March 16 2015 If I Lived in the 40's, or Any Decade Really, I'd be a Shoe Polisher

Okay. I polished my shoes and my companion’s boots today. And I LOVED IT! Oh. It is just so satisfying and it makes you feel awesome. I remember watching Dad shine his on Sunday mornings when I was a wee little lass and thinking, hmmm that's cool. Never would I have thought I would have to shine my shoes! hahaha I love it. Yeah, so just in case the future has need of a shoe polisher in the past, I'm your guy. Or girl. 

This week we had ward conference!!! It was buenísimo! We had a bunch of activities throughout the week. We buried a time capsule in the earth that was filled with our testimonies and goals for the year to see how much it has grown in the year to come. This ward is so cool. When we were burying it, it was just too hilariously cool to not sing the chariot of fire theme music. Chileans think I'm really funny. It makes me smile. They are so fun. I LOVE CHILE! Okay then later we had a big partay! 

Moustache Party to be exact! The missionaries were in charge of that! Yeah, we rocked it! It was so fun! It was about prophets and prophets of old have moustaches. So many people came! It was so cool! And enjoyable. Our ward mission leader, Jared, who is quite possibly the best mission leader EVER prepared a fun interactive lesson.   We divided into three teams and had to dress up and do skits of Nephi, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Moses. It was SO MUCH FUN! 

Then we had to follow the prophet in a congo line and all the teams had to race to find treasures that were out on the church grounds and then race back to the cultural hall to win. And EVERYONE participated in it! It was so funny! The sprinklers came on in the middle of it all and everyone got wet and oh it was just so funny! Chileans are the best at enjoying time with each other. Don't matta what age! 

Then we had French toast! It was so fun! They hadn't had it before so I was in the kitchen and taught them how to make it. It was fun. They put all kinds of toppings on it too haha. 

hmmm qué más? 

Oh intercambios were this week too! That was cool! I spoke in Spanish THE WHOLE TIME! Yeah... so now that I know it's possible, I will try to speak with Hna. Oross more. It's just hard sometimes because we both speak English and quote movies and stuff. haha but I will try harder to speak in only Spanish at least out on the streets. 

Our contacts are so funny sometimes! Here are some of my favorite things people say:

We hand this guy a tarjeta of Jesus Christ appearing to Mary Magdelena and say,  Who do you see?

He stares at it for a while.... uh.... José smit? 

Oh, no, that's Jesucristo. 

Oh, but your Mormón. 

Another guy we pass on the road, 

Podemos regalarle algo? Es una tarjeta. 

De ustedes? *full huge wink 

No, de Jesucristo. 

Passing a lady on the sidewalk... 

Hola! 

...voy aparada... (like I'm in a hurry) as she walks like the equivalent of a troll dragging his hands on the ground behind him. hahaha 

Ok. 

Oh we had entrevistas with the president this week. He is so great. Afterwards his wife worked out with Hna. Oross and I with her music with zumba kind of stuff. It was so fun. And just funny. And it was a solid work out. 

Last night we did 29 contacts! 

My favorite were 4 boys that just finished playing a game of soccer. 

We talked to them and one of them started tearing up. We asked them if we could meet their families and they said they would all like that. Two of them were brothers and two were cousins. 

Ignacio 16

Diego 14

Juan Pablo 13

Vicente 12. 

It was so fun talking to them. They were so nice and just special. We kicked the soccer ball around a bit. It was neat. I can't wait to meet the rest of their families! 

I really miss my four little brothers! It was actually really cool talking with those kids because they just had the light of Christ in them! It really felt like I was talking with my own little brothers. ...well obviously not really, but it was just cool. They all were just good buddies. Oh it was also really funny because when we were getting their directions we also asked for their number and the oldest kid started giving us a number and all of them just looked kind of weirded out and then Diego said, Ignacio where is your robe? And he said, It was estinky. Okay just kidding, Diego said, I think they meant house number. And then we all laughed. Okay anyway they were just cool. And different than all the other jovenes we met. Way different. 

Okay I really should be going now. 

