January 23, 2012

Dear mom and everyone,

so ya i got a camera last week after i emailed you. its another cannon power shot nice little camera. the one that brett got for rebecca my zl has it and is a little heavy the one i got is a little bit lighter

but it was a little bit of a hard week this week. my comp is being an amazing idiot haha. since we live in a house 4 elders and 2 other really close we went on devisions allot this wek it was really dumb. i was with my comp for like 4 out of 7 days this last week. and on top of that he wont allow our family to be baptized untill the go to church a 2nd time. they just work evey single day. they want to be baptized and they know everything is true. things are alot different down here then in the states with baptisms. everyone in my zone says we need to baptize them its so annoying that we cant and that my comp wont let them.

Other thatn that we kind of have a giveme baptism this week too. the kid was baptized when he was 8 but the awesome filingh system that is the monjaras branch lost his records so it gets to count as a convert baptism. score one for us hahaha.

there are a few families we always have dinner with. they are so much fun cuz i can kinda of communicate with them so i have a lot of fun. Hermana Suyapas family is alot of fun. cizmas was telling me that there were a few elders that we in monjaras that would just stay ther all night playing games and would even spend the night over there. big time no no. hahah. but we normally just stay over there till lik 830 or 9pm.

On saturday i have to conduct a baptism and give a talk. these baptisms though are nothing like the¡y are in the states haha. they are lñike 45 min long with like only missionaries there. so my talk was only like a 3 minutes testimony but i still thought it was pretty good.

my spanish is improved alot. as long and people talk slowly and clrealy i can some what under stand. but talking is alot easir than it is to understand pepople the people down here dont really say ´s´ so it all sounds way weird. but its just like in america everyone has their own way to speak so so are easier than others.

Anyway sounds like the same old up in az. but mine is changing every second. i hope this was enough detail for you this week. everything is great and im doing fine nothig too terrble yet.

Les Amo

Elder Spencer olsen

Monjara's Branch Primary Children

Monjaras January 16, 2012

Elder Cizmas

Happy Birthday Shrimp...the best shrimp he has ever had!

Honduras' version on Diet Coke

In Honduras, you come across some interesting animals....

His next dinner? I like his man purse!

a Snake

And a Bat.

I was reading another elder's blog yesterday and he always had bats in his apartment.

Christmas Eve with Cizmas in his house.

The 3 Companionships in Honduras.

George Bush?

Looks like grilled cheese sandwiches with his comp at his house. This was on Spencer's bday.

I think this was the day he hung out with his DL's comp when there was a district meeting.

Hanging out at the beach on Spencer's birthday.

January 16, 2012

Dear mom and everyone,

Well it was just another exciting week in honduras haha. these week go
by so fast its unreal. i dont even know what to say haha. me and
cizmas´comp went fishing the other day for turtles in my area the
other day and then we asked one of the ladies that feeds us if she
knew how to cook them and she told us that it was illeagle. but she
said she would any if and when we can catch one . we also the day we
did that we took 2 buses stood up in the front of them and invited
like 70 poeple to church it was way cool.

Lesson this week are getting easier to help with but i really wished
that i had read the lessons in ch 3 more its so hard to think about
what i have to talk about the translate it in my head to spanish so
that the people can under stand. but it is getting easier everyday to
comunicate with the people down here but some of the sisters speak so
fast that i cant understand them its unreal.

We have 7 dates sets. 4 next saturday but my comp says we cant do it
because they have only been to church once. but my zls say to baptize
them. my comp has been a major pain lately. like saturday night me and
cizmas were playing cards. it had been a long day all of our citas
fell through and it had just been along hard day so we were blowing
off steam. then my comps comes in at 930pm and tells me i have the
lesson in church tommorow with the investigators. it made me so mad
that he could have told me at like 7 when we got home but no he
decided to do it right before we were supposed to go to bed and then
today he left with some of the others elders in our distric and we met
back up with him at cyber abd told me we had citas at 6 and we needed
to go now. and i told him i still need to email you guys and he told
me that i had all of this morning but he was just being a punk.
whatever.

anyway other than that it has been. oh we did have interviews with
president that we like 2 seconds because i really cant speak the
language it was way funny cuz president cant speak english. but
everything is great im having fun dont worry and im doing my best to
follow the rules
con amor
ELDER Spencer Olsen

Sunset in Honduras

January 9, 2012

Well we made it through another week! I sure do love Mondays! This is a fun letter. Enjoy!

