Transfer Time!

This week we were able to reactivate 2 families and baptize one of the sons who wasn´t yet baptized, Gustavo. They were very excited to be back at church! Lots of times inactive members are just waiting for an invite to go back to church. Usually they are embarrassed to go back by themselves; that´s why we need to invite them and help them in the reactivation process.

I am being transferred again to a new area! And guess who my new companion is…. Elder Sukhee!!:D   It will be great to be with him again; but don´t worry, our area is in the interior where there aren´t dangerous favelas.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Olsen

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3 Baptisms, 2 Bites, and a Win!

This week we baptized a family of 3! Sandra and her two children, Carlos and Alessandra.

Here is a picture of the dog that bit me! haha  I went to the doctor and everything is taken care of. The dog was vaccinated so I didn’t need any more shots. When we went back to get more information from the owner, the lady wanted to show us that he was friendly; so, she started to open the gate to let him out, but we quickly shut it hahaha!

We went exploring to two far away cities this week. They are over an hour by bus, but it´s part of our area! We visited some less actives and invited one to return to church! We had a delicious lunch with a member who made his own skillet.

The Brazilian win against Germany in soccer was actually a big defeat for Brazil because Brazil lost to Germany 1-7 in the World Cup. It was their revenge match and they came out on top!

Love,

Elder Olsen

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Friendly Dog

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Fasting Works!

One day this past week we fasted with the purpose of finding people to baptize. The next day we became lost, looking for less actives on the member list. A woman saw us and ran to us asking if we were from the “Mormon” church. She said that her 16 year old son always passes in front of the church and has really been wanting to know more about the church. We marked an appointment with them for the next day.

When we got there, we found that it was a family of 3.  A widowed mom named Sandra (who ran up to us the day before), Carlos who is 16, and Alessandra who is 9. We taught the restoration and Carlos accepted to be baptized without hesitation. The family went to church yesterday and loved it and Carlos already wants to serve a mission! Miracles are real and fasting works! We just have to show our faith and works first.

Yesterday we also baptized a girl named Bianca. She was baptized by her husband. They will start to get ready for their temple sealing! Families are forever!

Love,

Elder Olsen

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Love the Water!

Yesterday we baptized Katielly. She is an 11 year old girl from a family of less-actives. We reactivated the family at the same time as baptizing her! We are working with some members in the branch, here, who are very helpful!

Today we went to a waterfall that is in our area, but it was 2 hours away by bus.

I also got the package. Thank you for the goodies!

Love,

Elder Olsen

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New Area, New Companion

My new companion is Elder Gonzales from Argentina. He is super funny and a hard worker, which is awesome. He was in the area already for one transfer before me. Our new area is pretty big and spread out because it is the interior. There are also less houses and less people in the streets, which makes the work a bit more challenging.

This week we had planned to bring about 25 people to church, but only 5 went. It´s totally normal, though haha. But these 5 people all have baptisimal dates for this next week! Three of them make up a family: Juliano, Lucelia, and their 8 year old daughter Ana Carolina. We are excited to baptize a family!. We are also working with a less active family where not everyone is baptized. Katiely is 11 years old and is firm for her baptism on Sunday as well! The dad of the family also isn´t baptized, but he will need more work to get baptized. The 5th person is Pedro, the boyfriend of a member. They are about 30 years old. The already want to get married and he wants to be baptized as fast as possible so they can be sealed as fast as possible. Converts have to wait one year after the baptism to be sealed in the temple.

It´s super important that we help people be baptized as quick as possible because this life is short and the blessings awaiting them are great!

Love,

Elder Olsen

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