Mom, I'm so glad you liked Into the Woods! I loved it! I was waiting for the reprise too!!!!! I was bummed that they didn't have it haha. 

Oh we still haven'´t been able to find Javier at home yet... :( that old man we met in the park). But yesterday on our way to church, he passed us on his bike!!! And said hi! He's awesome. We'll find him. 

Okay that's all I got time for. I love you! Hope you get this! 

Love, 

Hermana Olson

P.S. I still hate tomatoes. This week I tried following my motto: fake it till you make it. So I told myself that I love tomatoes and tried to make myself believe it. ...and I ate a lot super faking happiness. Yeah. It was the worst idea of my life. One day during the week, an hermana commented on my tomatoes seeing that I ate them so fast and I just told her it's because I love tomatoes, biggest and stupidest lie of my life because for dessert, which is usually fruit or ice cream or something, she chose to give me a full tomato. No joke. Yeah, I think she saw right through me, although, I honestly believe that she really thought that was dessert worthy and she was just being super nice to me and loving and giving me her best. I appreciated it although I wanted to shrivel up and rewind time to my childhood so that I could learn to love tomatoes so that when I came on my mission I would just like them and be fine. 

Seriously, every day I thank Heavenly Father for allowing me to not throw up and rise triumphant after every meal after eating so. many. tomatoes. 

This has been such a sad humbling experience. I don't know what I'm supposed to learn from it. 

P.P.S. I had the chance to weigh myself this week in a member’s home and I have lost 10 pounds since I left on my mission! That's pretty cool. 

I haven't missed a day of running... besides Sunday of course. Yay! 

P.P.P. S. I love you! That was my first post script, but I changed it to the last because I'm pretty sure there is a movie or something like that called p.s I love you and I didn't want you to get confused ;)

March 9 2015 I HATE TOMATOES! I hate them. I hate all the tomatoes in the whole world!

Okay don't think that just because that probably made you think of Nacho Libre this is a joking matter. I seriously hate tomatoes. I don't think I've ever hated anything MORE! (besides snails in your boots on a rainy day). Actually, I take that back. I think that the only thing that would be worse than snails in my boots on a rainy day would be TOMATOES in my boots on ANY day. And that is because I hate tomatoes. I am serious. I can hardly think of them without getting an irky stomach. I am writing so much about this because I just need someone to understand how much I hate tomatoes. 

I think this will be the hardest thing I will have to deal with on my mission. Really. 

We have it EVERY ALMUERZO. On top of all the other food they give us, they give us TOMATOES. And LOTS OF THEM. They always call it Salad too. WHAT AND HOW IS THAT SALAD?! no. no. NO. And you’d think they wouldn’t like tomatoes with how much they eat them, but NO. They eat them STILL. How. How? This is what keeps me up at night. But I think maybe you just have to be a tomato person to like tomatoes. Sometimes I think of Dad's story about how they were on a road trip and a huge truck filled with tomatoes drove past or something like that or maybe they found some dude on the street or something and just had tons and tons and tons of tomatoes to eat along the way on their road trips and how ‘it was the best thing ever.’ Yeah. HOW do you still eat tomatoes and like them Dad?! It nearly makes me want to cry. 

Here's the problem: everyone in Chile is a tomato person. I know this because they eat them like it's the best thing ever. I feel like they just wake up every morning and take a nice stretch with a big smile on their face saying Oh wow! I think I'm going to eat tomatoes today at Almuerzo!'  Every. Day. There is this GIANT bowl of 'salad' or in otherwords TOMATOES. If I'm lucky some vinegar and oil lettuce thrown in there. And if you dish up a little, they say, Oh Hna. You can have more than that, don't worry! And they just stare at you with a big nice smile on their face hasta you dish up another scoop...and another scoop...and ANOTHER. I am nearly getting to the point where I can't even fake a smile as I dish up tomatoes anymore. 

There was one day this week that we already started eating and there were NO tomatoes in sight! I was so happy!!! It surprised me how much it brought my spirits up so much! I was so so so so so happy! Because really they make really really good food, they just lack in the knowledge that salad isn't just TOMATOES! ...so I was all ready to eat the delicious food without seeing my impending pile of doom sitting on my salad plate. I was so excited. If there was a sensation of heaven, that is what I would describe it as. So then it had been about 10 minutes and wonderful Hna. Erodita (a cute little lady that feeds us on Wednesdays) says,  Ay! I forgot the salad! Yeah. I hope all of your stomachs just dropped because mine did. She brought out tomatoes. Yeah. I just don't even keep my hopes up anymore. I just am trying to take a big breath and focus on the good food. 

It just bothers me how much I hate tomatoes! I'm trying so hard! Sometimes I just watch everyone eat theirs so easily and give myself a little pep talk and put the gross nasty thing in my mouth...and then it's still bad! 

I really don't know what to do. But this is really hard for me! 

Oh yeah. A Volcano blew up this week. That was cool. Nothing really happened with me. It's not too far from me, but far enough that nothing happened. I got to see the explosions and stuff on T.V. because ALL of Chile was watching. I also got to see the lady president. My companion just came from that area, Villarica. 

The volcano’s name is Volcán Villarica. That volcano is so pretty. I got to see it while I was in the plane. I actually think I sent you guys a pic of it. My companion was really sad she wasn't there because she said she would look out the window EVERY morning in hopes that it was going to erupt while she was there. Haha silly

So last Monday right after Pday festivities, we went over to a lady in a different sector that we are teaching because she doesn’t want the elders to teach her. Her name is Maria Cristina and is maybe 55 or so? I hadn’t met her yet. The walk over to her casa was so pretty. The sky was GORGEOUS! I didn't get a pic of it because I don´t like taking my camera with me all the time because I want to take a picture of literally EVERYTHING because Chile is AWESOME. And so picture worthy. 

Well anyway, this sector is called Bosque and it looks exactly like Newcastle, Washington, just a little more Chilean and smaller houses. Sort of. Anyway, we showed up and there were two people there which actually happened to be members! yay! So we talked with them and then started to teach her about the 10 commandments because she's pretty far in the lessons. We got to the second commandment and she stopped us and asked us to explain to her more the Godhead because she doesn't understand the difference between Jesus and the Father and the Spirit and such. My companion explained the difference, but she was just not agreeing with that concept or was just confused. Bam. The spirit told me to share John 3:16 and 17. The one about for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, ...and I don't remember the rest in English, but I asked her to read it. And when she finished she just stared at the page for a bit and said, 'Claro.' She started crying. We talked about the role of the Father and the Son in the aspect of their difference in beings, but unity in purpose. And their purpose is based on their love. Then we explained that what she is feeling right now is the spirit. We talked some more about that and she suddenly just understood! Then the spirit prompted me to turn to the scriptures about Jesus Christ's baptism because I realized that that is a time when all the members of the godhead were present and recorded in the scriptures so clearly. We read that and then focused on how after Jesus was baptized Heavenly Father said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. I talked about His example and how perfect he was, but he still was baptized because it is that important. And then we talked about the love he had for us for setting that example and how pleased Heavenly Father was. Then she said she wants Heavenly Father to say he is pleased with her. So I asked her if she would be baptized. And she said she’s not sure, and then one of the members that was there said, well you have to say yes or no. And we all laughed and then she said, I want to be baptized now. I really do. 

The spirit was so strong. We set a date for the first Saturday of April because she is smokes a lot and we still had to teach her the word of wisdom so we wanted to give her time to give up smoking. We ended the lesson. Oh the spirit was so strong. She was so happy! She asked us when we would come back again and sprang up to write it on her calendar really big! She was just so happy! We also handed her the word of wisdom pamphlet for her to read before we came to teach her. We were kind of nervous about this part, but then she just grabbed the pamphlet and with the biggest smile on her face she said, 'OH! is this what will tell me how to stop smoking?!' hahaha she's awesome. We saw her again on Friday and we started having a conversation with her and I freaked out in my mind because I was wondering why she was speaking Spanish! And then I remembered that she lives in Chile and is Chilean and doesn’t know English! hahaha I didn't remember that lesson on Monday in Spanish! hahaha That was really funny and actually really cool because I knew the spirit had worked through me in that lesson. My companion was freaking out when we got home because she couldn't believe Maria Cristina said yes to baptism. She said she was freaking out during the lesson because the lesson was on the commandments and I was going way off but she decided to just trust me and go along with it. She said she didn't think Maria Cristina would say yes. They have been teaching her for 4 months I think and Hna. Oross said she was just depressed and sad and didn't want to be baptized and Hna Oross said she had never seen her be so happy and she was so different! Oh it was just great. How great is this work. 

