Winter Quarters YSA #15

Hello hello! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and saw the Lord's hand in your life this week! 

On Tuesday we met with this guy named Dan. We found him on Facebook and he asked if we could meet up in person so we did! We were able to teach him about the restoration and it was really cool because he seemed to really want a Book of Mormon and he has already texted about how he's excited to meet up tomorrow!

We also had a really cool lesson with Holly. Holly has been coming to church since like March, but in about July hit a wall and hasn't progressed since then. We weren't able to meet with her for the last few months but we finally were able to meet with her this week. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and just kind of had a spiritual discussion. After the prayer and everything we asked if she had any questions. She told us that she had a statement and that was that she wanted to get baptized on January 8th! It was super exciting because we know that she's been thinking about it for a long time, but we definitely didn't expect her to be ready so soon!

This week I read a lot of scriptures about how Jesus Christ is our example. When he was on the earth he always asked people to follow him and to do the things he did. And unlike any other leader, he always did what was right. And then I read Moroni 7:48 which says "...that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure." I know that if we follow Him we really can become more and more and more Christlike every day. 

Have a great week!

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #14

Hello everyone and happy Thanksgiving! This week has been pretty crazy. We had 2 different exchanges as well as zone conference so its been exhausting but rewarding!

For our Zone Conference, Elder Valenzuela from the Quorum of the 70 came and spoke to us. He had a lot of really good stuff to say and we figured out a lot of the things that we need to do to continue to see more and more miracles. 

The ward also had an activity and the entire focus of the activity was to try to invite nonmembers and get them to come and meet the missionaries and the members and there was a really good turnout! Our friend Ethan even came and he met a bunch of members. He has been doing really well.

On our exchange on Saturday we had a pretty wild lesson with this guy named Andy. He brought himself to the missionaries and the first time he met, he thought he was a prophet. The next time he talked about some of his crazy revelations and his list of things that God is telling him. So we had a lesson and it was pretty fun. This guy loved to talk and tell his stories and the whole lesson was an emotional roller coaster. He would go from crying because of the spirit to talking about some random thing that happened when he was 5 and it was just all over the place. There was a member on that lesson and I found out that he is my 2nd cousin on my mom's side! So shoutout to Brother Burton.

So besides that it was a pretty standard week, but I've been trying to be more grateful. This week is Thanksgiving and so I wanted to invite you all to give a prayer this week and don't ask for anything. Just give thanks. You can give thanks for the people I your life, or the experiences you've had or whatever you want. But I know that God will bless you with gratitude the more you show it. Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Olsen

Also here's a photo dump from the last 2 weeks

Winter Quarters YSA #13

Hey everyone! I don't have tons of time so I'll just get right into it!

So this week was kind of crazy but really good! Tuesday was Elder Powells last day in the area and we had a lesson with Ethan! Ethan is the guy that grew up atheist but wants to grow his faith. And we were able to have a super powerful lesson with him. We focused on Jesus Christ and who He was and why He matters to us and the spirit was just testifying to all of us! He said that we helped clear up a lot for him and that he really really wants to come to church now! Sadly he didn't make it this week but next week!

We also went out street contacting and ran into quite a few people who are interested. One of their names is Jocelynn and she was super cool and basically asked when we could call. It was really cool to see. 

This week I've been studying scripture references relating to Jesus Christ the Son of God. It really stood out to me how often it is emphasized that He is the Son of God. Whenever God introduces Christ he always tells people that He is His son. And I think the reason why is that if we can believe that simple truth, then everything else falls into place. It becomes so much easier to rely on Him and His power. Anyways sorry this is short but I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #12

Hey hey hey and welcome to the weekly! So as you read in the subject line we have transfers this week. Elder Powell will be heading down to the Lincoln YSA ward, and I will be getting Elder Gleim! I was in his zone and he's a great missionary so I'm excited! It's also his last transfer of the mission so that'll be interesting!

