Aug 19, 2013 Tegucigalpa Final Testimony Zone Conference

Hello Mom Dad and everyone,

Man well I read Connors letter and I would love to say unto him how unfair he has a car and members that feed him and everything. But I did like his testimony about how the new guy always gets burned hahahahaha. Here in the zone Elder Head is one of the newest guys. And I have become really close with the gringo ZL that we have in the zone. He is the one I got my suit made with hahaha. And he was good friends with Elder Head. But now because we have almost the same time with Elder Oveson who is the ZL. We have done division a few times and Elder Head always gets stuck with the Latin ZL. It’s just funny that the new guy always gets burned hahahahaha. And the whole Spanish thing will come along no big deal. I mean look at me I’m doing just fine and I really haven’t spoken English with my comps for the big majority of my mish so don’t worry too much it will all come eventually.  But man a car. The area presidency of Central America just prohibited bikes in all the Central American missions it sucks.

Well let’s see this week has been a very baggy week hahahahaha. The cool thing about it all is that on Tuesday we got a call from the bishop telling us that he had a reference for us and that he had put an appointment with them for that same day. So we went up there and it ended being a family of 10 people that lived in the same house. There was an older couple that one of their sons is the head of security at the temple. They are really positive. The guy’s father has a lot of really good questions. But it makes the lessons really, really long. The 1st lesson, the restoration, lasted 2 hours because the bishop answered a lot of questions. But it went really well and they had told us that they were going to go to church with their son to his ward. But on Sunday just before the bus took off, the whole family showed up to go to church. Man I wanted to do a back flip when they were all on the bus. Then just before the sacrament meeting ended, their son showed up to help us out. And he sat through the inv class with us and helped his parents understand the class a little bit better. I have a lot of faith that the whole family will get baptized it has been an awesome experience with them so far.

Then on Thursday we had my finally zone conference. So that means it was my turn with like 7 other missionaries to give our finally testimonies. So I went like 6. And everything was just too quiet and no one had made a joke. And then it came to my turn. So I go to start talking about that it had been a long time to finally get to this moment. And while everyone thought that I was going to say that it was time to go home. I said that I had finally got to come to Tegus hahahahaha. But it was really good. I think mine went the longest. But it was a great conference. Pres like always talked about repentance. It was really good. And this was the first time I had put on my new suit. And cuz I got it with Elder Oveson we put each others coats on each other to be super gentlemen hahahahaha. But it was really good. And to make us just look even more goofy. Just to remember we got the same suit and the same style. Sis Hernandez needed 2 volunteers in her class. So  Elder Oveson and I went up there in front of the 2 other elder that were going up there. And when we were sitting there waiting for the conference she had also mentioned to the both of us that we looked very handsome. It was sooooo awesome.

Man so after the conference we went to Wendy’s to go get frosties. And it started raining. Then the Zl’s asked me and Elder Head to go help them do divisions in their area. So we went over to their house to drop our stuff off and that’s when it started to rain too hard that we didn’t leave to do anything. And so we need up staying the night there at the Zl’s house. Tell Connor that at least he has an air mattress. Elder Head got stuck sleeping on the hard tile floor that night.

So what we came to find out the night we stayed at the Zl’s house like 2 blocks from our house there was a drive by shooting and they killed a lawyer that lived by our house. They passed by killing the guy at about 830 or 9 at night. When we found that out man I really feel like the Lord was really protecting us that night. It was sooo amazing cuz if we would have been in the area we would have passed right by there right as those guys passed by with the guns. Man did we luck out I feel sooooo blessed.

Well it’s been a really good week. But man I can’t wait to go home. But I’m still doing great. Have a great week love you guys

Elder Spencer Olsen

Putting on the new SUIT.  What a Gentleman!

The next group to go home.  Zone Conference

Their Final Testimony Meeting.

Aug 13, 2013 Tegucigalpa New Suit

Hey mom dad and everyone

Well let’s see.... Well there are 9 weeks till I get home. I am sooooo excited. It’s really interesting being the source of Spanish in the companionship. Elder Head is great he just worries way too much about everything. When I 1st got here he was all worried that we weren’t many lessons because he had to find new inv. But now that we have some good ones he is nervous that even though we are teaching the lessons really well we aren’t baptizing. Patience Elder, patience.

So last night we had an appointment with an older lady named Rosa. We have been teaching her for about 2 weeks now, and we had a date of baptism for her for the 17th of this month. So we had a fhe with her and her daughter who is a member. We watched the 30 minute video of the restoration. It went over great with the video. So after the video we stared to talk to her a little bit more about Joseph Smith. Then I had the idea to ask her if she had had the time to read the BOM since we had left it with her. She told us no and asked why we focused so much in the BOM. So we explained to her that it is the keystone to the religion. And she said that she still didn’t have the desire to be baptized. So we told her that her answer was in the book. So we finished up she seemed a little disinterested in what we were talking about. So we left and Elder Head just felt like we weren’t doing anything good. That Hna Rosa doesn’t want to keep her commitments. So it has been kind of hard for him but we are getting there.

