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

Nov 12, 2012 Langue 13 Month!

This week was a fun letter.  He had some neat experiences this week.  Spencer was one of the last boys to go out his age, so his friends are now starting to return home.  We went to Stake Conference last week an ran into one of his friends that went out first.  We couldn't believe that Craig was home already.  But when we started doing the math, it made sense that he was home.  Wow does time fly when you are a missionary!  Enjoy his letter.  

Hey mom and everyone, 

This week was a little bit better. Ya I can’t freaking believe that it has already been 13 months only 11 more to go. And ya Craig Stevenson went out about a year before I did.  He is older than us but just barely missed the

school dead line with is bday so that’s why he went out so much earlier than us. 

So about Dani and Lani it’s really hard to get over to them cuz they like about 30 35 minutes away walking and so it’s hard to try to get to them. We haven’t been there in about 2 weeks and they don’t come to church. Danny’s mom came yesterday so well see if we end up going out to visit in the next few days. And I still haven’t found a lawyer. It’s kind of difficult to try to get all that done and stayed focused on other investigators. 

We are working with a few people but nothing too big right now. We just started teaching this family the other day. We were coming home from down by the boarder of el Salvador and we had to get off the bus. We took a taxi and we got to talking to one of the passengers and found out his was a member. They moved to Langue at the begin of the year from el Progresso which is a city next to San Pedro and his wife isn’t a member, but she has a bunch of family that are members. But she is pregnant and there is an unwritten rule in Honduras that women after having a baby they don’t leave the house for 40 day and she already doesn’t like to leave the house so we will see where this goes. But we went over and talked with her on Friday and I talked about temple marriage and how families can be together forever and she really liked it. So hopefully this all works out. And one great thing is that they are already married. That never happens in this country. 

So here is one of the coolest things that have ever happened to me. So we are working with this guy named Carlos. He is like 35 and loves to drink. So for about a week we have been trying to show him a video about the WOW (word of wisdom) and whenever we go over the energy goes out. So this is like the 3rd time we have tried to show this video. So we got everything set up and we were watching the video and we were getting to the point to finish up the video and the light goes out in all of Langue. So we told him we would come over in the afternoon the next day and we would finish the video. And so he asked me to say the closing prayer. So I was saying it and I felt like I needed to ask for the light to come back so we could teach everyone in Langue and the moment I asked for the light... literally in that moment it came back. I almost busted out laughing in the prayer. It was unreal. 

But I’m doing great. I’m excited to see what this new change brings. So you know how last week you told me that the missionaries stayed at the house last week cuz they didn’t have appointments. Well you should tell them anytime they just need a place to relax for an hour or so... let them cuz man some days just suck and to have a for sure house where you know you can chill for a moment and think about what to do instead of doing it in the hot street really helps the life of the missionary. 

Hey I put something else on my wish list of things for Christmas. Do you remember the gel I used to use back home its call short and sexy hair. It’s a blue gel you can find it in Wal-Mart. I would love it if you sent 2 bottles of that. I figure that 2 would be perfect. But make sure you tape the tops shut so they don’t explode on the way down here haha. 

I love you guys so much. Tell mike I say hi back and that he looks like a Honduran man with his shirt off like that hahaha

Elder Spencer Olsen 

 This is a little girl in my branch named alma she is a little chucker haha really funny

 We had to cut our own path to an investigators house

(Funny story about this picture.  Even before Spencer got his call he would say that he always wanted to go to a place where he had to buy a Machete and cut his way to an investigators house.  His dream came true.)

 It's corn season in Honduras

(boy doesn't Elder Olsen look great!)

Nov 5, 2012 Langue.....It's Hot!

Hey mom and everyone,

This was a very baggy week haha. I have to remind myself that there are still 11 months left in my mission haha but it going by quick. It feels like just last week that I burned my shirt but that was a month ago already. It’s been kind of hard in my area lately. It’s been really hot lately. By like 10am in our ¨house¨ it is like 95 degrees. It’s unbearable sometimes I go out and I study in one of the hammocks that the landlady  has hung up outside.

