This week has been absolutely nutzo...! If that is a word. It was alot more stressfull than my first week as a zone leader because now I had to show someone else what to do and make sure it was all done right. Pheww. We had a district leader training meeting on thursday, and zone introductions meeting, then we attended some of the district meetings in the district. Then I showed my companion around the area as we worked all weekend, showed him all the extra things we do as zone leaders at night and throughout the day, went on travels on Monday- attended zone leader council on tuesday. Ran a zone companionship study meeting this morning then had a zone kill ball activity and are now preparing for zone conference on friday! I am definitely going to welcome the week and a half break before we run our zone skills meeting. Its all been going very well though I was very pleased with everything- we recieved a ton of blessings that just helped everything to work out right. But I pretty much had to stop eating to be able to get everything done- I haven't eaten yet today and I think i've been going on one meal a day for a week- sometimes that takes place at 9:30 at night. However we've set a goal to make sure that we are always eating consistnetly so that we can keep up our energy level. And though its been crazy its been a really fun week! Thanks for everything, to answer any questions its super cold 3 degrees celsius and windy - becca's things was awesome and I hope everything goes well this week!
Love Elder Olson
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
New Transfer
Well, I'm e-mailing a little earlier today so I may send this before I read some emails. This week was transfer week so we didn't have our zone activity today so we had a little more time in the morning. My companion went home as expected but my new companion was a surprise, I am training a new zone leader this transfer - named Elder Smith. He is from orem utah, but is a convert to the church. I knew him a little bit because he served near me when I was in Whitby. He is a really good missionary and I am excited for the coming transfer. To be honest though I am kind of nervous about the responsibility. I am definitely going to be praying more. Especially since this is my companions first transfer as a zone leader I am in charge of making sure all the calls, meetings, and travels are going to work out as they should. Its a good thing as a zone leader that your companion is always a solid missionary otherwise the burden would be alot to bear. Oh and they also added another companionship in our zone, they opened one of the areas that have been closed since even before I was here and they put a threesome companionship in it. And the area that they oppened last transfer now has a threesome hermanas companionship. So in 2 transfers our zone increased by 6 missionaries and just this last transfer it increased by 4! So there is going to be alot of new things going on. So thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for me. It ill all work out very well though its going to be a big learning experience.
The Baptism that we were planning on last week didn't go through because our Investigator Naveen, was experiencing opposition from his wife who told him he could not be baptized, however we have talked to him about it and we will hopefully going to be able to sit down with both of them and talk to her about it. Other than that issue he has already passed his interview and is comletely ready for baptism.
Oh! And I got the package, thank you so much. It was awesome. I love getting all the halloween stuff I already sprayed my companion with the silly string. The backpack was really good as well. It is very nice thanks for that too. I'm still keeping my old one but I like this one alot. You know how its hard for me to like new things sometimes... but I liked this one immediately and its perfect for what I need. It's a lifesaver. The candle holders were awesome as well as everything else and all the other supplies, especially the cookies! But if I don't hear from anyone else before my time is out I hope everything is going well and that I'll be able to talk to you soon.
Love Elder Olson.
The Baptism that we were planning on last week didn't go through because our Investigator Naveen, was experiencing opposition from his wife who told him he could not be baptized, however we have talked to him about it and we will hopefully going to be able to sit down with both of them and talk to her about it. Other than that issue he has already passed his interview and is comletely ready for baptism.
Oh! And I got the package, thank you so much. It was awesome. I love getting all the halloween stuff I already sprayed my companion with the silly string. The backpack was really good as well. It is very nice thanks for that too. I'm still keeping my old one but I like this one alot. You know how its hard for me to like new things sometimes... but I liked this one immediately and its perfect for what I need. It's a lifesaver. The candle holders were awesome as well as everything else and all the other supplies, especially the cookies! But if I don't hear from anyone else before my time is out I hope everything is going well and that I'll be able to talk to you soon.
Love Elder Olson.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
0 time to write...
Hey! Ireally have about 0 time to write this so i'll just be really quick. The baptism went well on Sunday and Sapna was baptized. We have another one coming up this sunday, the 50 yr old man named Naveen. He is telling his family of his decision right now and so if you could keep him in your prayers that would be fantastic. Transfers are this week on monday its going to be another crazy transfer where I have absoloutely no clue what will happen. Its exciting to hear that dads home, zach got a job, becca's gonna be on t.v. and of course mom is already planning all of next summers trips. (!!) The next transfer starts on monday and the mission usually lasts about 2 years and one week from mtc arrival date, to answer your question. Other than that everything is going really well and I'll be writing much more next week.
Love Elder Olson!
Love Elder Olson!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Good News!
Good news! We have a baptism coming up on Sunday. One of our investigators from India Sapna is getting baptized! Its gonna be great her family is pretty much running the whole service and her cousin is going to baptize her. The only thing my companion and I are doing is the musical number, can you imagine me doing a musical number, SHOCKING! I'm not really sure what they were thinking when they asked me to do that but...
Our other Indian investigator, Naveen, finally quit drinking tea and hopefully he will be baptized next sunday- its going to be really good for him. He just recently lost his job because of all the economic troubles that are going on there were alot of job cuts in the auto industry this month. He really needs some prayers because he has 1 or two kids in university right now and one applying to go. He is such a good man, its amazing to see what a difference the gospel has made in his life even in the time that I've been teaching him.
Other than that the transfer is coming to an end- it will be interesting to see what happens this coming transfer- they are probably going to put another companionship in our zone, giving us a total of 9 companionships and a few senior couples, which would make us one of the larger zones in the mission. I will also be getting a new companion because mine is going home/dieing (in the missionary sense). For the last 6 months or so I've gone from killing a companion to training a new one to killing another one. I kind of just want to be put with someone right in the middle of their mission or at least with 6 months left, but in the end it doesn't really matter the work will be the same.
