Grand Island #11

Well another week has flown by! The mission is honestly so good if you're even considering going on a mission just give it a shot! I promise it's worth it.

This week we had Zone conference! I usually don't write too much about the meetings we have but this one was amazing! I had been feeling overwhelmed and inadequate and unmotivated all at the same time and zone conference really changed that! It honestly felt like the entire conference was just for me and my area. The spirit is amazing and can really speak to your heart! 

We also started talking to a couple of people who seem interested in the gospel! One of them we knocked on their door looking for a member, but the member had moved. But the lady that answered wanted to meet with us! So we went over and were able to clear up a few myths with her and gave her a book of Mormon!

The other one was from a Bible study ad that was run up in Iowa, but someone from our area responded! We shared about Gods love for all of us and the atonement of Christ and it was really good

I have been feeling for a while like I should fast for my area and to find people to teach but I was honestly pushing off the prompting. I reasoned that I already fasted every month or that it wouldn't really do that much, but after zone conference we decided to fast. And honestly it worked miracles. That day I felt closer to God and more grateful than I have in a long time, and that feeling has stayed with me. So fasting works and don't ignore promptings. 

This last week marks a year since receiving my mission call and Wednesday will mark 8 months on the mission, so I've really been reflecting a lot lately. The mission has honestly been the best thing I could be doing right now in my life and I'm so glad that I have 16 more months to serve the Lord and be on the front row watching Christ's atonement work in people. Have a great week everyone and remember that God loves you!

-Elder Olsen

Grand Island #10

-22 feels like -36

Hello! Well we have reached the end of (hopefully) the coldest week of my life. Luckily we aren't out and going door to door because if we were, I wouldn't still be alive to write this weekly email. But this week was pretty good!

A couple weeks ago we shoveled snow for an older lady and then we did again and she invited us over to learn how to knit and to talk! So we did that and built a really good relationship, and then this week we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read! We showed her Moroni 10:4-5 and she really liked it and then she kept reading for like 3 more verses! She is one that never would've been interested in the gospel without us serving her. 

We also showed some of our English class friends a video about abinadi and they seem to be interested in learning more! We've been able to build a really good relationship with them and they even invited us over to learn how to fry plantains Guatemala style! 

And we have some other friends whose hearts were softened because of some service that we gave and they're going to read 3 Nephi 11! They even watched our church over YouTube once! 

This week I watched a BYU devotional about Gods love for each of us and how it's like learning how to play the piano - an analogy that really hit hard with me. One thing that I really liked was he talked about our mistakes. Whenever you're learning anything, you make lots of mistakes, but that's just part of learning. In the MTC they told us we wouldn't be fluent in spanish until after 10,000 mistakes. But after those mistakes you learn and improve little by little. Its the same with life! We make mistakes over and over and over again. But the worst thing we can possibly do is to give up and think that we can never change. That progression is slow at times, but we have God on our side so anything is possible! Keep trying and keep working and one day we can become perfect. Love you all!

-Elder Olsen

Ps. Sorry no pics just know it's been real cold haha

Grand Island #9

This week was pretty uneventful. We got tons of snow this week and got to shovel a lot! It is amazing to see people's hearts being softened through service. One of them was a little bit rude the first time we met, but through service we have built a really good relationship with her! She even invited us over and we got to know her for a little while, and she made us food! 

We also had exchanges this week in a little town called Aurora Nebraska. That day we had nothing really to do, but we managed to find some cool ways to do missionary work and I learned a lot! We got to teach an English class while we were there and it was a little bit intimidating because we didnt know their level with english or what we were supposed to teach them but the gift of tongues is so real and it went really well! 

Also a guy that we are teaching english randomly open the book of Mormon and read a few verses about Abinadi one day, and now he really wants to know more about this prophet and why he died for his beliefs! So we tried to show him the Book of Mormon Video, but it hasn't been translated so we are going to talk to him about it and hopefully start teaching him more about the gospel! And another English class said they really want to come to church but has to work, so we are very excited!

I've been thinking a lot lately about attitude. The phrase attitude is everything has honestly changed my life and so I want to share a little bit. I've been reading about Nephi in the Book of Mormon. As you remember, Nephi and his brothers all went through the exact same things. In fact Nephi even went through harder things such as being tied up and left to die, building a boat, and being tied up for days and almost drowning on the boat. But yet Nephi had joy through all of this while Laman and Lemuel complained and were miserable. The difference wasn't the circumstances, but the attitude. So that's something I've been working on. Some days are just boring as a missionary. Some days we spend all day looking at a screen trying to find people with no success. Some days we can't leave the apartment because of the snow. But complaining only makes things worse, so in the words of Elder Wirthlin, come what may, and love it. I invite you all to try that this week! Have a great one!

-Elder Olsen 

We got posted about! After getting kicked off of their property

I'm just gonna let you guess what is going on here

Our role play with tennis balls

Our role play with tennis balls

Nebraska!

Nebraska!

Nebraska!

Nebraska!

Bomb shelter in Aurora

Auroras church is a rented out office

Grand Island #8

I'm running out of things to say at the beginning of these so I guess welcome to the weekly email!

This week we finally got some snow! It was so much that we couldn't leave the apartment monday or most of Tuesday. But that opened up chances to shovel snow for people and we have met some really cool people! One of them already has member friends and said that we can come over sometime! It's crazy how people's hearts can be opened by a little bit of service and love.

Another example of that front the week is that there is this older couple that we come over and visit sometimes and we went and shoveled their driveway. It didn't take too much time or anything, but it really helped them out.  And then we went over again later that week and their hearts were even more opened to the gospel and we gave them Book of Mormons (Books of Mormon? Or Books of Mormons idk) and they said they would read it! And our service also softened the heart of some random person who found out what we are doing from Facebook and messaged us out of the blue saying he wanted to help us out and be our friends!! 

We had a devotional with the mission and it was with someone who was baptized and served a mission,  and then went anti against the church and for 26 years fought the church and tried to tear it down. He later turned back to Christ and felt his heart changed, and now is a super solid member! A couple things I learned:

•People make mistakes, but as we are more patient with them, God will show kindness to us.

•Our testimony should be founded on Jesus Christ. If our foundation is  church programs, Joseph Smith, tithing, food storage, or even missionary work, it will probably fall. Our foundation should be Christ,  who never fails, and then all those things will strengthen them.

• We never realize the influence we have on people. He talked about all the people that influenced him in his journey even though ay first it seemed to have no impact on him. Slowly his heart was changed through prayer and fasting on the part of other people. So never underestimate the value of a prayer or a compliment or a good example or a smile. 

Have a great one!

-Elder Olsen