Dear Elder Olsen,

Well, are you into a routine by now? How has your week been? Have you had many appointments? Is your one family close to being baptized? I hope so. We are praying for you and for them. Did you have a good birthday? Did you get my package? It wasn't much. So go get something today to celebrate! We had biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Saturday morning in your honor.

Mitchell went on another bike ride along the river on Saturday and when he got home he wanted something delicious. He had turned on man vs food and it was making us all hungry so that's when I decided to make b and g. We wished you happy birthday as we were eating them.

Mitchell has some great leaders. Br ellington loves to bike ride so they go a lot. They were suppose to go on a snow campout but there is no snow. Hey have postponed it until the 20/21. We'll see if we get any new snow. They are going to make Mitchell the teacher quorum pres with Andrew as 1st c and Brady as sec. That's all the boys his age. Haha

Connor has been working a lot especially until midnight. He dropped A hour so that will be helpful. We finally got his room painted. It ended up being the same tan as Mitchell's. So I continued and did the bathroom. I'm going to accent it wig read and black. No more purple. Connor also put up a shelf to put the projector on. We'll see how that goes. He's been hanging out a lot with Jessica. She was I've with her friend Rebecca to help paint. I'll send pictures when I get it all finished.

Garrett is good. He just hangs out with his friends and he loves his Itouch. At least he leaves my phone alone!

Dad is dad...... California st and workout. Te broncos played steelers in the wild card yesterday. Mike came and watched the game with us. It was pretty exciting. The game was tied at the end so play played overtime. There was a new rule that there would be no sudden death each team would get a chance to have he ball. But if the team with the first possession scores on the first play the game was over. Steelers won the toss but has Denver receive. They got the ball on the 20. Tebow went back for the pass and through it right up the middle. It was caught and he ran in for the touchdown. So Denver won because it was the first possession first play. We all went crazy! It was pretty exciting. Grandpa told me I shouldn't give you the scores. I should share missionary experiences. I could help this one though! It was pretty fun!

I am back to work. I worked on thurs for band for elem. I didn't work Friday but I'm doing math in mrs haase's at HJHS. We'll see how hat goes.

Well not much else is going on. I spent all day Friday getting caught up on your blog. Tell elder Cizmas thank you for the pictures. I borrowed them and posted them on your blog. Everyone for a kick out of the fact that I'm stalking your mission friend.

We are so proud of you. I tell all of my students about you and I can always tell who the LDS kids are. It's pretty fun! All is well. Hope all is well with you. Stay close to the Lord and he will guide you to those people who are searching for the gospel. We love you so much I know you are doing he right thing by doing the Lords work. Grandma is giving you $40 to go towards a new camera. She wrote you on dearelder. Let me know when you're going to be in tegus and I'll make sure there is money there for you.

Have a good week. Can't wait to hear from you. You are a great example to me and to your brothers. I have a lot of respect for you. The Lord loves you and will protect you!

Love you MOM!

Dear mom and everyone

Ya Cizmas told me you commented on his blog hahaand that i need to put more detail into my letters haha. So im going to try.

So for my birthday on friday i went to the beach! Our zl´s area is callde cedaño its a way cool little pueblito on th ebeach. we wen to their restarunt they always go to and had the biggest and best shrimp i hav eever had the were undescribable. then we walked along th ebeach where we could see el slavado, nicuragua and the honduran island called amapuala it was such an awesome day. then we went back home took a little nap and then went out to a few citas (appointments) we had. it was a great day.

this week was a weird week because i really wasnt in my area at all for like half of the week. the had a dl meeting in the city so i went with the other dl´s in our zones comp who is in the little city next to us. that city is even smaller than monjaras. its called buena vista. its not a very good view hahaha.

The family is doing good they have a little issue comking to church but they have been before so the zl´s said they are in the clear for baptism on the 21. the family is so nice.

most of our citas generally fall through but we try to make the most of our days. we do alot alot alot alot of contacting but no one ever comes to church and we always seem to run into them again and the always run away from us haha.

