THE LAST TRANSFER!!! (week 96)

Hello human beings that share similar genetics!!!! How are you?

This week was radical!!! Like verdad I enjoyed this week......we worked sooooo dang hard with our investigators juuuuust trying to get them to come to church (always a struggle in Tulua) buuuut we worked hard and were able to have an attendance of 3 (it's low but its actually decent for this zone!) We have been working really hard with an investigator named N........he has been investigating the church for a LONG TIME!!! Buuut he has a lot of health issues and cant walk very well, and about a year ago he fell down the stairs of the church and didn't come back. BUT WE WORKED OUR CANS OFF and literally moved our gospel principals class downstairs and worked with Hermano Miguel Guevarra who kindly offered to pick him up for church, ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND HE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!! OOOOOOOOOF VALLLLLLLLLLLLLE LA PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have started my last six weeks......AND I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT :( like literally its been kinda hard to sleep cause I just sit there thinking about school, and work, and Spanish and how literally everything is just gonna flip upside down......I'm not excited for that. I did have an interesting experience this week that made me think about some decisions.....we came home and we had a message on our phone from a random number that just said "elders?" so Elder Castillo called the number and it was the niece our district president......she told us that she was visiting Tulua and that she needed a blessing of salud!! (Health) We made plans the next day to meet her in the church and give her a blessing. Well when we got there she told us all about how she lives in UTAH and her mission was in California (TEEENAZ QUE CHEVERE!!!) and we gave her a blessing......but after we got talking a little bit and she was telling me about she is studying at LDSBC.....I got talking to her about my plans and about how I wanna get better at Spanish and she was like "well LDSBC doesn't have Spanish classes but it's more diverse than BYU, so you won't have a problem finding people to practice with if you go there."  I don't know, it just made me think about things a lot...........I have a lot of decisions to make!!! But like President Whitesides always says "obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles" if I do what I need to be doing and I put the Lord first everything will fall into place.......I know it!!!

The last two weeks I bonded a ton with Elder Castillo........we started to practice Spanish really well.....he would play his guitar and teach me lyrics to sin bandera and I would sing annnnnnnnnd it was super chevere!!! Both of us weren't really sure what was gonna go down with cambios, because he had a ton of time here in the area buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut what happened totally happened and I left with my compa to Cali this morning so he could catch a bus to Pasto (Elder Caray is his comp HAH) and to pick up my new compa Elder Alvardo.......he's from Peru, I don't know him too well but he seems chill......we will see I guess!!!

We are struggling pretty bad in the investigator department.....but I'm not worried about to be honest!!! Lots of doors to knock and lots people to meet......it might discourage some missionaries but I'm actually really excited!!! WE ARE GONNA KIIILLLLLLLL IT THIS TRANSFER! 

Today for p-day I woke up super early and went to Cali, picked up my compa and then we went to the church to play ninja with the other missionaries and to eat pizza!! T'was a good day buuuuuuuuuuuuuut I gotta WORK WORK WORK (WHAAAAAAAAAAAT CAN I SAY? PLEASE RECOGNIZE I'M TRYING BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYY WORK WORK WORK WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK) hahahahha I just had to!!!!

Looooooove you,

ELDER OLSEN

 Hahaha you gotta take breaks in between knocking doors to distress yourself......Elder Castillo and I were trying to get a picture of me in the air.......didn't work but it was a good 5 minute break 

 Good vibes waiting for our missionary correlation meeting

 With the hermana's our last Sunday

 The pizzzzzzzzzzza circle 

 With Elder Mendoza (did you guys know that he was my Zone leader.......Elder Corbett's child that almost died in Pasto.....yeah he's my zone leader)  

and my new compa Elder Alvarado

The End of my Second to Last Transfer (week 95)

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!! How are all of you......I hope you are all just doing dandy!!!!

This week was kinda hard, we decided to focus on our attendance at church so we mostly visited the people that we have already have.....and it was chill!!! We saw a lot of people change their attitude literally out of the blue, so that was interesting.

