Month: April 2015

First Baptism

Oi tudo bem?!

It was a great last week of the transfer. Yesterday, we had my first baptism and Elder M.’s last!!! The other Elders in our ward had 3 baptisms in addition to ours at the same time. We baptized B, the girl I mentioned last week who´s mother didn´t want to allow it. Her mother realized how bad she really wanted to be baptized, so she allowed it! She is a super firm girl and is progressing super fast in the gospel. After the baptism, we went over to a member´s home for lunch.  My CTM instructor and her family were also there!

Yesterday, I found out I would be transferred. I will be working in another small town with Elder F.  The town has a small branch and is even further in the interior.

Here are some pictures of a fun communication activity that we did in district meeting. I was blindfolded and one person was designated to shout directions. Except, there were also tons of other people shouting false directions. I had to listen for the correct voice to guide me. It´s a great object lesson because in life we always have so many voices telling us what to do and so many people telling us to do the wrong thing. We must tune everyone else out except the good voice, the Spirit.  (The other picture is my Zone from this last transfer.)

P1020443

P1020435 3This Friday, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy will be coming to São Paulo for a special missionary devotional. It is for the entire mission plus the São Paulo East Mission.

Have an excellent week!

Love Elder Olsen

Faith

This past week we´ve been focusing on teaching a girl named B. We found her knocking doors. She´s only 15, but she´s very smart when it comes to religion. She recognizes that there are lots of false churches in the world today. It´s so awesome watching someone progress as they learn about the true Church. At first she had lots of doubts and didn´t even want to go to church but we talked her into it. That was 4 weeks ago when we first met her and she hasn´t missed a Sunday since. At first, she would always think about the science aspect of everything and wanted scientific answers. But, this isn´t how God works.  2 Nephi 27:23 says:

“For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles;and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.”

Faith is the first principle of the Gospel for a reason. If we only look at science alone, we won´t get anywhere. And also, if we look at religion alone, it´ll be just as hard to make conclusions. They both must work together. The more I learn about the Gospel, the more everything else in life makes sense. She is progressing quickly and has a baptism date for this Saturday! She is super excited but she said her mom won´t allow her to be baptized. We will go talk to her mom this week and pray that she will allow it.

On Saturday our area had what we call a Blitz. All of the missionaries in our zone came to our area to work. There were 12 missionaries there. We visited less actives and made contacts with the members.

Yesterday (Sunday), Elder M. and I performed a special musical number. Elder M. played the piano while I sang. We performed a special arrangement of I Know That My Redeemer Lives. I sang three verses in Portuguese and the last one in English. It came out really good!

Today is the start of the last week of the transfer! Elder M. will be going home next week and I´ll receive a new companion!

I love you all!

Elder Olsen

Here is a short video that is really good with explaining religion with science. We showed it to B.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-06-03-we-lived-with-god?lang=eng

 

 

Follow the Prophet

I am grateful I was able to hear the words of our Prophet and Apostles in General Conference last week! The world is constantly changing and becoming more and more wicked, just as prophets of old have prophesied. And for this, we need to follow the prophet because he receives revelation for our current day and age. There are so many people in the world who don´t know that God has a prophet on the Earth right now. Heavenly Father always has a prophet on the Earth in every dispensation, that´s just how He works. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

People don´t understand us “Mormons” and why we do what we do. Just like the guy you pull up next to in the car who is dancing and singing, we definitely appear strange to the world. And why? Because they don´t hear our “music.”  And what is our “music”?  It´s knowing that we have the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know exactly what we´re doing here on Earth.

As a missionary, it´s sad when people reject you. Not because of the fact that you are being rejected, but because of the fact that those who reject you are missing out on so much happiness and blessings in their lives. Sometimes I say to myself “You don´t even know…” because so many people are just wandering in unbelief and without the truth. I´m so glad to know that I have the truth in my life and can share it with others here in Brazil!

I love you all!

Elder Olsen

General Conference

General Conference was so good!  Before my mission, I never really paid too much attention to General Conference. When I was younger, to me, General Conference meant being able to sleep in longer and sitting comfortably at home as we watched Conference on TV.  But now as a missionary, after the 10 hours of Conference I watched, I didn´t want it to end!! It´s such a blessing we have to receive counsel from the Church leaders to guide us in the world today.

We watched conference in 3 different places because we were all over the place last weekend. We watched it at 2 different church buildings in different cities and once at a member´s house. Thankfully we were able to watch in English each time! Except when Ulisses Soares (native Portuguese speaker) came on, we all ran to the chapel so we could listen to him in Portuguese and not hear the English voice-over haha.

One of my favorite talks was by Wilford W. Anderson.  I loved the analogy Elder Anderson made about dancing to the music. It´s funny when you pull up next to someone at a stop light and they are dancing, because you can´t hear the music. That´s just like us as Latter-Day Saints; people don´t understand why we do things and make fun of us because they can´t hear the music that we hear. Super cleaver analogy that´s so true! I also liked the talk by Elder Bednar on Saturday afternoon about Fear.  I noticed that several speakers talked about how important it is to always pray to recognize the Lord´s hand in your life and to trust that He is guiding you and will bless you. I could just talk about every talk they were so good!! I can´t wait to go back and read them again.

It has cooled down here a bit, but mainly just at night. It´s chilly enough to use a blanket, now. Last week I bought a blanket to use.

While on a division this past week, Elder G. and I found a 15 year old girl knocking on doors. She is very interested in the gospel, but has lots of questions we need to answer first.

Our English class is pretty fun. There are a couple of young girls who are like 10 that always come and the rest are usually other random ward members. We just teach random topics that we can think of on the spot. There is another kid that we teach in his house, though. He is picking up English really fast.

Love,

Elder Olsen

Because He Lives

Thank you everyone for the letters, pictures, and packages! Living in another country is a humbling experience for sure. When I get back, I´ll definitely be more grateful for everything we have there that isn´t here.

It´s awesome how much the church feels the same here. The church is the same no matter where you go because it´s under one head, Jesus Christ. And yes, we have the “Because He Lives” video in Portuguese! #PorqueEleVive. We have cards that we pass out to share it with people.

I am looking forward to General Conference! If you keep some questions in mind, we are promised that they will be answered through the speakers and personal revelation.

Love you all!

Elder Olsen

 

Here is this beautiful video in Portuguese: