Jan 7, 2013 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER OLSEN

This week in my letter to Spencer, I told him about a family that is coming to the Gospel Principle class at church.  I told him it would be fun to see how he would teach these people.  That is what his first comments are referring to.  Poor kid didn't have a very good birthday this year.  I still haven't even sent him his package yet.  It's always been a challenge to celebrate his birthday because it's so close to Christmas.  So if anyone wants to send him a quick note to wish him a Happy Birthday, I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Still no pictures, because as you read last post, his brand new camera he left at a Chinese restaurant.  I got a quick call from him the day he lost it, and he wanted to get a new $300 camera because he thought he would take better care of it.  I told him absolutely not and to get the cheapest one he could buy.  This boy drives me crazy!!

Hey mom and everyone,

HAHAHAHA. So you want to know how I teach the Principles of the Gospel class. Well things really haven’t changed in my teaching style since I left haha. I just read the lesson in sacrament meeting. Hahahahahaha. But I now understand how to kind of give a class. A big majority of the time I have to give that class or the YM/YW class or Sunday School haha. Yesterday was the first Sunday of the year. So they still didn’t have the new year’s book. So they asked me right after sacrament meeting was done to teach the young men’s and women’s class. And then they said no that I had to find a teacher for that class and that I had to teach the Sunday school class. So I just taught them how they can help us in mission work. I have given this class/talk like 2 times in this branch haha. Whatever works right haha. 

So yesterday was my bday right. I just wanted to have a little time to rest in the afternoon. So our 1st real cita was at like 530pm and for my bday I just wanted to chill. Man I laid down for like 20 minute, and nope, my companion told me that we had to go out and work. Man my bday sucked in comparison of the last year. Last year I went and ate shrimp and to the beach. And then the Zl’s told me to go take a nap hahaha. Yesterday, just a normal work day.

But... there was a little good about this week. We baptized. Yessssssss! Her name is Marina Torres. She is the aunt of my 1st baptism her, Hrm Glenda. The cool thing about it is that she can’t hear. She is deaf in her right ear and in her left can only hear just a little. And when she was a child she didn’t learn to read nor write so because of that she had never learned really anything about God, just knew one existed. It was a great baptism. That was the big things that happened here haha. I love you guys I’m doing great. And I miss everyone.

Elder Spencer Olsen 

Dec 31, 2012 HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hey mom and everyone,

Well man did I have a new years day haha.

So to start off... after Tuesday was over we got back to real missionary work. It was a tough week this week. So this is one of the very few areas in the mission that has bikes. So with De Leon we would always go everywhere on the bike and I would always tell him that I used more energy on the bike and that we shouldn’t use them haha. Man was I wrong. Right now my companion doesn’t know how to ride a bike. So we have been walking everywhere. Man I am really getting tired a lot quicker haha.

But my comp is doing good. He is just right now trying to get the feel for the mission. He some times goes a little too in depth of the things that we teach and doesn’t know how to put together the lesson and stay on track but we are working it out hahaha. I just think about when I got here and I couldn’t even speak Spanish haha. But we are doing great. He is just really, really obedient. But we are trying to break him in to the mission Honduras Tegucigalpa haha.

So my new years man probably the worst I have ever had haha. So it started that nothing was open so we didn’t do anything it the zone. So we decided to go to Nacaome and get out money out for the 15 days. So right when we are out waiting for the bus my Branch Pres. passes us and was headed the same way, so he gave us a ride. So when we got there, there was only one ATM that worked and had like 30 people long. So we ended up driving to San Lorenzo to see there and we got in. So I get the rent put into my account at the beginning of every month and so I had an extra 3000 limps in my account and so I have 5300 limps in my account and you can only take out 4000 a time and we have bank of America and they take 50 limps for every time I withdraw so I have to wait to take out money till Thursday. The super market was also sooooo full and we couldn’t but anything. So then we went back to Nacaome and nothing worked out there either. So we went to go each lunch and we were there and it was all good and I took a pic of one of the guys we were with and when we left I forgot to grab my camera. And I lost it. It sucked.

So last night we had a few people that we ate with tamales and what not and when we got home I just told my comp I think that would make me happy to stay awake and greet the new year so I stayed up till 1 am waiting for the new year. Man alive can they do new years here. So that make these big like scare crow doll and they fill it with a bunch of fire works. So at 12am they burn the doll and it’s just an explosion of fire works. I couldn’t even hear myself. It was awesome.

Well l I love you guys hope everything is going well.

Elder Spencer Olsen 

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.