The language is coming slowly but surely. im starting to beable to have little conversations with people but i cant understand them for nothing it sucks. some nights i go home just so depressed because im trying to help in the lessons and i just cant but i know i will get the hang of it soon time i jsut wish it would some sooner rather thatn later. good old impatient me hahaha.

Now for the food stories hahaha. So we have a cosinera that makes us lunch everyday. So i already told you about the mundungo. So this other this we have had like 2 times in like the last week and a half. its called gyrobo. so she always serve it with rice and tortilla. So dad this is a possible pet in america. baiscally what it is... is a brown iguana. it really doesnt tast that bad though it just tastes like chicken its not to bad but i guess its makes some missionaries way sick but i have been ok. i have been dropping weight though its been way awesome. there is one lady in our branch that said when i got there that i was so fat that she knew i couldnt run. so basiacally all the branch calls me is gordito whatever...

any way

its been a pretty good week thought hope that was enough detail ill try to get better every week but that what i got this week...

oh and i also found a decent camera store here in choleteca a cannon cammera that alot of the missionaries have here its only 3500 limps which is about 175 for the camera or i you really want me to wiat (which i dont want to) ill be in the city at the beging of next month but not exactly sure what day that will be

well thats about all i got

les amo

Elder spencer olsen

Maps of Monjaras

As soon as we found out where Spencer's area was, we Googleearthed him and found his city and where he was in relation to Tegucigalpa. Googleearth says that Monjaras is 62 miles from Tegucigalpa but it takes almost 4 hours on the public bus to get there.

This is the town of Monjaras, Honduras

You can see where Monjaras is in relation to Tegucigalpa, the Pacific Ocean, and Choluteca. The are 4 miles from the coast and there is a really nice beach there due west. Choluteca is about an hour bus ride and that is where he goes on his P-day.

This is a close up of where he lives. The building that is horizontal with the vertical parking lot is the LDS building where Spencer goes to church. If you go north in the parking lot and walk north on the dirt road through the trees you come to an "L" shaped building. That is the Catholic Church. If you turn west and go in front of the Catholic Building he either lives in the house across the street or down the alley on the west side of the Catholic building. If you continue north towards the main road, that is where the store is that they get their water and the bus stop is right there. I love the internet!

If you google Monjaras, Honduras, there is a youtube of Driving the Streets of Monjaras. It's literally a family videotapping driving the main street of Monjaras. It's kind of fun to see. If you watch it, you will see a blue building that says "The Paint Store." I asked Spencer if he knew where that was and he did.

Funny Story - Elder Cizmas

About a month before Spencer left on his mission, I was searching the web and found an Elder Cizmas' blog. He had been in the Tegus mission for almost a year. So we read about his first week and what it was going to be like in his mission. I looked at pictures and got excited about where he would be going.

Then Spencer was placed in Monjaras and he told us that he was in a home with another set of missionaries and one was Elder Cizmas, the one we had been following the blog. I got all excited so I kept checking out his blog for new updates and see if he had mentioned anything about Spencer.

So the other night when I was updating the blog with Spencer's MTC pictures, I was up until 2:30 am. To unwind when I climbed into bed, I pulled up Elder Cizmas' blog and saw that it had been updated on January 2nd. So I opened it up and started reading it. Because he had just talked to his parents, he decided to just post a bunch of pictures. He then commented that he and Elder Olsen had decided that when they were done with their missions, they were going to go back to Monjaras to live for 6 months. They thought it would be way cool to do that. The both love it there and they are getting along so well. I wanted to wake up Allan, but I let him sleep.

Then the fun part came. I opened up his first picture and there were the 3 companionships that live in Monjaras including Spencer in the picture. It was all I could do not to wake up Allan, but I didn't and I kept looking at the other pictures. There were several pictures with Spencer in them. So here they are. I don't really know what is going on in the pictures, but it's better than nothing! Enjoy!