Part of our plans to help the investigators attend church is introducing them to members and that's going okay. Our first counselor is really chill and is helping us with an investigator that lives close to him (and far from us) buuuuuuuut that's about it.......but we will be working on that this week!!!

Elder Alvarez and I had a meeting this week for the district leaders in Tulua, the Zone Leaders are a little worried about the zone and we discussed ways that we can help the missionaries and members be a little bit more motivated about missionary work. I don't know, there is something about motivating other people that motivates me......I don't get that but its a real thing 

I have been feeling a little weird lately.....this is the last week of this transfer and then BOOM!! Last transfer of the mission!!! Time is just going by waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast and I'm not ready for that vaina!!! I'm excited to come home, but at the same time it's just kinda like "nope, no quiero" jajajaaaja but we will see how transfers go!

Pday today was radical!!! We got into 3 groups to play Uno, and all the losers had to paint our faces with lipstick (ugh). Elder Acosta was in charge of painting my face and I rocked those Harry Potter scars hahahahaaha! We also played water balloon dodge ball which is chill!!! The hermana's were telling me that when I got to Tulua I was white and now I'm brown......jajajajaja interesting but it has sense!!! And after all of our activities we went and ate pizza at domino's......fue chevere!!!!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut yeah......my time is almost up!!! Sorry I suck at emailing 

But I love you guys......I love you guys "MUCHO GRANDE" bajajaajajaja mom, I love you!

ELDER OLSEN

 Playing Uno

 All the losers getting our faces painted (coughcoughbattlescarscoughcough)

Hermana Velez 

Rocking those battle scars

Waaaaaaaaaater ballloooooooons!!!

Conferencia de (week 94)

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!

This week was super chill!!!! We worked a tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon. Long story short we decided that we needed to find investigators closer to the chapel so they would actually come and we have been doing well in that aspect......working with members a ton lately too!!!! Sooo all is well!!!!

This week we had zone conferences and it was cool.....I really liked it (other then the fact we had to do a district cheer......que es esa vaina?) But we learned a ton about the atonement how we can apply it to our lives as missionaries.....we also talked a little bit about goals, and that was cool too!!! You always leave zone conferences with a "VAMOS WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK" kinda attitude and I'm totally about that!!!

We also had interviews and my interview went really well, I had a TON of questions for Presidente......and he told me that I needed to read "The Infinite Atonement" when I get home.....so that should be radical but we will see!!!

Other than that this week wasn't too excited.....we traveled with the hermana's to Buga today (other Ciudad somewhat close to Tulua) and it was cool.....there is a giant cathedral and it was really cool, but it really reminded me about the importance of the restoration of the church!!! It's soooooooooo real!!!

Anyways, I don't have a ton of time because I sent you all ten trillion pictures today, but I hope that you are all doing well!!! 

LOVE YOU HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS!!!

ELDER OLSEN

 New mission jerseys ft. Presidente Whitesides jajajaaja

 Another district doing their cheer

DISTRITO GRACIELA

Our district's cheer (obviously it was the best!)

 Uhhhhhm yeah this happened jajajaaj

Bus ride to Buga!!!

This is a Colombian freeway.....I took this picture to demonstrate the chichi-ness that is driving in this country (there is only 2 lanes)

Some dude got mad at me after taking these, I was "ruining the sign"

 The Basílica

 More of the Basilica

 The lighthouse

Inside the lighthouse

 More from the inside

The view is chevere, you can see the Basilica!

 The view

The view from the top

With the hermana's

My compa

 Yo

 We own this lighthouse

 More of the inside

A description.....in our language!!!