So this week was crazy I have been all over Tegus. So on Tuesday I went on divisions with my Zl’s. I went with Elder Oveson. Now that Tarver has left he has become my best friend in the mish hahaha. So the 1st thing we did was go and get suits. But they aren’t just suits from a department store. They are hand made suits. It was unbelievable how fast he did them as well. He had them ready for us in 2 days. It was sooooo awesome. And the señors wife made us pillow cases for free and they are so awesome especially that I needed one hahaha. Then we went and got lunch with one of Elder Oveson converts that had just received his mission call to El Salvador. So that was way cool. Then we went to the office to go say good bye to 2 missionaries that were headed home the next day. Then we went and ran some other errands and then went back to the area and finished the day and went and got Little Caesars. Hahaha it was the funnest day I have had in a long time.

Man this is getting really routine hahaha. I don’t live the Coca Cola Mountain. That’s on the other side of the city. But I can see it every now and again so it’s cool. We are trying to get our Zl’s to ask pres to get permission to go to Pikachu. It’s the chirtus that is here in the city. And got to a place called Valle de Angles and there is a really cool water fall out there. So we are trying to set that all up. You guys will have to come down here eventually just to see how it is. We will have to let the elections pass and then we could come down in a year or so. The one cool thing is that I can see the temple from my front door across the valley. It’s way cool at night all light up.

And the ACT stuff that’s cool I just need money in my account there is none so if you could do that I will sign myself up. But everything is going great. Just 64 days till I get home and I can’t wait. But I’m doing great, and about the talk I want to do it the Sunday I get home to get it over with. It will give me something to do while I’m on the plane hahahahaha.

Elder Spencer Olsen 

This is the guy who did my suit his name is Ivan Lopez

We had to go look for him back here hahaha

Looking Good!

Saying good by to Hermana. She went home.

Tegucigalpa Primary

Aug 5, 2013 Tegucigalpa Area/Companion

Hello Mom Dad and everyone,

Well this week was just another in the mish. It had been really interesting to be with a gringo 24/7. He has 5 months and is really big time worried about everything. The big thing is his Spanish. He speaks great for his time, he just gets down cuz everyone’s says that I speak like a Latin and that he still sounds like a gringo. I try to tell him that he speaks fine, but he doesn’t fell like it’s that great. But he will soon learn that he does fine. I love him though. I have a great time with him. It’s so much fun speaking English, but sometimes I miss speaking Spanish.

So on Thursday I went on Divisions in my area and we had just a kind of bad time. The big part of the time we go to houses just to have citas fall. It’s awful. So the same thing happened that day. But we did eat some great food out of this little garage eatery. But before all of that, we went to a sister in my wards moms’ house to go to talk with her. So we got talking just small talk with her for like 15 minutes.  Then it went a little quiet, so I started the lesson. And right as we were going to start she started to talk about that she was married. I got really excited, but then she said he was dead and said that they had been married civilly and I had to explain to her that I was so excite about that she had been married civilly is because no one in the south gets married. And that by being married civilly she could be sealed to him even though he was dead. So the plan when we got there was to teach the restoration but when she started talking about that, we decide to teach the plan of salvation. It was so awesome. We explained all about the temple and what not and she really liked that. I have never been very good at teaching that lesson but man that lesson went so well. So the missionary I was with at this time he asked this sister whose name is Rosa what she is willing to do to be able to make it to the celestial kingdom. And I had previously in the lesson explained to get in to paradise you had to be baptized. And she said that she was willing to get baptized and asked how she could do that. It was sooooo freaking awesome. The spirit was super strong so we challenged her for the 17th of this month. We have our next visit with her tomorrow, and so we will see how she is doing.

WE have gotten a lot of references since I got here and they had me give a talk in sacrament meeting and talked about missionary work with the members. So we started working with them. It’s kind of hard cuz people aren’t always there or they don’t want anything. But we are working hard. I’m getting really excited for this area I wish I had just a little bit more time then 2 changes here but we will see. I can’t wait till things get really good.