This last week nothing really happened it’s just been really hot. I’m really trying to think about what happened this week. Oh I got a really cool fact for you. From when the prophet announced the age change for the missionaries the application rate sky rocketed a whopping 470% more from where it was before. That was pretty crazy when they told us that on Thursday.

So nothing really happened this week. I'll try to have something happen this week hahaha. So I’ll try right now to send like 10 photos

 

 We watched this pig get killed and then butchered

 I’m the king of Danli

 This is the stake secretary in Danli his name is Hemmerson. He was one of Noah Cook’s comps in El Salvador.

He is a real cool kid.

 Here is me hanging up the dead pig hahah

 And this is the pig after it  was butchered 

 This is my best niño friend in Danli his name is Selvin

 This is Nilda. She was my cook lady in Danli  she is my Honduran mom

 My Zone in San Lorenzo

This is what I see when I walk out of my house

Oct 29, 2012 Langue Pictures YES!!

 Hey mom and everyone, 

This week was ok. The big thing is that it’s hard to figure out where to work. This area is a little difficult. My comp is a little interesting. He is a typical Latino lol. So it’s just a little difficult to deal with him at some times. But I’m trying to be patient with him cuz I know that I have things that I always have to work on as well, so I just try to do my best. 

So let me tell you a little bit about the people in my branch. So the President, he is an interesting guy. He has been a member for what they tell me is quite a few years.  The secretary is way cool his name is Kenfor. He helps us a lot.  He is probably the best member that we have. 

This week was normal. We did find a new family yesterday at the very end of the day. So what had happened was that we were coming home from a place outside of Langue near the border of el Salvador. and we were in a bus and a drunk guy started to talk to us and he said the he wanted to change his life and he asked if we could help him. So he gave us his address, and we tried going over there like 2 times and only found his wife. So yesterday we were like ok last time. We went over and like 20 minutes earlier he had gotten back from work. and I could also see that he was a little drunk, so we just told him that we were there to help and that we were willing to do whatever he was willing to do. So I think that this might turn out to be pretty good. 

So the big highlight of the week is that we had ribs for dinner on Saturday night. So when I got there that guy Kenfor told me that his sister made really good ribs. So what we did is he put up the meat and we put up all the extras. It turned out sooo good. But nothing like yours. hahaha. But it was a great night. But I love you guys I hope everything is going good I’m doing great don’t worry too much haha. 

 honduran rib plate

  me and my comp elder de leon

 this is all the space we have plus a small bathroom

 us watching conference

 the one year burn

making tamales to go to the temple

Oct 22, 2012 Langue INFO

Ok everyone, I did some research on Langue.  Langue is in the district of San Lorenzo.  It is in the north part of his area with Valle, Nacaome, and San Lorenzo in is area also.  There are 25,000 people that live in the surrounding areas.  It is on the border of El Salvador and is a regional Hammock making center.  The town is made up of sharecroppers and day laborers.  Wikipedia says there are usually Mormon missionaries and Peace Corps volunteers in the city.  There are a lot of cattle.  The town has been in a drought for quite some time.  The main town has a large sized market that gets bigger on Sundays when the villagers come to town to sell their crops and goods.  It's a hub for many cities so the transportation around the area is good.  You can get to Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, and El Savador  very easily from there.  Here is his letter from this week.  The last question I asked his that he refers to at the end is if he knew that it is Hammock Capital of the world.  Enjoy    