 I make this sign look goooooooooooooooooooood 

 My district does too.......I guess

Unpacking My Adjectives: La Graciela

Hey fam! It's been a minute since I've been able to write a good, descriptive letter, soo I took a few pictures of the area and now I'm going to write a little about it :D

The Area: La Graciela is a little different, because we are literally in the middle of nowhere haha! Tulua is different than the other cities in Colombia because it's small...I'm used to big cities and avoiding cars and motorcycles, but here I'm getting used to horses, cows, and big fields. Another Interesting thing (and my first impression of Tulua) is KITES!!! There are always trillions of kites in the air and kids in the street rolling up their learn...I LOVE THAT! It's different :) Our area is pretty big, we have a lot of ground to cover. Our area covers the neighborhoods of Aguaclara, La Paz, Paraiso, and we even have a little village out in the middle of no where called La Cruz! So it's pretty big, but we share the branch with the hermana's. They work closer to the chapel in neighborhoods like La Graciela and La Alernia, so that's cool. Something different about our area is that an old railroad runs through it and during the day there are always new cows, horses, and interesting looking birds hanging out on the tracks. During the night there's always people hanging out too...I don't know, I like it! We also have a bunch of rivers and dirt paths that are shortcuts to get to other neighborhoods (which I love to take...they are so green!) My area just screams NATURE!! It smells like nature (horses, cows, rain, humidity) and there are a ton of tree's. I LIKE IT! The weather here is soooo bipolar haha one minute it's super hot and sunny (at a point where you're dying) and the next second it's POURING rain...sometimes the sky is divided and half of the city is dying of heat and the other half is getting drenched. So we gotta be prepared at all times!

Aguaclara: Aguaclara is easily the biggest "neighborhood" of our area, but it's not really even a neighborhood...way back when the dinosaurs roamed Tulua, the neighborhoods like Santa Rita and El Bosque didn't exist...Aguaclara did exist but it was it's own little village, separate from the city. The only thing that really connected them was the railroad. But after a ton of development in the city the two were connected...even though Aguaclara is technically not part of Tulua...really interesting!

LA CASA: Our house is cool, I guess! We live in Aguaclara (so I guess we don't even live in Tulua). We are literally surrounded by clear fields, cabins, and farms. It's kinda a pain because we don't live anywhere near supermarkets, only small stores. Buuuut the house itself is nice...it's not the best in the mission but it's not the worst either. We have our bedroom, our closet, the bathroom, study room/kitchen and a little patio thing to wash and dry our clothes...the only thing that I don't like about our house is that when it rains super hard, rain leaks through the window of the closet room and water gets EVERYWHERE!! But other than that I like our house...it's perfectly sized for two people, but my comp is in the process of changing the house because it's a little far from everything, but it's honestly not a problem if you plan right...pero bueno.

THE BRANCH: The branch is cool, our first Sunday when we went to church it seemed a little empty, and then 5 minutes after the meeting started people started to come! The branch actually has a pretty good attendance, and we have a branch council every Sunday, which is weird (the last time I had that in my mission I was serving in Recuerdo Norte). Some of the leaders seem super excited about their callings and want to help us...others seem tired. Buuut I'm super happy to be working with them anyway! Our chapel is weird...smallest district/stake center I have ever seen...it has 2 floors though, and I like that!

La Pensionista: Our pensionista is cool! I like her, she's chill! Her name is Luz Delli...her food is really good! She is used to cooking a mountain of food but Elder Castillo and I really don't eat that much! But she asked me my favorite foods and now she makes them sometimes (sopa de zapallo or pumkin soup! Mmm que rico!) And she always gives us aji (it's kinda like salsa) to put on and mix with our rice, and that's helpful because so much time eating rice...it's getting old hahahaha

CONCLUSION: Buuut yeah...that's the area, it's cool! A little different but it's good :)

These are some photos of our front yard

The pool is from an investigator, Alexandra!

Typical street in Colombia

The train tracks

Rio Tulua 

 and another shot of the river

Random Field

 I took these from the 2nd floor of the chapel

 The birds, eating the daily roadkill!

The cross in the Cruz

 Some fields right by our house

Random horses on our street

 This is our chapel

 Our study room

The kitchen

Laundry room.....Notice how it doesn't have a ceiling.....goes outside so our clothes can dry!

 This is where Totodile and I cuddle all night long 

The rest of our room

The closet room

The bathroom