I think it is Elder Esparza, Elder Cizmas, Elder Olsen, Elder Guitz, and the other 2 in Monjaras

Elder Olsen and Elder Cizmas hanging out in their house. Spencer said that when he was talking to us on Christmas that he was hanging out in a hammock. So I think this is the one he was in.

Elder Cizmas and Elder Olsen-Meal time! Love the orange soda and look at the plateful of food!

What a scorpion!

The six Monjaras Missionaries

Dinner Time

It looks like they are getting a lesson on how to make tortillas.

These two Missionaries just left for home! Elder Olsen replaced them.

As you can see, I was very excited to see these pictures. I wrote on Elder Cizmas' message board and thanked him for posting these pictures. I also thanked him for taking good care of my son. I also asked him to teach Elder Olsen how to give more detailed emails when he wrote home. Elder Cizmas looks like a fun missionary to be with.

January 6, 2012 - Happy Birthday Elder Olsen

Wendi Olsen	Jan 2 (5 days ago)
to solsen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Wish we could talk on your bday too but I guess this will have to do! Hope you have a fun day on Friday.

Hope you had a happy new year! What was it like? Was it crazy? Did you have to be in early? We went over to the Kerrs for ice cream social and then we went over to the mooneys for game night. We had a fun time. Garrett wanted to have a party and nobody could come so he was having a bad day so we took him with is to the Kerrs and all of his friends were there so he ended up at the morrisons. Mitchell went to the kerrs too and then he went to the stake dance. I think it was his first one. I think he had a good time. He asked a couple of girls from school to dance but he was too embarrassed to tell us about it. Connor worked until 745 and then ended up over at Spencer's with Jessica and then he and Jessica and Ryan and his girlfriend went and saw mission impossible with Tom cruse. He said it was ok. He has never seen the others so he said it was just an action packed spy movie with Tom cruse. We didn't get to sleep until 2 and we started church at 9 am this morning. Needless to say we all had a hard time staying awake.

Good news..... Cardinals won again today in overtime. They played Seattle. Another nail biter. But they are out of the playoff running. BYU won. They played Tulsa. They won in the last 11 seconds. New York giants beat Dallas cowboys and knocked them out of the playoffs. 49ers went 13-3 and packers went 15-1. Tevo took the broncos to the playoffs and they are playing Pittsburg on Sunday. That's when the playoffs begin. fiesta bowl is Stanford 4th in the nation and oklahoma state 5th. They play tomorrow

Monday was a fun day. Frys was doing a SUNS special. For every $50 spent you would get 2 free tickets to the opening game that night. So everyone went to Frys and bought $50 gift cards and then they had to drive to the arena to get the tickets. They were 4th in line. So we all took the light rail to the game that night. Gma, Connor, Jessica, Cami, Kyle, Shelly, mike, Chris, heather, Mitchell, Andrew, Garrett, me and dad. It was fun but the suns forgot to show up. They played terrible. They had no heart or energy. They played new Orleans. We lost by one but we should have won. It was very frustrating. They really haven't shown up yet. I hope it's not going to be a long short season.

The other fun thing we did this week was dads 20 year anniversary hike to squaw peak. It was a beautiful day! We had about 35 or 40 people come with us. Most of the Livingstones the neighbors across the street all of our family and even Susan mooney. We took a bunch of pictures. It was a tough hike for Garrett but he made it. It was also really tough for aunt Shelly but with grandma pushing her they both made it. I'll send a few pictures. Dennis and Mitchell ran up to the top and we had to call them to come back down to where dad had is stroke. It really was a great day. We are going to start making it a tradition.

Well it's time to put it all away and get back to reality. I caught a cold so I've been moving a little slow. We don't start back up to school until thurs.

Oh your bank statement came yesterday. You spent $6 just in ATM fees to check your balance and then another $5 to pull money out. We will make sure you have money in your account but don't waste it by checking your balance silly. $11 in bank fees in one day is too much money! There is $150 in there right now so go get yourself something fun for your birthday!

So now the questions??? How are things going? How's your comp and he other companions? How is the food? Are you teaching anyone. Tell us how things are going. Are you going to make the beach party? How's the laundry coming? Do you do your own? Does someone do it for you? Just give us some details. You know me.

