Hey mom and everyone,

So ya.... man alive this week was crazy. I wasn’t in my area for like 3 days haha. So this last week we had changes. So on Tuesday my comp said goodbye to everyone the basically turned their Christmas party into the goodbye party for my comp haha. Wednesday we did a little in the area, went to like 2 appointments. We got a few kids ready for their baptisms. In the morning they let me know that I was training. So I got a new kid. I’ll talk about him in just a sec.

So Wednesday we left Langue at about 4pm. Got a bus to the Pan-American Highway and then a lady that was headed to Choluteca picked us up even though we had 3 bags and a big box of stuff. So we almost got to where we were going in San Lorenzo to the Zl’s house to stay. I brought a bag with me because I knew that the Zl’s only have 2 beds so I brought my hammock with me so I could have a place to sleep those 2 nights that I was going to be there cuz I didn’t want to sleep on the floor again haha. So, in the morning on Thursday we woke up early and had to take a bus to Tegus at 5 am so we could make it in time for the trainers meeting and to get our new comps. There was like 35 new missionaries this time. President said it was the most the mission has ever received. He also made an announcement that Holland is going to come for the dedication and that he is going to do a conference with all the missionaries. It’s going to be so awesome.

So my new comps name is Elder Mendoza. He is from Durango Mexico. President did a power point with all the missionaries and who they were going to train. I told myself that I didn’t want to train a gringo. So when I saw his pic I thought crap I have to train a gringo cuz the kid is whiter than I am and has green eyes. But nope he is Latin. He is very serious and very obedient. But we will see if we can break him into the mission haha. So that same day we got back to the Zl’s house and we had to sleep 6 to a 2 room house haha. Man I was happy I brought my hammock haha. So on Friday we had district meeting and we went home and had to do the interviews for our baptisms. We got there got them done but my dl and his comp had to stay the night.

So on Saturday they took off and we had to get stuff ready for our baptism. But I completely forgot about baptismal clothes. So we had to go back to San Lorenzo to go get it. But that is an hour and a half a way. I don’t know how we got it all done but we did it. 100% Milagros. But it turned out good.

So that was my week. I can’t wait to talk to you guys

Love

Elder Spencer Olsen

we are helping this family so that the church can build them a house they live in a mud house in the middle of no where 

 mi hijo this is elder mendoza

after a year in the country finally went to the temple

  baptism Carla, Miguel, and Jr. Jr is the smallest

 Cleaning up after the baptism haha

I caught a scorpion

Dec. 17, 2012 The PACKAGE CAME

This weeks letter was fun.  He got his package and he was so excited.  Of course he opened it.  I knew he would, so that's ok.  I sent gifts to his Companion.  Between Grandma Linda, Aunt Shelly and Mom and Dad, I think he made out pretty well.  He really wanted a new backpack, so we found a good one and I sewed an AZ flag over the top of the Under Armour Logo.  I am a little afraid that it might be stolen, but we found out that Under Armour isn't that popular, NIKE is.  We got him and his companion a tie each, Cardinal T-shirts, Ensign,Christmas Decorations, and lots of stocking stuffer candy.  Spencer wanted AZ logo things so we had lapel pins, and a small AZ flag.  We sent Peanut Butter, Big and Sexy Hair Gel (thanks Gma! enough to last the rest of his mission), Tide to go sticks, Butterfingers, and of course what would be a Christmas package without Homemade Carmels and Puppy Chow (Crispx, Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Powdered Sugar).  I included a few pictures of Christ, current pictures of everyone, and had everyone in the family write him a letter.  It's hard to know what to send to your missionary, but he was happy with what he got this year.

In his last email, I had mentioned to him about going to LDS Business College or BYU-I.  Before he left, he was set on going to Idaho.  He has never liked cold weather, and after being Honduras for a year, he thought he didn't want to live in the snow.  But I think I have convinced him to go to Idaho again.  So we have to stay on top of things to get him in for January of next year.

Enjoy the email.... 


