Thoughts from the "Field"...

Things are going well here in Ada. Transfers are next Wednesday, I figure out if I’m staying or leaving on Sunday evening. My companion, Elder Owen, is going to be getting Insanity workout from his Mom next week. So if I stay here another transfer, we will be killing ourselves working out.  One of our Zone Leaders here is Elder Nelson. He is from Rexburg, Idaho. He is super cool and he plays the bagpipes a lot! He was in one of those huge Scottish bands like the ones we'd see at the Highland Games. 

 

Definitely send me some copies of Dad's letters from his mission! I also want to see some pictures of him from his mission! I ordered some new missionary name tags. I'll probably mail you home one to have and put on that Missionary Wall by the computer. The ward here just released all of the relief society presidency, bishop's counselors, seminary teacher, high priest group leader, ward missionary leader. They filled in most of the spots, but not ward missionary leader. So we'll see who it will be soon! Brother Solórzano was called to be Bishop's 1 counselor. He was very nervous ha-ha.

 

I've been slacking on my journal writing. I am on May 1st in it. Luckily I have written down in my planner some special things that happened each day so I can look back and record those memories in my journal. It's not that same cause time has faded my memories of those day's specifics. But I don't want to say that there was a day in my mission that I didn't write about. I have a shoe box here full of letters from family and friends that I’ve received while here in Oklahoma. We might have a baptism this Saturday. His name is Ricky and he quit chewing tobacco yesterday. You're supposed to be off of it 7 days prior to your baptism. He has some strange beliefs though, but is open to the idea of Joseph Smith and Thomas Monson. He said he does believe in them and the restoration, but he doesn't KNOW it's true yet. We explained that's why faith is important. President Walkenhorst and Bishop Niblett said that it's Elder Owen and my call. We are earnestly seeking revelation! 

 

Thought on helping others: We do not know the capabilities of the Sealing power. It could be as gentle as a divine tug or pull to return to that which they know to be true. But also in Alma the Younger's case, he was visited by an angel because of the prayers of his Father, Alma. Now read D&C 123:17. Let us cheerfully do all that we can and stand still and watch the power of God be made manifest. 

 

Love you

Elder Olson

Musing...

Dad falling off a hydro-bike in Montana.



My birthday celebration at the Solórzano's.

Look what I found in the garbage cans.

One tough dude!

Sweet bus.

Sunrise on my run this morning.

Doodling...

Matching buzz haircuts on P-day.

President Walkenhorst called me this morning and let me know that Grandpa passed away. It is sad, but it is also so full of joy because he and Grandma are together again. The scripture from Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." 

Today I was studying on the significance of water in the scriptures and pertaining to spiritual matters. I found many examples. John 4:10 Christ is the living water. Water is what destroyed the wicked in the times of Noah with the flood and in Matthew 8:28-32 Jesus casts the evil spirits into swine who run off a cliff into the ocean and are killed. And many more examples. The Earth is covered mostly by water; our bodies are mostly composed of water. Without water there is no life. Our physical need for water is a reminder of our constant need for Christ, the living water. Without Christ, there is no after life. Just as we needed to be born from a woman to enter into this life, we need to be born of water to enter into the next life, John 3:5. 

We taught the adult Gospel Principles class on Repentance. We talked about sin, repentance and forgiveness. We quoted Rocky in church:) "It's not about how hard you can hit, It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward, that's how winning is done." In life, we will all get hit and knocked down. Whether by our own mistakes or our weaknesses. But this life is not about the number of times we fall, it's about the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off and continue on the path to eternal happiness. 
I love very much. Thank you for all your support, encouragement and prayers.

Elder Olson

Thankful for every day...

Golfing Oklahoma style!

My new companion, he is a cross-country runner so needless to say he is trying to get me in shape!!

I can't believe my teenage years are over... I hope the present you got me is a cane and some Depends cause I'll be needing them soon enough!
There is a mom and dad in our ward whose daughter has just left to Mexico on her mission. They're going to be called as a ward missionary couple for the two years that her daughter serves. I thought, that'd be so cool! We saw an elderly lady in the ward, Sister Barnes, yesterday. She has been in and out of the hospital so many times over the past couple years. She has not been doing well. She recently slipped and broke her shoulder and it's in a sling, and Sunday morning she reached over to get something from her bed and sort of fell and hit the same shoulder on her bed post. She is such a dang tough lady!

If you feel that you are going through a tough time and that it might be too much for you to handle, read the Lord's advice to Joseph in D&C 122:5-7; 127:2. Those are two scriptures that pump me up:)

Also, I really like what Job had to say in Job 27:3-5

3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

 4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

 5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

The work is going well here. We have many people to help and serve and the members are so great to us. I love my mission.

