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:)