This week we had 2 baptisms. One on Tuesday morning and one on Sunday night. Elder Marcos and I had been teaching a man this whole transfer, but he still hadn´t decided to be baptized. Elder Marcos was going to be transferred on Wednesday, but didn´t want to leave Edimario without being baptized. We went to visit him on Monday night to see what we could do. When we got there, he was already visiting with a family that we reactivated.  We used lots of scriptures to answer Edimario’s questions and take away his doubts. After reading a scripture that touched him, he stood up and said “I´ll be baptized!” Everyone jumped into a huddle and started cheering!  It was a very cool experience in which the spirit testified to him what he needed to do.

Sunday we baptized the mother of a boy that was baptized a few weeks ago. She is a living example of the change that the Gospel makes in our lives. The first time we met her she was super drunk, and even the next few times we visited her. She had been an alcoholic for a long time and hadn´t been able to let it go. She even told us that the doctor said if she stopped, drinking she’d probably die. We set goals with her to stop drinking. Then one day we went back and she was completely sober! She stopped drinking because of the spirit that she could feel with us and the desire she had to be baptized. Until this day, she hasn´t drank anymore! God works miracles in the lives of people that have a desire to change.

My new companion is Elder Medina from Chili. He´s my third Chilean companion!  We moved to a new apartment– it´s super nice!  It has a BBQ pit, soccer court, and a pool! Unfortunately we can´t use the pool:(

Thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Olsen

New appliances for our new apartment!

View of soccer field from our apartment

View of pools from our apartment

The Iron rod is the way to God!

Wow! It´s hard to believe I´ve already been in Brazil for 1 year!! I have learned a lot in this past year, definitely the most valuable year of my life. There is no greater satisfaction than to serve people all day, everyday, and bring others unto Christ. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to baptize again.

Christmas is arriving and it’s only getting hotter here! It´s very strange for me, being that I am used to snowy Christmases. I miss the snow a lot! We have had a few Christmas activities these past weeks. Yesterday, we were able to participate in an activity of the city. The LDS church choir sang Christmas songs in the plaza while us missionaries did contacts and wrote down referrals. We had some tables set up filled with lots of pamphlets, DVDs, magazines, and Books of Mormon to give out! It was a great opportunity to let people get to know the Church.

Feliz Natal!!

Elder Olsen

P.S. I found my Christmas present…. a Christmas Jeep!:)

1 year Older and Wiser too!

This week was great! We had leadership council with all the Zone leaders and then we did a session at the temple! We baptized 4 more yesterday. I’ve had baptisms for 10 weeks straight now!

One of my favorite foods is chicken stroganoff with batata palha. That Brazilian buffet we went to in Logan has food very similar to here! It’s called Rodizio, where they have a bunch of meats that they bring to your table and cut in front of you. People always ask me what we eat in the states, but I never know what to say; I forgot what I would eat there, haha!

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Olsen

This past week we a had multi-zone conference which is the picture above. It’s always an experience very spiritual.

We also had two baptisms, Kesley on Saturday and Silvana on Sunday. Kesley is a friend of a member who has been getting to know the church for 3 weeks and loves it. We brought all of her family to church to watch the baptism. We´ll be working with the rest of them, but most don´t live in our area. Silvana is the girl I wrote about last week. Even though she couldn´t hear everything, I´m sure she could feel the spirit.

We are looking for investigators everyday! The best way to find them is through the members. We receive lots of references. The baptisms usually happen about 2 weeks after finding the people. There are tons of people ready!

Love,

Elder Olsen

Multi-Zone Conference

Enjoying Tropical Drinks

We have 9 companionships in our zone, which is 18 missionaries. Our zone has the most missionaries in the mission. We definitely have more responsibility as zone leaders. We have to be the example for the rest of the zone and mission. There are so many people here ready to receive the gospel. This month we broke the mission record with 309 baptisms.

Today we have a zone activity at the stake center, a GIANT church building. It´s 6 stories high including an indoor basketball/volleyball/soccer court (Not very common in brazil; usually have outdoor courts). We played volleyball and the Sister missionaries made us lunch:)

This week something really cool happened. We were looking for less active members because sometimes they have people in the family who haven’t been baptized. We knocked on a door and met a family. They had a 19 year old girl there who is deaf and can´t talk. Suddenly, my companion started using sign language to communicate to her. I had no idea that he knew sign language! It turns out that she´s been wanting to go to church for a while and wants to be baptized! Elder Marcos teaches her in sign language and I sit there and smile haha. She has a baptism date set for this next Sunday.

I can´t believe tomorrow is already December! I set up a mini Christmas tree in our house and put a few presents under it. I´m definitely missing the snow here. Send some snow my way!!

Thanks for all the love and support!

Elder Olsen

Stake Center–6 Stories tall

We opened the area here, so it was rough this past week. We looked for people ready to to be baptized all week, but everything fell through. Then, at church, we found out that a girl who has be going to church for 3 months now was not baptized.  After lunch, we went to her house to talk to her parents. She was able to get baptized! Um milagre!

On a side note, we received a sign for baptizing every week of last transfer!  Pequenas vitorias a cada dia!

Love,

Elder Olsen

I will be transferred again tomorrow! I will be a Zone Leader with Elder Marcos. It caught me by surprise! Usually missionaries serve as District Leader for a while before becoming Zone leader. I skipped District Leader haha!  To get to the transfer meeting, we take the train, the subway, and then the bus. It takes about 2 hours to get there.

Saturday we baptized Vitória, Sunday Mario, and today we will baptize Raquel and Rosani. (6th consecutive week of baptisms!) The retention here is pretty good; it´s not perfect and it´s never going to be. You have to baptize lots to have a good number who stay active. We always see at least a bunch of our recent converts at church!

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Olsen

Current District

We hike up and down hills all day long!

Little victories every day. 6th week of baptisms!

This past week was good! We baptized again and have 3 planned for this next weekend! We have about 10 progressing investigators that we are teaching. We are going to the temple again this week!

Transfers are next Wednesday, the 17th. I´ll probably stay here and receive a new companion.  Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Olsen

We forgot our umbrellas and got soaked!

Subway!!!!

We had two more baptisms this week!! Pedro and Emerson. The baptism was very special because they both had all of their family there. Pedro´s two sisters have baptism dates marked for next Sunday. Our zone broke the record for baptisms last month, 35. This is the third consecutive month that the zone broke the record. Elder Benites and I are now baptizing 4 weeks consecutive and will keep the streak going!

Elder Benites received a giant heavy package full of food from his mom. We had to carry it up a huge hill and over 2 miles to the house from the train. One of the members had a mini Halloween party for us and made all the food with a Halloween theme. Also, we are teaching a few kids that made a ping pong table in the front of their house. It takes up the whole yard. It´s always fun when we go to visit them!

Lots of miracles are happening everyday. It´s very easy to see the Lord’s hand in your day, you just have to look! Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Olsen