Hey! I am in a new area and my companion is Elder F. from Chili. He is a hard worker and also funny. Whenever he talks about the United States, he calls it Gringolandia (Gringo Land) hahaha. My new area boundaries are a bit bigger than the last, but the church is smaller–it´s a branch. There are more hills too, unfortunately. The city has a ton of little shops and small praças (square parks). The town is very famous for music. All of the people who want to learn music come here. They have a famous school/performance hall here.

The first thing we did when we arrived was go to the chapel for an English class. A 16 year old girl teaches a free English class in the chapel for the sole purpose of bringing non-members to the chapel, where we then can step in and teach them about the church. It´s awesome! She´s really good at English; I just sit there and help if she has a question. When I first walked into the room, I was overwhelmed with a million “Hello’s”, “Hi’s”, and “How are You’s” hahah. It´s super funny when they practice their English. The class members all wanted me to sing a song for them in English, so I sang, “I am a Child of God” (One of the few church songs I know all the words of).

Our first appointment was at the home of a recent convert. He was baptized the week before. He likes to play the violin and drink chimarrão. He also had a Cello too, that I messed around on. It´s been awhile since I´ve touched a cello. Unfortunately, he didn´t have a bass:(

On Friday, we had a multi-mission conference with São Paulo East. When I arrived at the chapel, the first thing I heard was “Josh! Josh! Josh!” I found it very odd, off course, because I haven´t been called Josh in 5 months. I looked over and saw my friend Elder H.  I had no idea he was serving in the São Paulo East mission! It was a sweet surprise. He´s been out for a year and a half now.

At the conference was President L. Whitney Clayton along with Elder Aidukaitis of the 70. We all had the opportunity to shake their hands, all 500 missionaries that were there. They said that was the most number of hands they had ever shaken in one meeting. President Clayton and his wife don´t speak Portuguese, so they spoke in English with a translator translating after every sentence. He did a training for us. He stressed how important it is to have a kneeling prayer at the end of our first lesson and invite the head of the house to do it, asking if The Book of Mormon is true. (He did a little role play with Elder Farnes. haha) This is so important because it shows that we are serious about what we taught and helps the family learn to keep commitments and pray on their own. The promise we read at the end of The Book of Mormon is so simple:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things          are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the      power of the Holy Ghost

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:4-5)

The month of May marks the 80th anniversary of the São Paulo North MissionThe month of May marks the 80th anniversary of the São Paulo North Mission, the oldest mission in Brazil. And for this, President has challenged us to knock on 80 doors a day. We have already found so many people to teach in just these past few days and we keep finding more!

I love you all!

Elder Olsen