Well enough for now. Sorry it's so long but a lot happened this week. Be good. Make right choices. Be obedient and study hard. We love you and pray for you always. Can't wait to get your email.

Love you MOM and dad

Spencer Olsen	Jan 2 (4 days ago)
to mom

Dear mom and everyone,

This week flew by i dont even know where to start. We have a few people we are teaching but not many we have 4 with dates set. its a mom and her 3 sons maria, jorge, luis and, emmerson. they are a way cool family with a way crazy story. she was telling us how her brother killed people and then he was killed and then he husband left her about 4 years ago. she broke down on us so bad.but i figure she will just slap them into to the font hahaha. but ya the other couple we are teaching live with a member family. The boyfriend is 20 his man is miguel and he wants to get baptized and get married but is girlfriend is 17 her name is roxanna but she doensnt want either its really frustrating.

My comp is ok. but like halfway during the week he started to acted really funn idk. he is really bugging me im trying to break his shell open a little more to figure out what is really wrong. he is done in may so i think he is getting really baggy so idk. i really like cizmas he is way cool guy. his comp is a little prettyboy from mexico he kinda bugs me haha but its whatever.

For the beach party we havent messed things up yet and i dont thing we will but the party isnt untill the end of the change so not for another 3 weeks or so.

HECK NO i dont do my own luandry that would take all day we pay a member 50limps a week so like 2.50 american so no big thing.

the area is really cool it is a small town but very spread out. cizmas was telling me yesterday we could take a bus for hlf an hour and still be in our area its crazy. but ya other that the cow stomach that i ate i havent eaten anything out of the too ordinary but who know i dont ask i jsut eat haha.

but i have lost quite a bit of weight so far. my siut fits fot the most part and my shirts are ok i can atleat wear them through the day hahaha.
well sounds like you are all having a whole alot of fun with out me but im having alot of fun too.

well ill tlak to you guys next week. oh and tell connor that chapter 3 does really make a difference haha

love

elder spencer olsen

Christmas Phone Call

The Christmas Phone Call

Our family tradition on Christmas Eve is to have waffles with all of the fixings, ice cream, strawberries, syrup, whipped cream, bacon and eggs. So the whole family was over, Allan, Connor, Mitchell, Garrett, Me, Grandma Linda, Shelly, Mike, Cami, Kyle, Chris, and Heather. Clarke wasn’t there because he has the shingles. We were wrapping things up getting ready to open the “one gift” and the phone rang. It was 9ish and we were wondering who could be calling. And guess who? It was Spencer. I yelled in the phone and ask why he was calling. He said that he was calling to say hi. In his mission, members make arrangements to give the missionaries their cell phone to use on Christmas and then the missionaries buy a calling card to call home. So he was calling us on Christmas Eve. It was so good to hear his voice. I didn’t even get emotional because I was in such a state of shock! I took notes so here are some of the things we talked about.

When he arrived in Tegucigalpa, The Mission President picked them up around 1:30 pm and took them to Pizza Hut. He really liked him. Spencer thought he was a Central American version of President Peterson (our 1^st Councilor in Stake Pres that is our neighbor and is a mentor to Spencer and Allan. He is now a Mission Pres in the Philippines.) They spent the night at the Mission Home and then were sent to their Areas. There were 27 new missionaries in his mission that arrived that same day. The seven “gringo’s” that traveled with him and 20 Latino’s were the new missionaries. He had to take a 4 hours bus ride to his area on the public “school bus” transportation. In his house there is him and his companion, Elder Guitz from Guatemala, and another set of missionaries, Elder Cizmas and Elder Esparza from Mexico. Elder Cizmas is the missionary that we read his blog before Spencer left and found out what Tegucigalpa was like. Spencer told elder Cizmas that his mom was stalking him. It was quite funny. They are in the area of Guapinol but they can’t leave there because it is too dangerous. It is a fishing village so when the fisherman comes back at night they all get drunk so the missionaries have to leave by 5 pm.