I love you all

Elder Spencer Olsen

  Elder Head and Elder Olsen in their Apartment

 

Elder Head taking a siesta at a member's house

July 29, 2013 Honduras Temple

Hey mom dad and everyone,

You have no idea how ready I am to get home. So on Monday my comp had to go to Tegus to get his residency so I stayed in Choluteca with a missionary named Elder Bruce. He is really cool. He is from Orville Cali. So we ended up having to leave Sunday afternoon to be in Cholu so my comp could go to Tegus. And they didn’t get back to till Tuesday in the morning. And we didn’t have to be in Triunfo till the afternoon on Tuesday. So what we did is we did divisions so my comp could write his family and I went and said goodbye to everyone that I could. Even if it was for just a little bit of time. It was really bittersweet.

So my comp was put to train this change, so we had to be in the city at 9 in the morning and we had the alarm set for 3am. But we woke up late at 6am. And then we didn’t leave Triunfo till 7am and man it was just a huge mess. The bus broke down on us about an hour and a half from the city and we luckily caught another. We didn’t get to the change chapel until like 1230. So we got everything arranged so my comp could go back to the south cuz the bus for the missionaries had already left. The cool thing is that I am in the city now and didn’t have to take a bus to get to my area.

So my new comp is Elder Head. He is from Utah. He is my second gringo of my mission. He has 4 months in his mission. I am his 2nd comp. He is really fun. He is easy to make fun of so I have a lot of fun with him. He doesn’t speak very well yet. And so he gets a little upset at times when members say how good my Spanish is. But for his time he speaks very well. I’m having a great time.

My zone is called Gyamuras. It’s really, really rich. But our area has the poorest and most dangerous neighborhood in the mission. Just a little bit of it. Not all of it. It’s really weird that they put 2 gringos together in this area is kind of scary but it seems solid for right now.

The bishop is out of work and has nothing to do, but he wants to help.

It’s so awesome to be in a city for the 1st time in the mission. We had 110 people in church yesterday. And when we got there they asked me to give a talk because one of the people that was supposed to give it didn’t show up. It was whatever hahaha.

Oh going down the hill from my house you can see the temple at a distance. It’s so awesome all lite up at night. On Friday night we went to the temple with the zone with everyone’s investigators. It was really cool. We explained what happens in the temple and why we do it. It was so awesome.

From what I understand they didn’t split Triunfo, and I have no idea about the old branch pres. but I feel like we were really making progress with him. But we will see what happens with him.

The apartment is cool. It is has 3 divions. The living room in front, a small kitchen, and the bedroom and obviously a bathroom. There is a water heater on the shower head but it stopped working about a week before I got there. So I heat up water on the stove while I study. But other than that it’s tight. My area is all hills and stairs. It sucks climbing them all day. But maybe I’ll finally get a butt hahahahaha.

Well I’ll try to write a little more next week. Still getting to know the area so we will see how it goes. I love you all. Cant wait to get home. Its crazy how little time I have left

Elder Spencer Olsen

 Waiting for the bus to pass to pick us up when the 1st one broke down

Here I am with my new comp elder head at the temple oh ya I forgot to mention he is a gringo

 Spencer's Zone at the Honduras Temple

This is the family Caceres so you can finally know them

July 22, 2013 El Triunfo - Good News! Pres Hernandez

Hey Mom dad and everyone,

Well let’s see. On Wednesday we had interviews with president. It was really good. When him and his wife got there they gave a little lesson about how we can be better missionaries. It was really good. We did the out side of some missionaries house here in the zone it was really kind of weird. So after the lesson we had pres interviewed me first because we had to catch a bus later. Man when he sat down and I said the prayer he told me how much time I had in the south and he thought that’s how much time I had in the mission which is 13 months and then I had to tell him that I actually had 21 months in the mission and after he told that he was going to find me a good spot in Tegus hahaha. He even wrote it in his note book that he had with him so it’s almost a guarantee that I go to Tegus in this change which is tomorrow. So I’ll let you guys know next week what happens.

So that pic with the brownies where the brownies that you sent to me in March. I made them for my district and Comstock was there to work with the Zl’s cuz he is one of the APs. It was a lot of fun. I promised my district at the beginning of the change that I would do them and he just lucked out by coming down to the south. I have that pic too.

Let’s see so I did the coolest thing this last week. So when I got done with my interviews my comp went and then the ZL went and when he went at the end Pres. gave him 2000L to go get lunch for the entire zone. So I went with him with Sis Hernandez and she couldn’t pull the car out from the gate where they were at and so the ZL I went with didn’t have his license so she let me try to pull the car out and I did it. And so she drove us to Wendy’s and we got all the food. So when we left she let me drive. Now you have to realize that I haven’t driven a car in almost 2 years. It was so awesome. So at the end of the story I got to drive President’s car which is a thing that not everyone gets to do. It was so awesome.

So with investigators there really wasn’t anything that happened. Man I hope I can get have a good story for you next week. I hope everything is going good I love you guys.

Elder Spencer Olsen 

Here we are with pres and Hna Hernandez

Here is my brownie pic