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

Winter Quarters YSA #6

Hey everyone! This week has been absolutely crazy so I'll start from the beginning. I think I wrote about it last week but last Monday Chris texted us saying that he thinks he should get baptized and asked if it would be okay with us. Of course we told him yes and we scheduled a time to meet on Tuesday!

Tuesday we went on exchanges and Elder Powell and Elder Paskett got to meet with Chris. While they were there they set up a date for Chris to be baptized on October 9th! Elder Anderson and I got to meet with Molly. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talked a lot about baptism. She seemed pretty interested, and it was really good! 

And then Wednesday came. That morning Molly texted us and asked "what do I need to do if I want to get baptized?" We were freaking out because this doesn't happen very often! So we told her we could meet up that day and talk about it. And it was really good! We were able to get 3 members involved in that lesson and we set her on date for the 16th of October! She is so prepared and she even came to Institute that night and loved it! Chris also came to Institute. Later that night we met with LaMondré and taught him everything else that he needed to know to get baptized. We also were able to give a struggling member a blessing.

Thursday Lamondre had his baptismal interview and passed and we had volleyball and Molly came! She had never played volleyball before but really enjoyed it.

Friday we had another lesson with Chris and we talked about the commandments including the word of wisdom. And he accepted it and promised to live it without a question! He said he had already heard about it before and was okay with it. We also cleared up some rumors about the church that he had heard, but he honestly didn't seem too bothered by them. We also ended up having like 20 extra minutes right before a ward BBQ so we decided to walk around campus and try to find somebody who is interested. And the first person we talked to was Rachel. She is nondenominational Christian but really seemed interested in talking to us. She kept asking us questions and took a book of Mormon and promised to read it. And yesterday she texted telling us that she has 2 friends that want to talk to us as well!

Saturday we had LaMondré's baptism! It was really beautiful and his friends that introduced him to the church were super emotional seeing him finally take that step. That night we randomly ran into somebody who used to be taught in my last area! She stopped us and told us her name and I totally recognized the name but not her. Long story short we taught her the restoration, got her new number and passed her off to the other missionaries! 

Sunday Lamondre was confirmed and received the Aaronic Priesthood! We also taught Molly the Plan of Salvation and had 3 members on that lesson as well. It was really good! 

This week I have been thinking a lot about becoming better every day. I think that's something that all of us want to do, but sometimes it's hard. But the choices we make now have such a big impact on our future. If we just choose to be a little bit kinder, the impact will be bigger than we can imagine and we will become more like Christ. I hope you all try to do that more this week. Love you all!

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #5

Hey Everyone! I don't have too much time to write but i just wanted to give you all an update on how things are going! 

So this week we were able to see our friend Catherine get baptized! She has an amazing story. She had been looking into the church for a while and finally decided to refer herself to the missionaries down in Texas where she was living. And honestly God had definitely prepared her to receive his word. She was so ready and by the time she moved to Omaha she was telling all her friends about the gospel. She also was in a religion class and had to defend her beliefs and did it! And now she's been baptized and her journey just keeps going!

We also had a stake conference that was really good. They talked about Unity and how we all need to be united with Christ.

And we met this person named Molly who is so ready for the gospel. She came to church on Sunday and she kept talking about how welcome she felt there and then even posted about what an amazing experience it was on Facebook! 

And then our friend Chris has been coming to activities and church and he always texts us thanking us for talking with him. He loves the gospel and church and we're probably going to invite him to be baptized tomorrow! 

Okay so right after I wrote that Chris texted us and said, "I think it's time I took a big step and get baptized. Sound like a plan?" God is so good and he is moving his work forward! And that's kind of what I wanted to share today. As I was reading the scriptures this week I've been thinking about God's love for us and how much he really does to help us. It's been amazing to see Him in my life and in the lives of others. So my invitation to you all is to look for God in your life this week. Pray to be able to see Him helping you and I promise that you will be able to. 

Have a great week! 

-Elder Olsen

Winter Quarters YSA #4

Hey everyone! I honestly can't believe that another week has gone by, but it looks like it has so I guess I'll write about what happened!

So the first highlight is our friend Matt. We got Matt's record a couple of weeks ago when he moved up to Omaha. He's been taught a little in the past, but he hadn't responded for a few weeks since we gave him a Book of Mormon. But he responded to us last week and we invited him to church. He said that he would love to but this week wont work. But we had a lesson with him later that night and he is so solid. We had given him a chapter to read and when we asked about it, he told us that he not only read that chapter, but had read about 8 others and felt the spirit while he was reading! It was so crazy but so cool! 

Another highlight was talking with our friend Lamondre! We have been having a hard time getting him to stay for the second part of church, but this week he stayed and was able to meet a lot of members! We also taught him about all the commandments and he is totally down with following all of them! And then there is Ethan who we met this week and he has never believed in God but he wants to! We had a good lesson with him and he loves the Book of Mormon and it is really cool to see him progressing. 

And then we also were able to see Chris start to progress! We met him out on campus the other day and taught him about the restoration. He absolutely loves the Book of Mormon and how it was written for our day. We invited him to church and he came! The whole time he was thanking us for inviting him and finding him a ride and he wants to come every week now! 

And then there is Mitchell who is not actually that exciting but we went to his house to give him a blessing and he was so drunk. He went from shouting to crying like every 5 minutes and it was so weird to try to help him. We ended up spending like 45 minutes before we could get out of there and we definitely didn’t give him a blessing haha.

But your spiritual thought this week comes from the Face to Face with the Bednars from last night. Something that they kept emphasizing is that the spirit is how we receive answers. They talked about how they would answer the questions the best that they could, but if we learned anything it would be because of the spirit. And I think that is so relatable to us! So many of us would love to ask an apostle one of our questions, but forget that we have access to the best teacher, the Holy Ghost! So my invitation to you all is to sincerely pray and search the scriptures for the answers to your questions and I promise that you will find them. Have a fabulous week!

 -Elder Olsen

Ps. I promise I'll have more pictures next week!

Winter Quarters YSA #3

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great week cause I sure did!

So being in a YSA ward is awesome because people bring their nonmember friends to activities all the time and there are a lot of people who are down to talk about religion with us. One of them is named Lamondre and he is so cool! We have been teaching him for a few weeks, and this week we talked about baptism with him and we were able to set a date for him to be baptized in a few weeks! He is so ready and it is so cool to see the gospel blessing his life. 

We also went on exchanges with some other missionaries this week. They had been struggling a little bit and it was cool to be able to help them out! We were able to see some cool miracles that day including with this one lady who has been taught for a while. She hasn't really progressed or come to church for the months that she's been taught, but she decided to this week! We also were able to get our friend Jeremiah to decide to be baptized! He has some things he has to work through to be baptized, but is excited about it! 

And we also had a cool miracle while we were out knocking the doors of people who had been taught in the past. We went up to this one door and the people didn't live there any more, but the people that did decided to let us in! We shared the Restoration with them and they want to keep meeting! They gave us water and everything and made us feel at home. God is definitely preparing people to receive his gospel. 

We also had a really cool devotional with people who had recently been baptized speaking. They kept talking about how God prepared them and how grateful they are for the gospel and all of the many blessings that it's brought them. I think that sometimes we lose sight of how much of a blessing the gospel is, but it's important to remember. So many people are out there looking for the truth and so don't be afraid to share what you believe! Even if it's just telling somebody that God loves them can help so much so go out and share the gospel! have a great week! 

-Elder Olsen

Pics of the district and exchanges