Elder Olson

A picture tells a 1000 words...after hours of service

A little catching up on the happenings in Ada, OK

These are all part of a Missionary Dinner calendar made by Sister Dickman. It tells it all!!!

Happenings from Ada...

Punt kicking the last can of coffee for Chris

Fix'in a tractor

Storm rolling in....

So some of what happened this past week...

On Monday we played sand volleyball for p-day and had family home evening with the Berry's. The lesson was on modesty. Sister Berry taught the lesson and Elder Davis and I just jumped in to say some stuff every once in a while. The Berry family reminds me a lot of Cammie and Ben, Noah and Nathan:)

 

On Tuesday we had interviews with President Walkenhorst. He shared with me Doctrine and Covenants 121:45. We talked about what does "wax" mean. We came to the conclusion of Wax and Wane (I don't know if that's how it's spelled) Then he started talking to me about "dew".

 "Elder Olson, what time does the dew come?"

 "umm... maybe like 5 in the morning?"

"Well what about 6?"

"uhh yeah I suppose it could come then too."

"But what about 3 in the morning?"

"Well President, I suppose anything is possible."

Ha-ha, the moral of the story was that some things take time. "Elder Olson, when will you be a perfect missionary? I don't know. But keep doing what you're doing and be patient." -President.

 

Wednesday, we taught Lanita the Plan of Salvation again and she remembered most of it! Then we went to teach it to her Sister, Wilena, that has recently been diagnosed with Lupis. We also had an awesome lesson with our less active Tamara and her fiancé/ our investigator Mike. We read 3 Nephi 11. We did a little scenario with them. We had them shut their eyes while I read Christ's words when he was descending to them. It was so dang sweet! Mike started to tear up! We mentioned to them the idea of them getting sealed in the temple next year on their anniversary when they were planning on getting married. They thought that'd be a great idea. Tamara asked if Mike had to be baptized to go through the temple. We said yes, and she invited him to be baptized ha-ha!:) He said they'd have to talk about it, but we are praying for them! That evening for dinner a member took us to a Chinese buffet and I convinced Elder Davis to try sushi for the first time. He did so and afterwards felt extremely sick:)

 

Thursday, We drove out to Asher with Brother Devoss to meet a referral from church headquarters. His name is Richard Webb. He recently lost his right leg and his Mom. We decided to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He absolutely LOVED it. He totally accepted it all. Our only problem is that he can't drive, no members live in Asher and it's a 45 minute drive from Asher to the church. We don't know what to do besides pray and fast. We also went to the Grays' house and fixed JD's tractor and ate dinner with them.

 

Friday, I was on exchanges here in Ada with the Zone Leaders. Elder Apedaile stayed in Ada with me and Elder Davis went with the other Zone Leader, Elder Bender, to Pauls Valley. No one was home and it was embarrassing to me cause it looked like we didn't do any work. We tried an investigator, Angel, three times that day. On the last try, she was home and we taught her the restoration. She accepted a baptismal date and is very excited. Her friend, Taloa, was baptized my first weekend here in Ada. She has a daughter, Avionna, that's 18 months old and probably the chunkiest baby I've ever seen! Angel is planning of getting baptized June 21st:)

Saturday was pretty uneventful. I suppose it's cause of the holiday weekend. We got to visit some people, but they don't listen very well and generally don't follow through with the commitments we leave them.

 Sunday, I had to speak in Sacrament about miracles. So I basically just told stories about some of the miracles that have happened in the month of May here in Ada. I got people to laugh when I told the coffee can punting story haha. Then Elder Davis and I taught the 12-14 year olds about following the prophets and apostles.

I love my mission.

 Love you so much!

Elder Olson

A Great Week.....

Raymond's baptism with Elder Davis

Elder Olson cooking hotdogs after the baptism.

Elder Olson and Sister Goza, a wonderful family in the Ada ward.

My week was great! I've been trying to write in my journal more often!. Raymond's baptism was awesome! I'm glad you're helping the missionaries there at home so much! 2 Nephi 4 also known as Nephi's psalm is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. I am studying Alma 46, where Moroni creates the Title of Liberty and kills all the traitors to freedom, to Matthew 12:30 where Jesus states, "he that is not with me is against me." That reminded me of obedience. Why are we disobedient? If we knew the consequences to our actions before we acted, would we still act the same? Elder Robert D Hales mentioned this in his talk at last conference. He said that the reason we are disobedient is found in Moses 5:13: because "they loved Satan more than God." Talk about boldness!

 

Elder Davis and I are working on finding more people to teach because our teaching pool is getting smaller. We have found several nice people. I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father's plan and for temples.

 

Love,

Elder Olson