Hey mom and everyone

Well my week didn’t go that great. We really only had like 3 days of work. So what had happened was that I’m in a town that is not as developed as Monjaras. But that not to say that Monjaras is even that developed haha. So we didn’t have energy for like 3 days this week and when the sun goes down and there is no light we have to be in the house cuz it just gets unbelievably dark. And then on Thursday we had interviews with President and he showed up like 4 hours late and when he got here he had to do temple recommend interviews for some of the district members of the county. So we didn’t get interviews started till like 630 at night, so we lost that day of work. But they understood why all our numbers just really sucked. But this week we got some good plans to get some new people to teach. The area is the south of the mission. It’s hot and humid.  The big majority of the people can’t read or write. So you know the people are a little simpler then Danli. So I have to adapt to that again. But I love the south it’s so much more fun then Danli. My comp is cool. But like everyone he has his things that bug me but nothing that doesn’t try my patience too much so it should be a good time with my comp.

So with Dani and Lani... so I talked with the place that holds our records for Langue to see if everything got done with. So I asked and they told me that they knew Lani and that we needed a paper from the lawyer that said that she was divorced. So on Thursday I talked with the lawyer that we were using in Monjaras and what he told me was that Lani had lied about not having a kid with her 1st husband. Apparently when the judge asked her about it she lied and when it got discovered that she did have a little son with the guy the judge got mad and threw her case out, and so if we want to get her divorced we have to start it all over and we can’t do it in Choluteca because they won’t accept her case. So I have to do it in a place called Nacaome which is the city right next to where I live. But the thing about it is that we have to find a new lawyer. And the thing about it is that we got a huge discount when we did it in Choluteca with only the lawyer charged us 3000 limps but the average that I have heard is about 8000 limps. So I talked to Sis Hernandez the wife of my president and she said that I should start over and just ask the office for the money to get this all started. So right now I’m looking for a lawyer that will help us out and try to get him for as cheap as possible.

The hotel room is an oven, really small concrete box with one window that almost doesn’t open up haha. But its ok it not the worst house I have seen in the mission. Were trying to convince the land lady to put ac in the room right now. We will see how that works out haha. And no there is no maid service but there is a little worker lady that makes us lunch every day. No we don’t have a kitchen we have a fridge a table and a little 2 side hot plates to cook on, it’s sad hahah. No the land lady she only cooks us lunch. What I do for dinner is this. I buy an egg and you can buy already cooked beans in places called pulparias. They are little convenient stores that sell drinks chips and all kinds of stuff. So I warm up some beans an egg with a few tortillas and that’s dinner and breakfast hahah. Ok for laundry. I have to do it by hand. So there are these things called pilas that are little water tanks and next to them built out of concrete is a wash board. So I have to wash my clothes by hand like twice a week so that I always have clothes. And I also have to iron my own clothes. And the crappy part about this whole thing is the land lady has a washing machine but she won’t let us use it. So when I have a little more trust with her I’m going to see if we can raise the rent because I imagine that’s the reason she doesn’t want us to use up the electricity by using it all the time. So I figure we raise the rent a little bit that should compensate for the money she will lose by letting us use the machine.

The shirt burning was fun. It went by really quick like 2 minutes but it was a good feeling to know that this date next year I will be in the house. The area is in the middle of nowhere it has nothing as in the words of food. And if it does it’s always going to be really expensive. We start to talk expensive when something cost more than 80 limps. So if you do the math on that that is only a 4 dollar meal. Life here is a lot different like when things cost about 5 dollars 100 limps those things for me start to get expensive. Life here is really, really, really different.

Ya in my mission I think I have only written in the church building twice and we aren’t allowed to write on members computers when they have them so we always have to use internet cafes or cybers as they are called down here.

And to you last question yes I did.  It’s unreal how they make them. There is a family in my branch that makes them for a living. And while we are on the subject... I was wondering if you could round up some money so that I can but one or two of them while I’m down here. A cheap good one cost like 500 limps like 25 bucks. And I have talked with some people and started looking how I can get the best deal so I’ll let you know.

