Winter Quarters YSA #10

Hey everyone! Sorry I have like 0 time this week to email, but it was a good week! We had zone conference and a couple other meetings and it was really good! They told us a lot about how we can all improve as missionaries with little things. I think it definitely was helpful for me, because I've been struggling the past little bit with feeling inadequate. But we learned a lot about how we should work smarter not harder and how we can do that. And honestly that helped me out a lot because I realized that it's the small things that make the all the difference sometime. 

One of the the things that they really stressed is members helping with missionary work. And how it is something that we all can do. I invite you all to look for ways to be an example this week. And if you don't have very many friends that aren't members of the church, look for opportunities to make friends! I know that God will bless you for it.

Have a great week! 

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #9

Hey everyone! If nobody has told you yet today, God Loves You! He is there for you and he can work miracles in your life.

This week has been really good! We had Molly's baptism and it went so well! She showed up an hour early and tons of people showed up. We also had 3 nonmembers there and some less active members that came as well so that was super cool. The spirit was super strong and I know that everyone felt it.

At the beginning of the week we were really struggling to find people. We go to campus most mornings and talk to people there and we can usually find people, but it just wasn't working. We also had a few lessons with people fall through and it was kind of a bummer. But God provides and Thursday we were able to talk to a bunch of people that were interested. We also met this cool guy named Daud online. He is Christian, but has been looking for a church to join here in Omaha. He was pretty excited about the Book of Mormon! 

And Sarah is doing well. Somehow she heard about fast Sunday and decided to fast even though she shouldn't have because of her health. She was super concerned because she didn't want to choose between the church and her health, but we were able to clear things up for her! She has been reading a lot of conference talks and is excited about the church! We taught her twice this last week.

And I think that's about it for this week! Something that I've been thinking about this week is the Sacrament and how important it is. And I've been thinking about what life would be like without the sacrament. Without the sacrament we wouldn't be able to truly repent and have a fresh start. We would forever have to bear the burden of everything that we've done wrong. But Christ can free us from the weight of our sins if we let him, and if we truly repent of our sins. And we have that opportunity every week! So my invitation to you all is this next week to really think about what the sacrament does for you, and give thanks to God for it! Have a fantastic week!

- Elder Olsen 

Molly's baptism

Awkward exchange pic

Winter Quarters YSA #8

Hey everyone! So once again I managed my time terribly today and don't have tons of time to email so hopefully this isn't too short. 

This has been an amazing week! We had Chris's baptism and it was so good! He was so excited and has honestly been so golden from the beginning. We just met him a month ago on campus and he progressed so fast. He definitely still has a long way to go, but that's also true with all of us!

Molly has been progressing really well too! Her baptism is this next week and she can't wait. She keeps making facebook posts about it inviting everyone and it is so cool. Honestly with her and Brian it has made me think a lot about the way we view baptism. I think too often as missionaries we take it so seriously and think that it is something we have to convince people to do. But with Molly and Chris we didn't do any of that. We just explained what baptism is, and what it can do for them and they made the decisions on their own. Because in reality baptism is a fresh start, it's a forgiveness of sins, it's an added measure of blessings and especially the Holy Ghost. And it shows God that we truly love him! So seeing them be so excited has changed the way I view my own baptism!

We also had a really cool lesson with this lady named Sarah this week! She goes to School with our ward mission leader and they've been talking about the church for a while. He invited her to church and she came and loved it! By the time we met her she was already asking how she could become a member! So we met with her and started teaching her what we planned, but about a minute into it, we both decided that she needed something else. So we asked about her questions and concerns and let me tell you, she had some concerns that we didn't know how to answer. But it was really cool because as we were talking, both Elder Powell and I had ideas pop into our minds that had never occurred to us before. As we shared that with her, she explained that she needed to hear it. And then our ward mission leader invited her to be baptized and she accepted!! God is so good and if we try to follow him, we can be instruments in his hands. 

This one's a little shorter, but I read a verse this week about how God forgives us when we repent. And the way we can know if we repent is if we admit what we did wrong and try to be better. So if you are doing those things, and praying to God, he is so willing to forgive us of everything we do wrong. It's like a baptism every day because every day we get that fresh start. So I invite you all to repent every day and I promise that if you do that sincerely, God will forgive you every day!

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #7

Hey Everyone! I don't have too much time so this might be a little shorter but that's okay! 

So Chris and Molly are both sooooo solid. They both watched conference on their own on Saturday and were posting on Facebook about how much they loved it. It was so sweet. Then Sunday they got together with all their friends in the church and we watched it and it was so good! We also had a struggling recent convert come and I think it really helped him out too. 

We also had a devotional with Hank Smith! He's basically this guy who gives a lot of really powerful devotionals and he was able to teach me a lot about how to recognize the spirit. He talked about how the scriptures teach that if you have the desire to do good, that's a measure of the spirit. So we all have felt it whether we think we have or not. This week as well I was able able receive a powerful answer to a prayer. I won't go too in depth, but I know that prayer works and that the Spirit is so real!

We also were able to teach this guy named Matthew the restoration and he just ate it all up! He was so excited to go home and read the Book of Mormon and it was pretty cool to see.

And we had one of the people we're teaching ask us for a blessing so we were able to give that to her! 

Something I really liked from conference was the talk that talked about being 1% better. He said if we are 1% better every day, we will be 37 times better after a year. And if we have a clear vision for where we want to go, then we will be able to get there! So my invitation to you all is to have a vision for yourself spiritually. Who do you want to be? And then work a little bit every day to get there and one day you will! Love you all!

-Elder Olsen

Conference with the zone, sunset, and car pic