Okay other things... this Thursday we had a family home evening with a member family and an investigator family. It was AWESOME. awesome awesome awesome. I won't go into so much detail because of time, but the spirit was so strong. We taught about repentance and made it interactive and GREAT. 

We collected rocks that afternoon and went all the way to this nice park that had a little crevice for the rainwater to drain in and there were some rocks in it. We spent about half an hour rock hunting for A LOT of good sized rocks. It was pretty fun. And the walk home was funny because we had nothing to carry them in but our arms which was difficult. AND THEN on the corner from our house we passed a construction dump pile of ROCKS. Yeah. We just laughed and laughed because we put all this effort into finding and carrying these rocks when there was the easiest way right next to our house! hahaha that was the best blonde moment ever. It was so funny. 

Anyway, we used the rocks for the lesson and put them in a backpack talking about sin and then had pasos (steps) for the kid to take which are the pasos of repentance. Everyone was so intently engaged in this lesson. After the lesson, the dad of the investigator family asked if he could have the papers that had the differnt names of the pasos. It was great. We also gave each of them a rock that they can only get rid of once they repent of something. This lesson sounds so lame, but it was SOOOO good. Oh the spirit was strong. We also played that game where you pass the penny and the person in the middle has to figure out who has it. The one Mom plays with us in family night. It was so funny. Everyone loved it, even the big people. They were laughing a lot. 

Afterward, we had completos. Yum. Chilean completos are called completos probably because of how COMPLETE they are. YUM. Yeah, that was good. Guess what my job was in completo preparation? Cutting the TOMATOES. Yeah. I almost threw up, but they were all fascinated at how I cut the tomatoes. They had me teach them and everything hahaha I guess they cut differently?

Hermana Oross and I have now run for 11 days straight. Just 20 days of it officially being a habit. We look forward to it every morning! It´s so funny and SO COOL! 

Oh this week Hermana Oross and I were asked by our district leader to teach the two zones Calle Calle and Valdivia about contacting. It was pretty fun. We prepared a skit and told funny stories that happened to us that week. And then taught stuff about contacting. 

Hermana Olson

March 2 2015 I'm Engaged, and I'm Going to Get Fat!!

Okay first of all let me just make you aware of the fact that I just ate a steak in a burger with Guacamole. It's called the churrasco burger. Anyway, it's just on my mind because it was so delicious! 

And I'M ENGAGED! 

I'm engaged to the obra misional! What an immense blessing and delight it is to work with the Lord! It's actually very exhausting just because you feel real love for every person you talk to! It's so fantastic. 

Also everyone, and I mean EVERYONE told me, as just part of the orientation to the mission I guess, that I am going to get fat. Seriously. I had dinner with Presidente Obeso the first night I was here, and he just told me in the most normal and serious of ways, "Hermana Olson, it takes time to adjust to Chile, so the first couple of months you won't be used to it, but you'll love it. The sisters have a hard time adjusting to the food, but you'll be okay. Over the next few months you are going to get fat, but you'll get used to it...." And then he continued with telling me about the other things about the mission! hahahaha Yeah.... it probably doesn't sound very funny, but it was so funny!!! Because he wasn't trying to be funny, he was just telling me stuff about how my laundry will be washed and all this other regulation stuff and then just added in the middle there that I was going to get fat. hahahahaha yay! That's when I finally believed it because everyone that has talked to me about my mission has told me I'm going to get fat, but I didn't believe it. EVEN GUILLERMO a random Chilean dude I sat next on the plane to Santiago told me that I am going to get fat. hahahaha 

Anyway, so yeah, don't be suprised when I am fat. They eat lots of bread, fruit, POTATOES, rice, and pasta. But they make mashed potatoes so I am totally okay with that. IT'S SO GOOD. But yeah, they serve A LOT and you think you are so full and that the meal is over because you just ate a whole cow and potato ranch, but then they bring out the main course. Yes, that is right. There are about 5 courses here. Oh and the first thing you always eat is lettuce and tomato salad. 

