Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Now in OKC!!

Enjoying a lunch after a service project


Fishing on P-Day


Dropping a line in the water on Prep Day


Saying goodbye to leaders in Ada


That would be a selfie with the mission president's
 wife, Sister Walkenhorst
My new companion in OKC, Elder Bueller.

Duncan with Br. and Sr. Bartlett aka Jennifer Swartz Bartlett who introduced
 Lori to the church 35 years ago. Full circle!
 

It's hard to leave Ada. I love the people here and all our investigators who we've found and taught. I think transfers are the hardest part of the mission. I can totally understand why Ammon couldn't leave the people of Lamoni. He spent so long with them and loved them so much that he couldn't bear to leave them. He joined them as they became the Anti-Nephi Lehites. My last Sunday in Ada was pretty good at church. Between the three sets of missionaries here we had 9 investigators, 12 recent converts and 14 less actives at church. One of our investigators, Ricky, is getting baptized on Saturday!
I'm in the city now. Our area is only about 25 square miles so we don't have a car. Bikes only! My companion is sweet too. He is from Portland, Oregon. I love him to death! Him and I have been doing insanity and eating healthy. He has been out on his mission one transfer longer than me. He has lost 40 lbs so far on his mission. My new ward is pretty cool. My mission president is in our ward and he sat next to me during priesthood opening exercises. So scary! When I got here the investigator board was wiped clean. So Elder Bueller and I were starting off with a clean slate. It's called shot gunning an area basically. But we have found some pretty solid people and already have a couple baptismal dates! On Tuesday we have mission conference. It's a pretty big deal. Half of the mission will be there on Monday and the other half on Tuesday. Elder Bradley D. Foster of the 2nd quorum of the Seventy will be presiding.
The Bartlett’s are awesome. I'm glad I finally got to meet them! Last week we biked a lot in the rain. In the past 6 months I've biked a little over 300 miles. Not many people really answered their doors and the people that did, they weren't the people we were looking for and they were quite rude ha-ha. But it's okay. We did get to meet a sweet family. So they came to church Sunday. That was pretty dang sweet!
 
We did some service last week for Jackson Elementary school. We took a LOT of textbooks, workbooks and study books and organized them and stacked them in a big closet on shelves. There was a teacher there that is from Guthrie Ward. Sister Dymond. I gave my first blessing on the mission to her. She is an interesting lady. Definitely won't forget her.
One year ago today, I was giving my farewell at church and balling my eyes out like a baby ha-ha.
Hope you have a great week! Love you tons!
Elder Olson