 Hey mom and everyone,

This week was pretty cool.  So we were going to have our Christmas party on Thursday but they changed it for Wednesday. So on Tuesday we had to end our day early and go stay with one of the dl's in San Lorenzo. But what sucked is a storm came in and the lights went out in the entire department of Valle, so it was dark when we got there. We stayed 6 in one house with only 2 mattresses. So I shared a mattress with Elder Edwards. And these mattresses are twin. Didn’t sleep well. And at 4 am we had to get up and get ready to be put on the Pan-American Highway at 530 for the bus to pass and pick us up from Monjaras.

So we got to the city and had a musical devotional and after, before lunch we got to go to the temple. After 1 year of being in the country I finally went to the temple. Next week I’ll send the pics. After, we had the best dinner/lunch I have had in my mission or will ever have. We had a turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and Caesar salad. After, they let us play and we got to play basketball. It was so much fun. Then after, the mission gave us a gift. They were mini Preach My Gospels. And yes I got my package. It is so freaking awesome. The only thing that I have to complain about it was the flag. When I said flag I was hoping for one that when we have conferences in the mission we could get the AZ kids together and take a pic with it, something that you would put out side of the house. But other than that, it so freaking awesome. The back pack I love and the little flag pins that is awesome. It already put the AZ and USA pin on my jacket. 

Umm for right now I’m trying to get hold of a phone and I’ll give you guys a call like Saturday or Sundayish so we can take care of all of that. 

You do have a point about the BYU thing it sounds goods. I’ll go there. I just don’t know what I need to do to get in. 

Ok, so for the shirts that you sent. The 16 and half is perfect. But now here comes the joke.  So the very day I took it out. We were with a member and his nonmember wife and their 3 yr. old girl and she wanted to be thrown up in the air. And after like 3 times she threw up on me, haha. But I got the stain out so we are all good. But I will tell you a better story next week what happened that same day haha. 

Love you guys 

Elder Spencer Olsen 

Oh and changes are this Thursday.  

Langue, Dec 10, 2012 Church Service in Langue

This is a funny letter this week.  I had asked him a few questions that he responded to.  I had asked him if he had remembered last year's Ward Christmas Party because this year's was very similar.  I had also asked him about his church.  Since he doesn't have a chapel that they meet at, I wanted to know about his Sunday's and if they still do the whole Church Service.  We are so excited for next week.  We get to skype him this year.  We just got a new computer for Christmas, so we are set and ready to see our Missionary!  I hope it all works out.  Enjoy his letter.  

Hey mom and dad

Ok 1st off I’m going Honduran right now. But man let’s think about this mom I have 14 months in the mission... how could have I been home for Christmas last year. I was still in Monjaras hahaha. But this week was ok.

So that guy that I told you last week who is my grandpa of the mission. On Sunday the 1st counselor of the mission came for the 2nd time in 1 month. And he interviewed him and his wife and well they asked him to be the new branch president. So at the beginning of the year he is going to be my new branch pres. it’s going to be awesome. He is going to live in the same hotel as us so it is going to be fun to have another guy my age in the house hahaha. That’s weird to think that 24 is in my age range of possible friends haha. But it should be good he is a really hard worker. Just by doing like 2 visits with them we double the attendance in one week so it should be a good 3 more months in langue.

Ok those are some very interesting question haha. We do have all 3 meetings.  We are an official branch. So, we have to do all normal meetings.  There are a few house of worship that aren’t officially anything just a few members that get together that have permission to pass the sacrament that those are only 2 hours long and the missionaries that are there are the leaders of the church. There are many churches here that are churches they just can’t hold a good enough attendance on Sunday so they can have a chapel.  However... with that we are in a small town in the middle of nowhere and nobody has the manuals of the church here. They don’t know how to do everything that they are supposed to do. So, sometimes things can just get out of hand. So like the primary room is really small and there are like 18 little kids that come so they don’t all fit. It’s just stuff like that that they do here that just cracks me up haha.

Well man, changes are next week and we need to get some new inv. this week so we have a bunch of work for my new comp. I can’t believe that one year has already passed that I have been in Honduras. Next thing I know I’ll be at home haha. But there is only a few days left until I get to call and we get to see each other. I’m so pumped I can’t wait. Well I love you guys hope everything is great. And tell Ms. D that I say hi back and everyone else.