Straight up lettuce and tomatoes. I hate tomatoes. I can eat the lard on their meat just fine, but tomatoes! Bleck! I remember telling my friends that I was allergic to tomatoes because I hated them so much. Then I started liking them in sandwiches and burgers, but EW PLAIN! Yeah, I bet you didn't know I hated tomatoes so much. I didn't know that either until I came here... Oh and you also should eat like EVERYTHING they give you, which is approximately 37 lbs of food, to be polite and so I do, but the main struggle is those tomatoes! It's like 3 whole tomatoes that I have to eat in this lettuce and tomato salad I have every day. The only way it's happening is I just picture Dad and how you eat them like apples! I just think about how much you love tomatoes and then I eat them. Yesterday was fast Sunday, and one of the things I fasted for was for me to like tomatoes. The rest of the food is good though. They really know how to cook here. Well, at least how to cook carne and potatoes. That's about all I had so far. And it's yummy :) 

Hermana Oross is cool. We just hit it off right away. She's practically fluent in Spanish now so we talk a lot in Spanish because it takes her a while sometimes in English hahaha cool huh! Yeah, but this week we have a new goal to only speak in Spanish when we are outside of our house, so almost the whole day. She told me she was feeling almost sick when she found out she was going to be a trainer, this is her first time. But she said she's SO happy that I can already speak Spanish! hahaha she said it was a huge relief. She also told me that we can defeat the odds of getting fat and I asked her if we could go running in the morning and she just got so excited!!! She said she's been waiting for a companion that wants to run, so yeah we run every morning. And it's AWESOME! It really wakes us up. 

Let's see, Hermana Oross. My trainer. DANG! How blessed I am to have her as a companion!!!! I am seriously blown away at how awesome she is. We get along better than great. Seriously, we are the greatest team! She's from San Diego California, she has three brothers and two sisters (2nd Oldest), she loves soccer WOOP WOOP!, she is a very good artist, she went to BYU-Idaho before her mission, blah blah blah more talking about the greatest companion ever. Okay, really, she is a fantastic missionary. I'm so glad I'm being trained by her. She loves everyone and the ward absolutely loves the missionaries so she knows all of them. She's been on a mission for 8 months, speaks fluently, she is TAN GENIAL. *so cool. 

Elder Holt, our district leader has called us almost every night this past week since I'm new and is just checking up on how I'm doing, and these phone calls are so fun. They only last a few minutes, but we give him an update on how we are doing and how our investigators are doing and tell him some funny things that happen in our day, and he asks us about our goals and such, but it's always just so fun. All of it is in Spanish too and sometimes we play off of funny things. Like last night, he said something about Monsters Inc. and then Hna. Oross and I both said, ALWAYS WATCHINGGGG like that slimy green lady in the movie and then E. Holt asked if that's how we talk to our investigators and we just said of course and then we were giving him examples of the "things we say" like "SERA BAUTIZADA????" okay....so I just realized that none of this is going to be funny to you because it just won't... but anyway, part way through our call with E. Holt last night after Hna. Oross and I sang It's Tricky to Rock a Rhyme and did the whole "trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrricky!" (thanks Jacob for sharing that rap with me) he was laughing really hard and said in English, "Oh, you guys get along way too well.. I'm sorry." And then we said, "why are you sorry!" And then we heard his companion in the back say, "Elder! Espanol!" And then he talked in Spanish and said that he just feels sad that we get along really well and it's gonna be hard to cambio.. Yeah, that will be true. This week has already gone by SO fast! I have 11 more weeks with Hna. Oross. :) It's the best. 

