha Love you leah beah! The rain should start really soon! 

With much love,

Hna Olsen

JANUARY 5

Hello! 

So i had an awesome new yearas! In Ecuador the people are crazy and they party even crazier! SO here they have a traditions here where they burn something called a manegote. which is a huge model of something or one made out of newspaper with fireworks in it. they can be the size of a cat to like 12 ft tall or even taller. Everybody in all of ecuador burns theirs at 12:00 in the night, it was like world war 3 going on for like 5 hours! Im not going to lie it was the coolest new year I have ever had! we watch the people burn them from the safety of hour house! needless to say I didnt get any sleep that night.

It snowed?!?! What!!! Im sweating like a Pig and it snowed in Arizona for the first time since before i was born! Thats not fair... But Awesome! 

Right now we are refining our teaching pool and looking for new poeple to teach. some of our invest arent progressing anymore and we had two days this last week where we went around as a zona, through out the whole zone, just contacting. It was awesome! So hopefully we will have new people soon! We do have one pretty solid invest, Diana Peñaherrera. She´s 28 and loves attending church and understands the teachings really well! We will see how everything goes with her! 

I love you all lots! 

Hna Olsen

DECEMBER-WEEKS 40-44

CHRISTMAS PICTURES

DECEMBER 29
Well today we only have a pday to write, buy food and eat lunch... So that's why I'm on early!

I'm doing great! I had a great Christmas with the family Valverde! We had a nice dinner and gave us some gifts! The pics are in dropbox. As a mission we had a big party! In the morning we did a session in the temple, later we did a service project cleaning the churches in this area and later we had a dinner(american style) and a talent show! It was awesome! 

Richard got baptized!! He defiantly is one of my more... interesting invest but it was amazing to watch him change and come unto the Lord and make covenants! I love being a missionary! I dont ever want to come home!

How was christmas for you guys? what did you guys do? I realized after i got off that I didnt even ask about your christmas.... Sorry!

DECEMBER 22
Hey mom I'm doing great!

SO i'm training a gringa! She called Hna Whisenant, hahaha its fun watching people say her name!she is from Utah. She is awesome and we get along really good! Its kinda hard training a gringa because well we dont understand spanish when we are new.. I only talk to her in spanish to help her learn.

I'll talk with you guys some more on christmas! 

Love hna Olsen

DECEMBER 15
Hello!!!

This week has been absolutely crazy and nothing really went has planned.... We didn't have our baptisms.... But we are going to continue working with them because they do want to get baptized but something is holding them back... freaking hate Satan... Continue praying for them, Richard, Paul, Luis, and Ramon.

But want to hear something crazier!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?! Im going to train!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hna Orihuela finished her mission. Wednesday im going to pick up my "daughter" and we are going to get to work!! I'm really excited to train! Its going to be hard but ive wanted to train for awhile now! pray for me!

I'm excited to get my new shoes I REALLY need them! Thank you for sending me those packages! Ill buy an Ecuadorian shirt i really want! Tell them thank you and that i love them!  

We went to the temple again! Ive got half of the veil memorized in spanish now! We are so very blessed to have temples! And even more blessed in Arizona where we have like 5. We cant take them for granted. We receive more guidance and strength to endure the more we attend. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the true church of God in the Earth. I'm so grateful for my Savior and the atonement. I pray all is well at home and everyone is healthy! 

Love,

Hna Olsen

DECEMBER 8
Buenas tardes!!

I'm doing great! We are hoping to have two baptisms this saturday... we have been working with these two investigatores for a while, Richard and Paul. Please pray like crazy for them. We also have another, Luis, for the 26 and Ramon, we are hoping for the 26 too. We are working so hard to get them al to baptism! 

December here is like the states... well its really but REALLY hot here! 

I'll send a pic next week of my shoes. You can tell I have sometime in my mission because of them! I have holes in them and the sole is woren down and the padding inside is missing in parts.... Got to love walking all day everyday!

Thank you for all your love and support! I so very grateful to have you as my mom! Send my love to all! 

Hna Olsen! 

 

DECEMBER 1
Mi querida Familia!!

Im doing great! Yesterday I had a experience that really boosted my faith. One of my Investigators, who has his own way of thinking, went on a rant after gospel principles about why we are called "The church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints." In Ecuador the catholic church is huge here and they hae a strong beliefs in "Saints." Saints are suppose to be "perfect or holy" We the teacher explained that we, the members of the church, are the saints he was not happy at all. He said that its not right that we call ourselves saints. The next hour, relief society, I studied why we are called "saints."

In D and C in 115 the Lord named the Church; it doesn't come from men. In Psalms 50:5 it says: Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The covenants we make are baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost and other saving covenants in the temple. In D and C 97:8 it says:Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.  As part of the covenants we sacrifice a lot of things, sometimes worldly, and maybe it may come down to loosing everything. All the covenants we make are based upon the Greatest Sacrifice- The Atonement. If we live worthy of our covenants and apply the Atonement in our lives we are purified through the blood of our savior. Moroni 10: 32-33: 32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. We are not saints but we can become saints. That is the purpose of the gospel and the Atonement of Christ. 

Later that night we watch the Joseph Smith movie. As I watched it and was reminded of how the gospel was restored and all of the sacrifice of the early saints, the Holy Spirit testified to me once again that "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" IS the church of Christ, His kingdom, in the world today. I feel truly blessed and humbled to be a representative of His church.  

And another noted, I had a Thanksgiving in Ecuador with my Latinas! We eat sloppy Joes with cranberry juice! I also had crab for the first time and it was DELICIOSO!!!!!

Con mucho amor y besos! 

Hna Olsen