GET PUMPED (week 22)

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYO FAMILY!!!

What is new? Not much here!!

This week was full of doctors appointments, doctor appointments, and more doctors appointments......IT IS GREEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!!! Because Elder Brizuela has a bad knee and like his whole body hurts, we had to go to two different hospitals for him and we had to go to another one for my ear.....and we have more appointments in the next two weeks for the both of us....it's great! I am going to write a handwritten letter this week talking about Colombian hospitals so look forward to that!! My audiologist was cool....she has pictures of her and Bill Clinton all over her office so that is cool! But yeah I got my new aid.....its a Starkey (dad read all you can about that and report back....thanks). But you cannot change the programs directly from the hearing aid so I got a super sweet remote too!! The only thing that I do not like about it so far is the color.....I am just not about skin colored hearing aids.....gross!!

Yeah and our apartment is going through a big renovation project....President Pricoli wrote our landlord a letter I guess so he is fixing it. Right now we have a board of wood on our ceiling and a pole of wood to secure it there....and they will be fixing it completely later.

Things with Elder Brizuela are good. The ward mission leader is always rude to him and I do not know why....this last Sunday we planned to have an activity where we did divisions with the ward members and visit less actives....but the mission leader would not split us up and give us members to work with and said something like "the missionaries do not need other people to go with them" some of the members made A BIG DEAL about that...the sisters got members to go with members but we did not. I don't know, it's so hard.

Soooooo conference is coming up SO GET PUMPED! It is soooo important for us to listen to words of our prophets and apostles. They receive revelation DIRECTLY for us....do you know how RAD that is? That being said it is important for us to have questions in mind! CHALLENGE: write down 3 questions in your challenge notebook, and leave room to write notes during conference as they get answered because they will.....it seriously works that way!! I know it to be true :)

LOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU GUYS MUCHO,
ELDER OLSEN

 

 

 

 Hot Cheetos in Colombia!! As well as Maracuya Gatorade (SOOOOO GOOOD)



I told you the color was off!!

Cheetos in Colombia (pronounced Chehtos)



Margarita's (aka Lays)

 Our apartment is under construction to fix a leak...yeah it's great.

 

 

Call From Gar-Bear

Hello Elder Olsen's fans, friends and relatives! Since Garrett's hearing aid broke today we got a surprise call from him!! We really only got to talk about hearing aid stuff and doctor visits, but it was still really good to hear his voice. My mom had mixed emotions of course, she loved hearing from him but it also made her miss him really bad. 

After that my dad needed to email the mission president to talk about stuff and he had some nice things about Garrett. I thought I would post it here so Garrett could look back on it...

Dear Olsen Brothers,

Thank you for your letter and your support for Elder Olsen. He is a very good missionary, he is making great progress in all aspects and his work is magnificent here at the Mission Colombia Cali.

----- Bunch of personal stuff about Garrett's replacement hearing aid-----

Thank you again for your support of Elder Olsen.

PRESIDENT AND SISTER PRICOLI

So that is fun! It was also fun to get to hear Garrett speak some Spanish, because he was talking back and forth between my parents and his president. All of this made me miss my baby brother SO SO badly!! As much as I miss him, I know he is out there doing good work and I couldn't be more proud of him!

Focus on the Lord (week 21)

ELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO EVERYBODY!!!! What is new? Nothing much happened here.....okay a lot actually happened this week!

For starters I wanna talk about the healthcare situation, because we had a visit from Elder Godoy (I will talk about that in a minute) Hermana Pricoli wanted to wait because she was super busy preparing everything for that, but that was on Wednesday? I think, I don't know!! Anyways I got a call from President last night and he said the doctors are busy or something....I did not really understand the entire situation, buuuuuuut yeah I have to wait :/ (Garrett is talking about getting into the doctor to get a new hearing aid because his broke!) My 2nd program works but I hate my second program....I never used my second program at home because it never worked that well and it is soooooooo horrible for missionary work. We will be outside in the wind and all I can hear is "dshlfgjsldfñkjgsjglakñjgdkjñfdjdffdjñfdsñadfsdfakkfdkdjffkjñ" we also work on busy streets all day sooooooooooooo....