The new transfer is going to be really exciting- its the transfer that we get together with all the zone leaders and district leaders in the mission and make the yearly Mission Mission plan- where we set our yearly goals and make new standards of excellence for the mission.
So far I've just kind of gotten used to being in all of my areas for a long time so I don't want to get moved out before I'm here for six months. Especially this time with Christmas coming up. So i'll probably be here for another 2 transfers and then get sent to another zone. Unless something crazy happens.
This week we got invited to one of our Members birthday parties. It was a member from Ghana that after we found her 2 months ago she just started coming back to church the last 3 weeks. Her family and friends are all from Ghana and so one are way back from one of the church buildings in the zone this morning we stopped off and bought some Ghanian shirts, really bright and authentic Ghanian style. The african ladies in the store were so excited to see us buying the shirts it was great. Were still not sure how we are going to wear them with our suits but we'll think of something...
Its exciting to hear that Dad is coming home, I just remembered one of my favorite traditions last week because of general conference. Going out to eat before priesthood session! Anyway- this weekend is Canadian thanksgiving and we already have 3 dinner invitations for the weekend. Its also getting cold up here, this winter I am definitely going to buy a new coat and some boots. Last year I don't think my feet were ever warm from january to april. This winter I'll be more prepared, hopefully...! Oh and today I am going to be sending some picture cards! because both my cards have been full for months... there will be alot of pictures.
Love Elder Olson...
Our other Indian investigator, Naveen, finally quit drinking tea and hopefully he will be baptized next sunday- its going to be really good for him. He just recently lost his job because of all the economic troubles that are going on there were alot of job cuts in the auto industry this month. He really needs some prayers because he has 1 or two kids in university right now and one applying to go. He is such a good man, its amazing to see what a difference the gospel has made in his life even in the time that I've been teaching him.
Other than that the transfer is coming to an end- it will be interesting to see what happens this coming transfer- they are probably going to put another companionship in our zone, giving us a total of 9 companionships and a few senior couples, which would make us one of the larger zones in the mission. I will also be getting a new companion because mine is going home/dieing (in the missionary sense). For the last 6 months or so I've gone from killing a companion to training a new one to killing another one. I kind of just want to be put with someone right in the middle of their mission or at least with 6 months left, but in the end it doesn't really matter the work will be the same.
The new transfer is going to be really exciting- its the transfer that we get together with all the zone leaders and district leaders in the mission and make the yearly Mission Mission plan- where we set our yearly goals and make new standards of excellence for the mission.
So far I've just kind of gotten used to being in all of my areas for a long time so I don't want to get moved out before I'm here for six months. Especially this time with Christmas coming up. So i'll probably be here for another 2 transfers and then get sent to another zone. Unless something crazy happens.
This week we got invited to one of our Members birthday parties. It was a member from Ghana that after we found her 2 months ago she just started coming back to church the last 3 weeks. Her family and friends are all from Ghana and so one are way back from one of the church buildings in the zone this morning we stopped off and bought some Ghanian shirts, really bright and authentic Ghanian style. The african ladies in the store were so excited to see us buying the shirts it was great. Were still not sure how we are going to wear them with our suits but we'll think of something...
Its exciting to hear that Dad is coming home, I just remembered one of my favorite traditions last week because of general conference. Going out to eat before priesthood session! Anyway- this weekend is Canadian thanksgiving and we already have 3 dinner invitations for the weekend. Its also getting cold up here, this winter I am definitely going to buy a new coat and some boots. Last year I don't think my feet were ever warm from january to april. This winter I'll be more prepared, hopefully...! Oh and today I am going to be sending some picture cards! because both my cards have been full for months... there will be alot of pictures.
Love Elder Olson...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Busiest week of my life...
This has been the busiest week of my life... we've planned and gone on a temple trip, a multi-zone activity, done a zone skills meeting ( a miny zone conference with just our zone and the mission president that we completely plan and execute) we've been going on more travels this week and we've been planning 2-3 baptisms, to hellp ward members and for our own investigators, and moved an Hermanas companionship into their new apartment. The phone never stops ringing and inbetween all of that there is still the missionary work that we are always doing. Last night the phone rang constantly throught the day and then I got home after doing a baptismal interview for our investigator Sapna- and I quickly planned the day and spent 9:30 - 10:30 just talking to missionaries on the phone to organize everything that was going on. And we've been waking up early almost every day to give us more time to get everything done. We are definitely going to try to find time for a nap today even if its just 10 minutes. But its also been a great week, we've seen so many good things happen and our zone skills meeting went really well. It basically consists of my companion and I running roleplays and speaking for an hour and a half. It actually turned out pretty well- but now we get a break from meetings until next transfer when we start again.
Our investigator Sapna is doing really well she is ready to be baptized but we had to move her date back from this sunday to the next just because her family wasn't going to be able to come. (it just makes it so much more effective when the members of the church help us at every stage in the teaching, they have helped us so much.) She has definitely been a blessing to teach her.
Thanks for the package and for all the e-mails from everyone I can't wait to get all that halloween stuff that zach told me about=. I love and miss you all.
Love Elder Olson.
Our investigator Sapna is doing really well she is ready to be baptized but we had to move her date back from this sunday to the next just because her family wasn't going to be able to come. (it just makes it so much more effective when the members of the church help us at every stage in the teaching, they have helped us so much.) She has definitely been a blessing to teach her.
Thanks for the package and for all the e-mails from everyone I can't wait to get all that halloween stuff that zach told me about=. I love and miss you all.
Love Elder Olson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