Elder spencer Olsen

Dec. 3, 2012 3 Investigators

This week's letter was so exciting.  He has several people he is working with and he is starting to see some progress in the area.  We received an email on Monday that his camera got broken so he needs to buy a new one.  I gave him a bad time and asked him what happened and if he kept it in a case.  We have decided that it would be cheaper if he just buys one there and we put the money in his account.  We also found out that he will be able to Skype us this year.  We are so excited to hear and see him on Christmas!  We definitely are counting down the days.  He has hit the 14 month mark!  The Church has also announced the Temple Dedication of the Tegucigalpa, Honduras  Temple.  The Open House will start February 9th and the Temple Dedication will be on March 17.  That is so exciting!  We'll see if Spencer will be part of that at all.  I sure hope so!  Enjoy his letter.

Hey mom and everyone, 

So to start off, I have no idea what happened with my camera. It just broke haha. And of course I keep it in a case. I’m not completely dumb. And it’s really kind of hard to send pics when you don’t have a camera haha. 

This week has been just another normal week for me. People who don’t want to listen and don’t want to understand how the gospel really can change their lives.  So they just recently called a mission leader for us. And this week his daughter came down from Puerto Cortes by San Pedro. The 1st thing in the afternoon we just passed by letting them know that we would be by at about 6pm. But he had us come in and introduce her to us. So we started to talk to her and man alive is that girl so confused. She has listened to so many different pastors and other missionaries that it was really difficult to get her to understand. So she had frustrated me from the very beginning. And she asked us if she could be a missionary like us and I told her that we would explain all that when we came back. And she had mentioned she had already been baptized in another church. 

So we came back and this girl can get off track when she asks questions. So I explained to her that we could answer all of her questions but if she had a question that didn’t have to do with the lesson and that if she had questions that weren’t about the lesson to save them for after. So the lesson was going good. She definitely asked a lot of question. And for the way she talked she acted like she knew a lot about the Bible. But then when it came down to even look for books in the Bible she almost couldn’t. So she really got asking some interesting question. And then she started to tell me things that don’t even exist in the Bible. So I got more and more frustrated. Man I know as a missionary we aren’t supposed to get mad. But man alive this girl really tested my patience. It was bad. But we're going to go back and she if she will forgive me. Man that day sucked.

But it’s funny her dad is a very humble guy that nothing effects that guy. He actually blames his daughter and asked me every time he sees me to forgive his daughter for being so juvenile haha. I always tell him it was my fault and he wants us to come over and teach her again. 

We did have another situation with another lady. But she understood what we were trying to say. And we got to explain to her that she shouldn’t trust what we say but what God will tell her if she prays. Her name is Eddis. She is a humble lady that does whatever she can to make a buck. We have been trying to help her with like stuff around the house. We were going to go get firewood with her but we showed up too late to go. So she said to come over another day. She is really kind of positive. It’s just she works from like 3 am on Sunday to 3pm in the afternoon selling music in the market. But I think she would be a great member. 

Oh one more. So on Monday last week we met this kid named Jared. He was way cool 15 years old. He is already out for vacation. So when we made the appointment I didn’t think he was going to be there the next day. But he was. So we talked with him about the restoration and challenged him to baptism. He accepted for the 22 of this month. So we went back on Friday and we ended up teaching his 2 sisters and him. Got through the lesson and we asked when we could come back. And they said that their God mother is who they live with is super Catholic and would get really mad at them if we came back. We asked if we could talk to her and they said she would punish them if we did. So we left it there. The oldest sister seemed really interested and Jared. The youngest for the God mother says that’s she is Catholic too. But they were 3 way good kids but because of the God mother we can’t teach them. Laws suck. 

Things are starting to get to me more in those situations. When people that don’t want to or can’t accept the gospel. It just gets rough how much people have changed from what Christ taught 2000 years ago. But those people will receive their reward or punishment in the last day. 

