Last Monday my companion and I taught  a cancer patient named Mary. We taught her about the restoration and the atonement of Christ. Since she is going thru cancer she kept trying to stump us by saying stuff like, "why is this happening to me? I don't deserve this!" My companion looked at me and I said to her, "I have no idea what you are going thru. I can't even imagine how you feel. But I know someone who has felt every single pain that you have suffered, would you like to speak to Him and ask for his help? She said, "Well, of course." We directed her towards prayer and shared our testimonies on it. She cried and we committed her to pray. It was awesome:)
On Tuesday we sang in the choir at the Marriot Center for a live devotional. It was so cool. We're the last people to sing in the Marriot Center. I don't know why they are stopping but they are. The speaker, Don R. Clarke of the Seventy, said we sounded just like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We sang, "Nearer My God to Thee, " what a cool song. It sounded so good. I wish you could have heard it. Elder Clarke spoke on the spirit, love, and being fishers of men. (The picture of my notes is from this talk)
It feels like I've been here for a month!. My days are usually 16-17 hours long. A typical day would be up at 6:30 then shower and prepare for the day, study time, breakfast, teaching an investigator, personal study time, gym time, prepare for next activity, lunch, classroom for 3 hours, zone teaching, daily planning, dinner, classroom for another 3 hours, back to residence to sleep. It is crazy! We pray a lot and study hard and always get deep with our investigators. One of our investigators is Bill, he is a shy, not open, middle aged, separated dad. He struggles with alcohol and smoking. We had to get bold with him and straight up tell him that "we all have weaknesses. Those weaknesses lead to mistakes that make you feel guilt and shame. The only way to be fully healed of these feelings is thru the atonement of Christ." We told him to keep praying then we bore our testimonies on repentance.
My flight to Oklahoma is at 6:35 am Tuesday morning. We have a small layover in Dallas then on to OKC!
Love,
Elder Olson