But the big thing is that my area is big and I don’t know where to start but I’m trying to listen to the spirit, and I think I have found where im going to start working  

So this is my wish list for Christmas cause if you want to get it to me on time you need to send it by like November mid November 

Arizona Flag

New hat but it hast to be a new era fitted something to do with Arizona 

a new back pack, jansport simple the one I would like it the one that has the leather on the bottom of it and what I would like you to do to the back pack is put an Arizona flag patch one it 

Caramels 

Puppy chow 

Ties 

Oh what I forgot to tell you so if you can somehow pull this off I also want a Santa Cruz t shirt large 

And if you can somehow get me something from each of the sports teams dbacks suns and cards 

That is what I want and if you want to throw in a few surprises that would be awesome 

I love you guys I’m doing great. The weeks go faster and faster each week. I’m doing my best 

Love you all 

Elder Spencer Olsen  

Camera just died. Swear I will send pics next week hahaha

Oct 15, 2012 Langue 1 ANO!

Well, Elder Olsen has made it a year now!!!  Can you believe it's gone by so quickly!!!! He is so happy and he sure is being rewarded for the trials he has endured the past few months!!! I can't wait to get the next email to find out what he has found out from the Lawyer!! He looks great and I think as time goes by he will look even better.  I think he is finally getting it all.  It's amazing how you send out a boy and they turn into a man while they are serving the Lord for 2 years.  Have fun reading this one!  It's a good one.  This is better that a t.v. show!

Hey mom and everyone,

So yes my area is called Langue. I can take a bus for about 35 minutes and I’m in El Salvador. The part of the boarder in my area is called Amatillo. My area is just really far from everything. When we were headed down in the bus they told me that there were more pigs than dogs. I thought they were kidding... but they weren’t hahaha. 

Ok so my comp, his name is elder De Leon (of Lion). He is from Guatemala also. He is from the very north of Guatemala by the boarder of Mexico. He told me that there is a mutual agreement with that part of Mexico and Guatemala that he can pass through Mexico whenever he wants. He is a cool kid. He just seems a little uncertain at times. But it might just be that its new changes with a new comp. But out here he is going to help me lose weight and go running with me in the morning which will be nice.  I’m not eating much and sweating a ton. It’s unreal right now (how hot it is) and it is winter here, and I’m going to be here for the hottest week of the year which is the week of Easter. That should be interesting. 

I’m not there with any of the people you have told me about. I was hoping to be in the same zone as Cizmas because he goes home at the end of this change.  It was so much fun being in the same zone as Cizmas 2 times in my mission. He is a really fun kid. The gringos in my zone are Adams, Gonzales, Meckeehen, Edwards (his family live in Sonoma ranch I think, but does live really close to the house) Andrus, Hna Mangoon, and Hna Reyes. All the others that you talked about are in the city. I wish I could have been with Cizmas because this is his last change, so in the middle of November he will be home. 

We went to go see Dani and Lani on Friday, and come to find out they live on the same street as us but... they live like 20 minutes up by bike. So they live kind of far away. But tomorrow I’m going to start everything over I’m going to check on all the papers and get in hold of the lawyer and find out what we need to do to get Lani divorced.  But they are doing great. The one big thing for right now is that Dani, her husband, is going to go work in Danli in the coffee fields out there until they go back to high school, which starts in February, but I’ll still be here. So it’s not that big of a deal right now. 

The house is actually a hotel. We live in a hotel room. The president of the Relief Soc. is the land lady of the place so she has given us the place really cheap. And she is also the cook lady. So it works out really well. She lives in a house connected to the hotel. So it’s kind of worth. The one bad thing is that here in my area there aren’t many members. There are so few members that we don’t have a chapel. We have a house, and the baptismal font is a water tank, hahaha, that is above ground. But they say if they can get the attendance to 90 the church is going to build a church from them. But on Sunday there was less than 40 people and that included new born babies. 

But we are doing well. I have felt in my 1st week and a half here I have lost like 5 pounds haha. But I’m doing well. I’m having the time of my life. It should be a good 4 changes. I love you all and tell dad ill write him next week. 

