Yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, I talked about the Sons of Mosiah and how they were consecrated missionaries who understood the “Why” and had a real desire to share the gospel.

“Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” (Mosiah 28:3)

After church we brought 5 more souls to Christ! Alifer, Alanes, Alexandra, Bruno, and William. The first three are blondes. They all like me a lot because I´m blonde just like them, haha!  They call me Elder Loirinho (Elder Little Blonde). Bruno and William are two sons in a family we have been teaching. Their parents can´t be baptized yet because they aren´t married; but, Elder A. Oliveira will help them get married this week so they can be baptized. They are a super elect family.

This morning our Ward Mission Leader took us on a hike to a little waterfall. Jared is definitely the best ward mission leader that I have ever had, haha! He is our age and got back from his mission not too long ago. He is already working on getting his documents together to go to the U.S.!

Yesterday, I received a transfer call and found out I would be going to Taipas, which is a huge favela in the capital. But… a few minutes ago I received another call and am being emergency transferred to another city, which is the BIGGEST FAVELA IN OUR MISSION!!! My companion will be Elder Sukhee, an American.

Thanks for all the prayers. I´ll need a few extra in my new area!

Love, Elder Olsen

My area is well.  Unfortunately, the baptisms that we had for this week fell through:( It´s sad, but I know I need to get back up and keep going. The time is going by quick and I know I need to make the best of it. How I finish my mission is a preview of how my life will be, says President Farnes.

It´s starting to get a little more chilly at night, but in general it´s still SUPER HOT during the day haha. I don´t even know what the temperature is here; I don´t ever look!

Thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Olsen

Elder Olsen and Elder A. Oliviera

This week we baptized José and his daughter, Vitória. José has known the church for a long time now. Almost his whole family was baptized previously, except him and his daughter who was 7 years old when the others were baptized. In the past, José didn´t want to be baptized, but things have changed for him.

The hardest part was baptizing Vitória. She has an extreme fear of water. She would always tell us she didn´t want to be baptized and would run away from us, even until the night of the baptism, haha. With lots of prayer and fasting, she was able to go to the church, change into her baptism clothes and go to the font. Little by little she got used to the water. It took about 30 minutes for her to get all the way into the water. We even asked a Young Woman to come into the water to help Vitória feel more comfortable, haha! She had the best feeling of relief after she was baptized!

Love,

Elder Olsen

Hello everyone!

This weekend was a wonderful weekend because of General Conference. I´m not going to lie, I don´t remember all of what was said until I review my notes. BUT, I do remember the peaceful spirit that I could feel during the conference. Lots of times in our lives we can forget the things we have learned and felt if we don´t nourish our testimony. If we stop learning and growing, God will slowly take away what he had given us. A testimony is a gift from God. This is why so many people fall away from the church. I have seen members, return missionaries, ex-bishops, and even ex-stake presidents fall away from the church because of one simple thing: they stop nourishing their testimony. They take a “break”, and that break is their downfall. They begin to lose everything that God had given them. We can never stop learning and growing. Lots of people wonder why they have lost the faith and good feelings that they once had when they were active in the church. It´s because they stopped doing the simple things, the easy things.  Alma 37:6 says,

“Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise”.

SINCERE prayer, SINCERE scripture study, and SINCERE church attendance. This is the formula for always having the spirit to be with you. And when you have the spirit with you, you won´t fall. There is a fine line between Satan and God. If we get even close to the line, Satan has power over us. We must stay as far from the line as possible and we can´t be tempted. Satan can´t tempt us unless we allow him to.

I know that God lives and is present in our lives when we allow him to. God won´t help us unless we get off the couch and start working for our future. Salvation is personal. Alma 34:31-32 says,

“Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you. For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.”

We broke the zone record with 32 baptisms in the month! So we celebrated by making Oreo milkshakes! We also went to the temple with missionaries from the interior zones and President Farnes.

We baptized Giovana, an elect of God, super ready to receive the truth. She reads the Book of Mormon everyday and always asks us good questions. God´s work continues!

Enjoy life!

Love,

Elder Olsen

Elder A. Oliviera and Pres. and Sis. Farnes

Celebrating with Oreo milkshakes!