So this week we met this lady named Cecilia from Facebook! We taught her the restoration and set up another appointment and then we were able to drop off a Book of Mormon for her! She seems super interested and wants to come to church with us!

We also had a crap ton of lessons fall through this week. We went almost 3 days without even teaching a member lesson which was unheard of for this area. But when everything fell through we decided to look at it with a different mindset and instead of looking at the bad we decided to look for the opportunities. One of the days we decided to go street contact and we prayed for God to help us find the person that he wanted us to find. And then we ran into Ian. He was super nice and really wanted to talk to us and learn! Im not sure what will end up happening with him, but I do know that God needed us to talk to him right at that moment because the spirit was really strong!

We also were able to give a guy named G a church tour! It was super cool because you could see the wheels in his brain turning as we were walking around and especially when he saw the pictures of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. We were able to introduce him to a member of the Church so that was cool and he is wanting to come to church and maybe get baptized!!

This week I've been thinking a lot about the little things. I read alma 37 which talks all about small and simple things and we have been trying to get people to put forth small acts of faith. And the reason why they're so important is because they add up to great things. I have never seen someone completely lose their faith without first stopping either coming to church, praying, or reading. And these things are so simple, but the promise is so big to those that are willing to do the little things. So my invitation to you all is if you're not going to church, reading, or praying, try it out this week! If you're already doing all three, try to make it a little bit more intentional, and I know God will bless you so much! Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #11

Hello everyone! Happy November and Merry Christmas!

So this week we had a lot going on. Tuesday we had exchanges and it was a good day. We did a lot of calling and stuff but it was still pretty fun. We also had district council and we had a really good discussion on Elder Holland's talk about whole-hearted devotion to Christ. It was really good to think about not having any gray area in your discipleship. It should be 100% devotion. 

Wednesday we did a lot of facebook work because it was really cold and rainy outside. But we were able to start having success with it which has been really good to see. We also met with this guy named Gabe who is really smart, but is super confused about religion. He wants to understand everything about what we believe and why all at once. So we are trying to take it one step at a time with him and he should hopefully be coming to church this next week!

Thursday we met with Ethan. Ethan was taught by some other missionaries for a while and then passed off to us and we gave him a tour of the church. While we were on the tour we realized that he doesn't really know anything about Jesus Christ besides what the missionaries have told him. So we decided to take a big step back and just focus on Who Jesus is and His mission on the earth. It was really good and we think that once he knows more about Christ, it will be a lot easier for him to have faith in Him. We also met with a guy named G who has been going through a lot recently and we were able to have a really good powerful discussion with him about why bad things happen to good people and about what discipleship is all about. 

Friday we had another exchange and we were able to get a lot done. We went out street contacting again and a member saw us and left a bunch of fruit snacks on our car with a note! It made our day for sure. And I also got to practice Spanish! We ran into a lady from Mexico who wants to talk to the missionaries! So I was able to have a good conversation with her and we sent her over to the Spanish missionaries. Also we met with a recent convert named Brian. He is really struggling right now so if you could pray for him we would really appreciate it.

Saturday we met this guy named Jon from Facebook and he was super cool! He's been going through a lot lately and really needed some hope. But we taught him the plan of salvation and he really liked it! 

And then Sunday was halloween and the members gave us so much candy and this one lady gave us each 3 different gift cards! We had a really good missionary correlation meeting and Molly and Chris were both called as ward missionaries! I think it should be really good because they have so much excitement for the gospel and want to help others learn what they learned about Jesus. We also met with a different guy named Jon but also from Facebook and he is sort of interested but not really. Anyways sorry for the long email but a scripture that I've been thinking about the last few weeks is from the Doctrine and Covenants and it says that in the ordinances thereof the power of Godliness is manifest. It has kind of hit me this week that if we want God's power in our lives, we need to rely on the promises we have made with him and keep our side of the agreement. And he promises that his power will be with us!

Anyways I hope you all make this an amazing week! Love you all!

-Elder Olsen