The conference was sooooooo gooooooood!!! Ughdsajlfjdsldfj I love elder Godoy!! It's not everyday that you get a visit from a 70! And it's not everyday that you know them and can quote their talks! (He has a really good talk from 2014 about patriarchal blessings that I LOVE) but it was good him and his wife spoke....Elder Mcdermott told me that his wife cannot speak Spanish and kept bouncing back and forth from Portuguese hahahaah But the conference was all about how we can better help our investigators and how we need to work with the members!!! I liked it!! I also talked with Elder Chaiña and Elder Primo!! I miss my parents!! (When I first read this I thought he was talking about his parents back home and I thought it was the most random comment ever! Haha but he is talking about his missionary parents!) Elder Chaiña is good....he hates his new area but he his good!! Elder Primo is good, he was asking me how Aubrey and her baby are doing.....I don't know how he remembers that buuuuuut yeah!!! (Um...how could he forget? My unborn child and I are the coolest!) He is an office missionary now so that is weird.

John is John.....we had a bunch of GIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT FIGHTS this week...ugh. He has nooo patience NADA and he always sighs and breaths heavy when things are not going his way....and things are never going his way hahaha We had a ward council meeting and it's pretty clear the ward does not really have the same kinda plans his last ward had....we also had another council meeting with Hermano Favio and Hermana Julieth and it told them how frustrating this area is, but when we are in good moods we are good.....I don't know hahahha we do not really have any progressing investigators right now.....we have some new ones but have not taught them much yet.

I wanna talk a little bit about my p-day today cause we actually did something.....we had lunch with Hermana Julieth because the other day was her birthday....we had Chinese food (Chinese food here blooooooooows) and we went to the local Exito (Walmart....its basically Walmart) it was good because I usually just sit around all day not doing anything.

Aubrey sent me a really good conference talk this week.....I am pretty sure I read before, but it was about revelation and how we can receive it and it is fooooorsure a poco a poco process.....but it comes, I know that to be true even though it is hard sometimes. I know that if we are always trying to do what we think the Lord wants for us we will not choose the wrong path....it's hard buuuuuut we caaaaaaaaaaaaan do it fam!!! Hahah I love you guys and I miss you and I hope that you are making good choices!!! Sooooo here comes the challenge (gotta love me) make a list of some things that you want to do in the coming days, weeks, months and even this year....focus on things that can help you better yourself and write it in your challenge notebook.....present the list to our Heavenly Father in prayer, and pray specifically for guidance and answers to things you need to do.....pray for guidance, because those plans might need to change......focus on your goals. focus on what the Lord wants for you.....and you will be guided!! I promise!!

LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUF YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU,

ELDER OLSEN

P.S I have nothing to take pictures of....so what do you guys wanna see? (Umm...your face Elder. We would like to see pictures of your face. Duh.) Hahah seriously nothing exciting has happened.

(Edit from 04/03/2017: Garrett sent this picture from the conference!)

Elder Godoy totally gave the closing prayer in one of the General Conference sessions and I was like "OMMMMMMMMMMMMMMG I SHOOK THAT GUYS HAND TWO WEEEEEEKS AGO" I am in the back row in case you cannot find me!

Bright Side (week 20)

HELLO MY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVS!!! I really do not know how I feel about this week a toooooooooooooon went down.....a ton always goes down but I feel like this week was super significant for whatever reason!!!

For starters, we had interviews this week which is always great....not a stress at all! With our interviews with Hermana Pricoli we always have to memorize something....this time we had to memorize all the commitments we extend to the investigators from preach my gospel and I am super bad at memorizing things....but I got lucky!! Soooooo this is what went down, I got in there all nervous and stuff but she was like "we need to talk about your ears" so I went and got Elder Mcdermott to translate for me......we decided that it will be better for me to get a new one here, because with a new one we won't have to wait, it will have a warranty and they will be able to fix it here. We talked about how we are gonna pay for it and she said I will have the opportunity to probably call you guys before we make any decisions (YEEES). After all that Elder Mcdermott left and Hermana Pricoli was like "weeeeelll we do not have tons of time so just give the commitments for the first 3 lessons" and those were the only ones I memorized BAHAHAHAHHHH luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucky!!! So yeah I have a doctors appointment sometime this week because she wants to get a NIIIICE hearing aid but they are tons cheaper here so do not worry!!! My interview with President went a lot better this time!!! 

Uhhhm me and John are fine...he just gets frustrated when things do not work out.....and things really are not working out, the ward is STRUGGLING right now.....so we have been placing a big focus on visiting more less active members. Hopefully our plans work out, we have a system where each area in our area has a leader that goes and home teaches (I don't think that is really a thing the bishop assigns here) soooo yeah!!! But we found a ton of new investigators this week so hopefully they work out.

I had lots of hard times this week.....John likes to leave early so I do not really get language study and that is hard.......I am trying to look back on the bright side of things, my Spanish is getting better........but I just want an accent and to have all my conjugations down and all the verbs and ughhhghghghgh!!! So that brings me to the challenge this week.....in your challenge journal write down times that you had hard times and how you got through, you will want to look at it later....I had the opportunity to finish my first journal this week....everyday I always look back to see what I was doing on the same day months past and what a difference that makes!! 