In the town of Monjaras, there are 6800 people that live there. He lives down the alley and around the corner from the LDS building behind the Catholic building. There is only one main road that goes through the town. There are no grocery stores only convenient stores. They have 2 five gallon jugs that they fill up at the local water store. They have to walk to go get it every couple of days. They use it for everything. They don’t use the water for anything. They also sell drinking water in “bags.” They don’t have water bottles there like they do here. He has a lady make lunch for them every day and then they go to members homes for dinner. Things he has eaten are rice, cucumbers, tomatoes, meat, tortillas, oranges (amazing), pineapples (really good), plantain, mangos (he’s waiting for them to get ripe because there is a mango tree in front of the church that they can pick the fruit). He doesn’t have a hot shower but he does have a regular bathroom with a normal toilet and shower. There just isn’t warm water. He got his Christmas package which I was happy to hear. His companion thanked me for the gifts. I sent ties, hackie sacks, caramels, puppy chow, an Ensign, and a paper Christmas tree with lights and ornaments.

For P-day they take an hour bus ride to the town of Choluteca. This is where they do their grocery shopping and go to the Internet Café. They have an area like the dirt mall in Rocky Point only way better. They always have tacos when they go to town. They use corn tortillas, habanero sauce and other chili sauces. They are really good. He bought oatmeal that he eats every morning. That is amazing because Spencer has never liked oatmeal. He likes going to Choluteca! He doesn’t have a pillow but he is getting used to that. He just takes some clothes and shoves them into his pillowcase and uses that. It is really hot there and sweats all of the time. An elder that just went home lost 30lbs just being there. He thinks he’s already lost 10lbs since he’s been there.

They are teaching a couple of families and will hopefully have some baptisms in the near future. They are in the highest baptizing area in his mission. He talked about “cake eaters” in Guapinol. These are 8 and 9 year olds that want to get baptized because they get to travel to Monjaras to the building to be baptized and then they get to eat cake. He doesn’t want to baptize cake eaters, only families.

By then it had been 1 ½ hours and he said he could call us back the next day. We told him that we went to church at 1 pm so call after that. And we said good bye. It was so fun to talk to him. He sounded so good and excited to be where he was.

Well the next morning, I got a call from him and he told me that he wasn’t able to charge his phone so he may not be able to call back. They were going to go to church and see if they could find another phone. But then they found another phone in the house that would work and it was charging. We all got up and started opening our presents and he called again. He got to listen to us open a few gifts including Garrett’s iTouch. He decided that it wasn’t that fun to listen to us so he was going to call us back later.

He then called us while I was making dinner. I had to turn over the kitchen to Grandma Linda and Lauren and they finished things up. He told us that about his dinner dates. They celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. They had 3 appointments, but one cancelled on them. They went to the first. They had rice, ground beef, peas, carrots, corn, bread, and chicken. He ate it all and had to. They walked to the next appointment and had to throw up on the way there so he could eat again. They had the same meal. It was hard to eat the same thing twice but he managed to do it and not offend the family.

He also told us about a Zone conference that they went to the 1^st weekend they were there. They had to get up at 2 am to catch the bus. They had to take 2 different buses. It was about 6 am when they finally got to Tegus. They didn’t have breakfast for them and they were starving. They didn’t eat until lunchtime. There was little food and it was a little disappointing. They watched a few missionary movies all in Spanish and of course he slept through them all. Then there were testimonies all in Spanish and that was difficult to stay awake for, too. They did get to play ping pong. They had chicken and mash potatoes and gravy. They left at 4 pm to get back to his house by 10pm. It was a long day.

Our dinner was ready by then so I finally had to tell him that it was time. It was hard to have to tell him we couldn’t talk anymore. I started crying and I think he got a little emotional, too. We had a great time talking to him and it was so fun to learn all about his mission. I know he is going to be a great missionary and we’re excited to receive his weekly emails. I can’t wait for Mother’s Day, the next time we get to talk to him.

Pictures from Monjaras Dec 19, 2011

Elder Olsen and Elder Guitz

City Lights in Tegucigalpa

Kitchen in Monjaras

Desk in Monjaras

What Monjaras looks like. He's in the middle of nowhere! He loves it though!

Elder Olsen's 1st Area - Monjaras

Dear Spencer,

Well have you survived your week in Honduras? It was so fun to talk to you on tues morning. I'm sorry about the mix up about calling. Grandpa called me monday night and asked if we had heard from you. So we waited and I figured you ran out of time or something. We went to bed a little miffed at you. And then you didn't call in the morning. I was researching how to page you when you finally called.