Well I love you guys I’m doing great. Oh something way cool happened to me today. So my land lady’s daughter came in from tags today with her husband. So we got to talking to him and how he had served in this area as his last area. So your 1st comp in the mission is you trainer and teaches you how to be a missionary basically. So with that they call your trainer your dad in the mission and you can have brothers and cousins and uncles and grandfathers. So what I found out today is that grandson in law of my land lady trained my dad in the mission. So that makes him my grandpa in the mission. It’s way cool. I didn’t think I was ever going to get to know him haha. 

But I’m good. Love you all. Say hi to everyone for me 

Elder Spencer Olsen

Langue Nov 26, 2012 The Arizona Boys

Hey mom and everyone,

Man alive the mission is starting to become really routine for me now. The big thing that happened is that the baptism that we had set up of this Saturday fell through because she didn’t go to church on Sunday. We have a cita with her tonight and we will see what happened with her.

But on Friday... we had zone conference. President really is starting to change the mission. Since there is a bunch if new sisters coming to the mission he has asked us not to get together so much, so the sisters and the elders don’t fall in love. Seriously that’s what he said hahaha. He openly acknowledges that kind of stuff. He said that for the elders all the girls to us are now uglier than ever and that went the same for the sisters. ha-ha. But he did talk about a lot of great things. He really is trying to change the mission for the good but we as missionaries may not understand why. But in the end it will be for our own benefit.

Oh mom you will get a kick out of this but all the missionaries that are in the south with us at zone conference. We all took a pic so that the moms could feel so special hahaha. it was pretty funny

But this week was just a normal week. we found a few new positive people this week. I really hope that they can progress.

Well I’m doing great. Oh and by the way I did nothing for Thanksgiving haha. I was just a normal day here in the mish. I’m saving up for next year hahaha can’t wait. Can you believe that I’m going to be home for next Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? That’s what’s up haha.

I love you guys have a great and safe week

Elder Spencer Olsen

All of these Elders are from Arizona.  Spencer asked for an Arizona Flag for Christmas. 

Now I know why.  He wanted to hold it up in front of them. 

I can't believe the President has all of these Elder's together all from Arizona.  

That is so fun. 

Langue Nov 19, 2012

Hey mom and everyone

Ok so 1st off tell Mitchell just get one a Zoomies that would be better. (Mitchell asked for a Hackie Sack from Honduras).  And I still haven’t been to Choluteca yet, that was supposed to be tomorrow but they changed it for Friday so I’m solid.  But I have some plans to buy so cool stuff when I was in Monjaras with Elder Carter. He knew where all the cool stuff in Choluteca is so I’m going to go to a few of those places. I’m working on your guy’s package right now. So I should come back with some cool stuff from Choluteca this week. I should send that package off next Monday. The big thing is going to be finding the box for all that stuff.

Umm, no I still haven’t been out to Dani and Lani's house yet. And Lani's mother in law is the member. I still have never met her mom but I do know her brother and I met him back in Monjaras.

So the big thing that happened this last week was there were the primary elections in Honduras yesterday.  So back in Danli we worked with that family Samuel and Erika. Samuel is a big time politics guy and what not.  So he explained to us a little bit about the political parties. So there is one called Libre, and so the way I understood them is that they are the Laminites that want a king, and they have a hard time with gringos. So when President was out here last month for interviews I asked him about that, and he agreed. So he decided that all the missionaries had to stay in that day. That we were to only go to church and to go home and stay in all day. So what me and my comp did is we made a traditional Honduran food called baleadas at 4 in the afternoon to pass the time. We invited the branch secretary and elders quorum pres. to help and to pitch in a few things. It was a great time.

But this week was just really a normal week other than that. We should be having a baptism on the 1st of December. Her name is Sandy.  She is the sister of the primary president. She came to church yesterday. And it was the primary program. Wowowowow. That was the cutest Honduran primary program I have ever seen. It only lasted like 20 minutes. And the primary president finished the meeting like she was the one conducting it. I had a feeling that that was going to happen. Oh well too late now. But other than that it was a good little program.

Well I love you guys I’m doing great, loving it up out here in Honduras. Don’t worry about me I’m doing great.

Elder Spencer Olsen

this is a crazy guy that we are trying to teach that i gave him a ride back to his house 

more fotos coming