Elder Spencer Olsen 

ps just to let you know the official day that I get home will be Oct 17 2013. Every missionary has an extra 5 days added to their mission and that fits exactly with the day of changes.

The tradition in the mission is at the year mark is to burn a shirt and here’s mine, hahaha.

  

 The other day we helped make tamales for a branch activity. Man that carp is hard and I found out really fatting. They used a whole liter of pork fat to flavor it. 

- Last night a drunk guy came up to us and wouldn’t leave us alone. So we had a little fun with him. We made him hold his breath, dance, sing, and pray. His name is Andréa’s I hope we can find him and change his life for the better . 

This is my comp with the drunk guy.

October 8, 2012 He's been Changed-San Lorenzo

So I had to wait all day for Spencer's email and boy is it exciting!  Read and you will find out why.  For those of you that are new to Spencer's blog, he worked really hard to get a little family baptized in his first area in Monjaras.  If you get confused about this letter, go back to his posts in February to find out what it's all about.  What a way to celebrate your first year in the mission!  Pictures to come next week!

Hey mom and everyone,

I hope you told all those from that side of the family I say hi and that I’m doing really good. 

Any way... hoy si papa!!!!!!! I had changes I got sent back to the south but it is not Choluteca. It’s a place called San Larenzo. So before I tell you about my area, there is a story and a miracle that happened with my changes. So I don’t know if you guys remember about Dani and Lani the couple I was trying to divorce in Monjaras. So the missionaries that went in after me continued with everything but at the end they didn’t end up getting baptized. So I kept in a little contact with them and found out they ended up in Langue in May while I was still in Danli. So where they ended up moving to was one of the areas in the zone I’m in right now. 

So on Tuesday we got home and the zls didn’t want to tell us where we were going and who were the missionaries that were coming. But I did know that I did have changes. So than at about 10pm they finally told us, and they told me that I was going to go to Langue en San Larenzo. And that happened to be the place where Dani and Lani moved too!! I told the dl not to play with me cuz I had told a few people that I want to go to this area, but I couldn’t remember if I had told him or not. So I told him to not play with me. But it ended up being true. So the name of my area is called Langue. It is in the middle of nowhere. It is a small branch of about 40 people. And the branch president is a very timid man his wife basically runs the branch. 

But this place is really cool it reminds me a lot of Monjaras just a little more out of the city. To get to district meeting we have to take 2 buses and it takes about an hour to get there to makes sure that we can get there by about 830 or so we need to take the bus at about 7am so we have to wake up a little earlier then everyone else. 

So the big thing that kind of sucked about this week is that is that we got out to the south at about 5pm or so and the elders that are in the area next to us that we have to pass through are opening the area so my new comp had to show them where a few people live so we had to stay there. And then on Thursday we had to go to the main city San Lorenzo, and we had district meeting and ate lunch so I didn’t get to my area until 2pm on Thursday. We worked all that day and Friday. But on Saturday we had a baptism of a mom and her daughter and we had to go to this place called Nacaome which is the font closest to us. And after we had to go to SL to go watch conference with all the others and then on Sunday we got back to Nacaome and me and my comp were on divisions so I could watch conference in English. (I did have to watch the 1st session in Spanish but it was way cool to hear what is going to happen with the whole missionary ages.) And when I got back to Nacaome I found out that my comp had gone back with one of the ym to my area to confirm that lady and her daughter. So he wasn’t there on Sunday so I had to wait for him. So I basically I have only spent like a day and a half in my new area. 

But it is a huge miracle that I am here because I’m going to finish the work I started nearly 8 months ago. I don’t have much time so next week is just probably going to be pics I hope that ok. and by the way the next time I write you guys I will have less than a year left in the mission. But who’s counting hahahahaha. 

Well I love you and I’m doing good 

Elder Spencer Olsen