The other night we quoted just about the entire movie of Nacho Libre. She has my brain. We have so much fun. And fun doing the work! We are just such a good team! We never question each other and when we do contacting, we fill in the gaps. We have contacted SO many people this week, and only 4 of them didn't want us to come back. Some of our contacts have been full on lessons. Last night we were singing some hymns as we were walking down the street, and I saw this old man just sitting on a park bench staring at a tree. I pointed to him and we just she just walked. We were still singing so we didn't communicate with words or anything, she just walked with me up as we finished singing Mas Cerca Dios, de Ti. We finished the verse just as we got up to him. He was a very old man just sitting on a bench smoking. He asked us what we were singing and we told him we could sing it for him. So we did and he blew us a kiss with a three-toothed smile. This guy put out his cigarette and shook our hands with his left hand because he didn't have a right one! But he was sitting next to a worn out bike and we asked him how his day went. He rode all the way to Niebla to a pretty beach there which is WAY far from Valdivia! AND back all that day! We got to know him more and he is SO COOL! He knows a lot too about the U.S. and the Amish and all sorts of things. He says he has a really good relationship with God. And he asked us what the difference between our church and other churches, but then he answered it and said, "No puede ver la tele!" (you can’t watch TV) hahahahah!!! We cleared up that we are allowed to watch TV, hahaha but he asked more questions and I told him about how the distinguishing factor of our church is the priesthood and that our church is Jesus Christ’s church and we have the authority of God on earth now. And we basically taught him the majority of the first lesson. And I hadn't asked him to be baptized to which he replied, "Pueden hablar mas conmigo?" so we wrote down where he lives, which is in our sector! And he asked us to come talk more and we told him we would sing. We had to leave because it was really close to 9:30 which is when we have to be in our casa, but it was a pleasure meeting him. His name is Xavier, Oh I wish I could tell you about ALL the people I am meeting here! Xavier is my favorite though. I'm looking forward to teaching him. He wants to come to church this Sunday too. He knows this big city like the back of his hand. 

Okay wow, there is much more to say. MUCH MUCH MUCHISIMO more to say. OH MY WARD IS AWESOME! I am so happy to start in this place! La Noche Valdiviana was this weekend which is a big party for this giant city! Earlier we walked down to centro to eat at McDonalds and SO MANY PEOPLE were in there. Centro is basically like a Chilean Boston. It's really cool. In the square there were Mapuche people dancing and playing their flute things. Mapuche are the Native Chileans and their music is AWESOME! It makes you want to go on a hike and see the world. Really, look up their music. It was pulling my heart as I had to keep walking so I wouldn't look like a tourist. Dang. I loved that music. Dang, I love this place!!!!

I have no more time. :( I printed out all your letters!!! AND IT WAS EIGHT PAGES! So I read it during lunch so that I could respond faster, but I.....talk too much and now there is no more time... Next week I'll be prepared to respond because I have it all with me. 

I think that's another reason why Heavenly Father sent me here. Chileans LOVE TO TALK. hahahaha a lot. So I'm getting better at having a shut mouth ;)

Oh so another thing about this companionship of mine. Los miembros del barrio call us Los O's but they don't pronounce the s's here so when they see us they say, "Hola hermanitas! LO O!" and then they laugh, they think it's so funny. They say Oro instead of Oross and Olon instead of Olson. 

Okay I gotta go. I love you all so much and I. LOVE. CHILE.!!!!!! 

Thanks for the awesome letter Mom, I'll write to you all next week. Jacob, I'm really happy for you :) 

Hermana Olson

Really quick I'll add a few photos :) 

Here's Hna. Oross!!!! We are pointing to our mission. Oh and the president and his wife too!

There are dogs and cats EVERYWHERE I just want to pet them all! ...the dogs. But a lot of them look like walking diseases. So I don't.  This is Ricky. He's a pet. Super cute.  

This is the part of the mission I saw from the sky! the airport was TINY it looked like we were going to land on people's houses. And those daisy weeds are everywhere and they are just beautiful. 

There are also lots of dandelions. My companion and I blow them and make wishes L:)