When I got to school that morning, I was about 30 minutes late because I didn't know I had an A hour class. I took my minute to win it games and I went running into the classroom huffing and puffing. I started introducing myself and I always tell about my kids especially at HJHS. They get a kick out of the fact that all of my kids went there. I started talking about you and I totally lost it. I realized that this was for real and that you were really gone. It really hadn't hit me until that moment. The kids were so awesome. They sat so quietly and waited for me to compose myself and I kept apologizing. Over half the class were lds so they had some compassion for me. That same day there was a boy in my 1st hour class that was from Honduras. He was born in San Paulo but moved here when he was one. They were able to go visit for the first time in October and he loved it there. Its such a small world.

It has been a busy crazy week. I have been all over the district. I did girls PE at mesquite jr. and I had a totally cool missionary moment with the other pe teacher I worked with. During my prep hour I had received an email from Arnon that was from Bishop Fletcher explaining his side of the story of seeing you . I was working out on the tread mill in their weight room and got all emotional again. So when I went back to the pe office I was still sniffling. I explained that you had just left on your mission the day before and I was waiting to hear from you and told her about Don seeing you. So then all of the questions came. She asked me as many as I could answer in the 15 min we had. She kept saying let me know if offend you. It was so awesome. I finally told her to invite the missionaries in sometime. They are not scary and they will answer any question you have "with no commitment" haha. Then I told her to go to Mormon.org. she said oh thats like facebook for mormons. I told her no that she could find out anything she wanted to know about the church. It was so awesome. We went to our last class and when I left I said good bye and challenged her to go to Mormon.org again.. I hope she will. We had a fun time together. We played mad ball which is a wild form or kickball. It was a blast. She said she had a hard time getting subs for girls pe and that she would definitely call me back.

We had a great ward party this year. We did it at the Driftwood building. They set it up like a living room and then used the backdrops from the Christ event we did years ago. It was like a familiy home evening. Bishop Larsen was the family and they read and sang the Nativity and the Primary kids acted it out. We took Drake and Jayden the boy from across the street in Jane's house. They both really enjoyed it. Then we had dessert. It was a nice simple but elegant evening. Then the next morning the Ward put on a pancake breakfast for the house of Refuge. Its a program just like Save the Family. They are located at the Williams Field Air Force Base. It was fun. We did breakfast, games, they had prizes and Santa came in on an old Firetruck like the one in Richfield. We all helped, cleaned up and came home and cleaned the house. Dad's been doing dishes and he now cleans your bathroom and my bathroom. He is great around the house and I really appreciate it.

Not much else is going on. Mitchell has had two concerts this past week and so has Garrett for choir. Sis Millward is the school choir director and is doing a fabulous job. They sang at Jason's Deli for Val Vista donation night. It reminded me of Totality! haha. I still have a lot of Christmas shopping to do. Lauren and Dennis will be here on Wed night and so will Chris and Heather. Cami and Kyle are coming on Thurs. We are doing Grandma's Christmas exchange on Fri and Waffles at our house on Sat and then a Thanksgiving dinner here on Sunday. I cant wait for Lauren to be here. We'll go shopping and get everything done. Oh speaking of Lauren and Dennis, he received a bonus from his company at their Christmas party. He was one of 5 to receive it. They just moved into a 2 bedroom apt They just moved across the grass out their back door. She said it was a really easy move. So know we have a room to stay in when we go.

Connor is doing fine. He says hi and that he loves you and he has taken over your room. grrrrr! He doesn't leave it as messy and you did though. Guess what? He ran a red light at Southern and Mesa and got a ticket in the mail. $250. He is so mad. He kept waiting for the ticket and then it finally came. He is going to have to go to traffic school plus pay the fine. He took the SAT the other day so we are waiting for the score on that. And he dropped 2nd semester Spanish. He is only going to get a C for this semester and he has missed 12 days so they really don't have to pass him but they are going to. He still is hanging out with tons of girls. Its a different one every day and sometimes 2 or 3 in one day. He drives me crazy! But he's still a good kid.