I love you guys, I worry so much about you!!!! Keep killing it family,

Elder Olsen

P.S SHOUT GOES TO AUBREY FOR GETTING INTO HER SCHOOL PROGRAM

P.S.S SHOUT OUT GOES TO TY AND AIYA FOR BUYING THEIR HOUSE

P.S.S.S SHOUT OUT GOES TO JAIRBEAR FOR MAKING A HARD DECISION

Hahaha I love and miss my sibs ;)

Follow the Prophet (week 19)

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOO!! Hello family and friends!!!

So what is going on? I had an incredibly detailed and eventful week.....literally the day I got my comp our house started FLOODING, like we are talking water coming out of the ceiling....BROWN WATER!!! That was fun....Elder Brizuela called to ask if we can switch apartments but I do not think that is gonna happen.

Another eventful thing happened, we were meeting with a member talking about people in the area we can teach when out of nowhere, MY HEARING AID STOPPED WORKING!! Soooo yeah I went home and dehumidified it but that did not do anything. It worked a little but when I cupped my hands over it it did not make the annoying screechy sound it's supposed to, soooooo I had to call Elder Mcdermott and tell him to call Hermana Pricoli and explain the situation!! (shout out goes to him for dealing with all of my crap hahahaha). President and Hermana Pricoli are currently both traveling all over the mission so it took her 2 days to find an audiologist to go to.....and first they said something was wrong with the battery contacts, so they had the technician try to do something about that buuuuuuuuut that did nothing. They are currently looking at the problem and will call us either today or tomorrow.....and then after that we have to wait for them to fix whatever problem....they think the microphone is toast soooo that blows!!! I did not even have that one for a year!!! (Little side story for you...Garrett emailed my parents and I today with the subject being SOS. Then the only thing the body of the email said "write back fast..did the mission home contact you about my health issues?!" Umm...NO! So here I am freaking out because I'm thinking he caught some Colombian disease. My parents don't usually get on at the time he emails so I called them and got them all freaked out too, just to find out it was only his hearing aid. Which is a big deal, don't get me wrong! But really Garrett?! Way to get us all thinking you were dying! Hahaha loser.)

Me and Elder Brizuela are doing good!! It has been kinda a rough week because we do not have very many investigators....but we have two dates!! Lousia and Cintia are two people that I have never written about much because Elder Chaiña never wanted to visit them....but they have dates. Well  Lousia has a date but Cintia does not because she did not come to church.....we have also found a bunch of new investigatiors and visited lots of less active members on our list!!! They are not interested too much though...one guy we visited does not wanna come to church because he read all the bad things Joseph Smith did as President of the United States......I was trying sooooooo hard not to laugh at that!!!! We have visited some of the active members that Elder Chaiña never wanted to cause they live kinda far like in Villanueva and San Bernito......those areas are also like super dangerous so that is fun!!! (Seriously, is this freak out your family week for Garrett?) I like Ciudad Modelo but I really kinda wanna change.....and with my hearing aid I really wanna go somewhere a little more cool buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut we will see.

I am struggling a bunch with Spanish. Sometimes my companion will plan appointments during my language study and that BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!!! If anyone reading this went on a Spanish speaking mission I would love all the advice!! Like for real write me!!! 

I am very happy to see almost everyone actually do the challenge!! The challenge notebooks will be a great resource and something fun to look back on!! The other day I was having a particularly hard time and I was looking through my spiritual journal....it's just a whole bunch of conference talks....but they seriously help me so much! We are so lucky to have prophets and apostles to help and guide us!!! Sooooo here comes the challenge...you need to 

A.) Find 3 conference talks one from the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's.

2. Write them down in your challenge notebook.

3. Write down thoughts about the talk and how you can apply it in your daily life.

4.) Write me about the experience.

 I promise that has we listen and follow the prophets we can receive revelation....EVERY SINGLE DAY...how rad is that? I remember Brother Knowles always challenged us to listen to a conference talk on the way to school everyday.....I never did it, but I wish I would have xD

Love you tons,

Elder Olsen

NEEEEEEEEEW COMP

This is a picture of my English class (look at allll those people)

(Also look at Garrett's bubble butt!!!! Totally freaked me out when I saw this picture. He told me he has been gaining weight but I did not believe him until the moment I saw this. If any of you ladies like what you see......that's too bad he's a missionary. But you can always write him and get in line to date him when he comes home.)