Mitchell is still just Mitchell. He hangs out a lot with Andrew and He loves your long board. He biffed it twice the other night. He wants a new one for Christmas so we'll see if Santa will bring him one.

Garrett sure has calmed down ever since you left. He is becoming a little more helpful around the house and he doesn't have as many screaming episodes. He sure does idolize you though! You are his big brother and he sure does think the world of you.

Dad is Dad. He still hangs out at the gym all of the time and talks about you to all of the gym rats. We are at 23 rented and we are going to fix the roof at 521 so we can get that rented. It's so exciting. He's going to write to you in the morning. He's actually folding the clothes right now while I am typing on the tv. The Cardinals played another awesome game. They won again in overtime. Shelly and Mike came over for dinner and they watched the end of game with us. It is fun to have them here.

Well, have a great week. I hope all is well. You need to let us know how we can call you on Christmas and when the best time will be to call. We just have sacrament meeting at 1pm everyone is going to come here for dinner. We are going to set up Google Voice. We can call you from that and then we can conference call you to other family. Kevin is really excited to talk to you. So find out a phone number we can all you at. We have been told that you will call us a couple days earlier to give us a number and set up a time to call. Is that true? I will just have to wait and hear from you. if you can call in the afternoon if its at the begging of the week or early morning any day would be fine.

I also heard a great way to send pictures home. If you go to Costco.com and log in under my account you can then download your pictures there and then I can print them out along with a disc. Someone had their SD card sent home from his mission the other day and the card was damaged in the mail . I would hate to have that happen. Then you can upload your pictures from you r camera.

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Thank you for the pictures from the MTC. It is awesome to see you but we need info about the pictures. I don't know how you can do that but figure it out please.

Ive heard from two of the parents that traveled with you so I emailed them today. Louie Vasquez. He's the convert that lived with a family and then another boy, I can't remember who. I wont ask a bunch of questions right now but write as much as you can so everyone can read about your mission especially your first week and all of your experiences down there. One thing I do want to know is if your Christmas package is there for you? I sure hope so!

Well Ive gone on way too long. Sorry, You know how I can get. But I miss you and want you to know all that's going on here. We are so excited for you and can't wait to hear from you next week. Is it best that we email you or use dearelder? Do you know how long it takes for you to get your letter through dearelder? let us know.

Have a great week and cant wait. Be good, Be strong, and most of all Be obedient!

LOVE YOU! MOM

Spencer Olsen	12/19/11
to me

Dear mom and everyone

Everthing is going great! My 1st area is called monjars (monhars) im in the south its hot people are poor btu way cool. The name of my comp is Elder Guitz (gaweets). He is from guatamala he speaks alot of english and helps me alot with my spanish. I can hold converstions for a little bit but i dont understand alot of the people are saying. Its so hard but the people are so nice. In the city im in it has one paved road through the entire thing. We have a concinera who cooks us lunch everyday and we normaly eat with member every night. its alot of fun trying to speak with them. But its amazing the situations that these people live in and how greatful i am that i lived where i did.

I live in 1 of 2 houses with with more thatn 1 companionship. I live with my comp a gringo named mitch cizmas who is the one of the guys stuff we looked at online. and a mexican elder who is trying to learn english so hard.
so anyway our 1st day there we got here we flew in a group of 7 elders that were with us in the mtc. we got to tegus at about 130pm here. it was hot and muggy it was awesome. you can see the temple from the aireport it is so sick. We went to lunch with president henandez. It sounds like if you are a good missionary all is good but if you planch (to be disobedient) mainly with girls the mission can be hell. But ya president reminds me of the centeral american version of pres. peterson haha.

It is so hard to try to help my comp teach lessons because i cant speak the languge but it is way interesting to hear these peoples stories. Anyway everything is fine. Oh and i havent gotten you package yet. and just do emails. i only get letters once a week so it wount make a deffirence. so what im doing for a phone is a borrow one from a member and buy minutes and call that way. I already have a phone lined up but i dont have the number yet. and i dnot think i will call you in the days before. Love you guys talk to you next week.

Elder Spencer Olsen