May 25 Transfer to Punta Arenas

Hey family! I only have time to get on super fast and let you know that I cannot write to you this week about my experiences thus far in the Patagonia world of things because I have to go to the police investigations place to get my carnet thing like identity card for Chile today because my certification only lasts for so long and I had to wait until I got to Patagonia and I have to do it TODAY! before the thingy expires and it's really important.

So I thought it was awesome that I had a back-up thing, because I wrote out what I wanted to say on paper to take a picture of it! But I took a few pictures over by the coast and my camera died! AND I HAD YET TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE LETTER and my companion doesn't have her camera with her. And I have to hurry over to the P.D.I. right now because it's like the DMV supposedly. But I love you and I'll just have to send the letter from this week next week! I'm sorry.

I love you! And I'll read your emails and respond to you next week! 

Love, 

Hermana Olson

p.s. yeah it is suuuuuuuuper cold here.

(Mom's transcription of the photographed letter, received the next week)

I’m here! It’ nothing that I imagined, but to be honest, the only thing I really imagined was penguins, so that’s all about it. Getting here was the part I didn’t anticipate at all.  On Monday night, Hna. Oross and I stopped by Victoria and Sandra to say goodbye and also have a good  last lesson like we planned.  It was just a nice night.  Sandra wasn’t home though, so we were going to come back on Tuesday to say bye to her too. . .until right before we were going to go home and begin packing, Elder Keetch called and said, “Hey did you know you are leaving tomorrow?” And I said no.  Because I didn’t. . .And apparently Punta Arenas people always leave the day before cambios to get to the airport down in Puerto Montt on time.  So that was a bit of a ripshock.  I hung up on the phone and it was almost 10 pm so Hna. Oross and I had to leave to be in the house on time.  But I told Victoria (and Romina, Sophie, & Erna) that I wouldn’t be stopping by tomorrow.  It was sad.  They all cried, but we couldn’t stick around for long.  I cried too.  We came home and I BEGAN packing.  I stayed up and didn’t go to sleep until 4 am. 

Then we got up and went to our district meeting.  After the district meeting, we met as a zone for a while.  Then it was lunch time, so we ate at Hermana Katy’s house.  She was very sweet and gave me about 4 pairs of really warm socks that she knitted herself because, apparently, I was going to need them.

We were supposed to be at the terminal for buses at 4:30 because the bus to Puerto Montt was leaving at 5:00.  I left my suitcases at the church.  We got to the church at 4:00 and called a taxi.  After waiting a while we called 3 more.  They didn’t come! So at 4:25 we decided to RUN to the terminal.  The terminal wasn’t too close. . .at all.  But we ran the entire way with a back pack full of 40 lbs. worth of books, a shoulder bag, my giant coat, and 2 50 lb. suitcases.  It was quite a stressful adventure.  I was just thankful we had run these past two months because there would have been NO WAY we would have been able to do that.  The sidewalks in Valdivia are SUPER cracked and rocky too.  Well, anyway, we made it to the terminal at 4:55!!  5 minutes to buy a ticket and get on the bus.  We found the zone leaders and apologized for being so late.  They looked at us and laughed just because APPARENTLY all the buses were late and we wouldn’t be leaving for another hour.  Hna. Oross and I were drenched in sweat.  The elders said we were the first ones there!  Haha, but I guess it made up for not exercising earlier that morning.

So after cooling off, !CHAU! I went.  Just like that.  Weird.  I traveled, once again, as the only sister missionary in a flock of elders.  This time it was so  much stranger without a companion.  But we all had a jolly time.  There were 9 of us on that bus.  It was neat talking about our different experiences on the mission and also seeing a bit of Chile ROAD-TRIP-STYLE =).  The bus ride was about 3 or 4 hours.  When we got to Puerto Montt, some hermanas picked me up and I stayed at their house for the night.  The next morning I had to take another bus to the airport.  This time it was just Elder Mendoza from Peru and I, because the other missionaries took an earlier bus (the traffic in Puerto Montt in the morning is CRAZY!!  We had to walk a lot of the way before getting to the bus because no taxis were open that early in the morning and Puerto Montt has A LOT of rain so my suitcases got soaked.) Anyway, I flew down to Punta Arenas with Elder Mendoza, E. Fotheringham, E Alder and E. Bliss.  The plane was not very big.  I LOVE seeing Chile from above!!  After arriving, we all crammed on this bus thing with about 40 other people.  I was squished next to a man named Gonsalo.  He was wondering who all these missionaries were and I explained who we were.  When we got to our church, the bus stopped and Gonsalo asked if this was our building.  I said, “Yes! It starts at 10 on Sundays!”  And then I got out.

GUESS WHAT! Gonsalo came to church this Sunday!  But he actually lives pretty far, so he gave us his contact information and we passed him to the missionaries in Austral.  Gonsalo liked church though, and is really interested!  I couldn’t believe he actually came!  I hope he keeps investigating.

So I met my companion.  Hermana Parkinson from Spanish Fork, Utah.  She’s the 2^nd oldest in a family of 6 kids and her youngest sibling just turned 2!  She has been out on the mission for 22 months.  We have only been speaking Spanish these past 5 days, so she’s very dedicated to the language.  I like her.  She reminds me a little of my roommate Mikayla so it’s been fun to get to know her.  I think it will be a good cambio with her.

The people here are GREAT!  I’m really missing my Valdivians, but it’s a neat experience to get to know a whole new batch of awesome people.

Punta Arenas is like another country.  It’s so different than the rest of Chile!  Or at least my birthplace.  They talk different here—their accent, or pronunciation, and also ways of saying things.  For example, quite a few people switch the ch and the sh in words.  Like chicachita is “chicashisha” or they say “osho” instead of ocho and they pronounce hecho like echo or eko! It’s different.  Some people also talk like Argentinian accents.  My companion uses a “J” sound for any word with a “y” or “ll”.  I think the accent here in Punta Arenas is just a mix between the Chilean sound and Argentinian.  But they are right next to Argentina, and actually a lot of them go to Argentina pretty often BECAUSE IT’S A LOT EASIER FOR PUNTA ARENAS PEOPLE TO GO OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY THAN TO TRAVEL IN IT!      Haha.

It’s so funny.  It’s this isolated city in the bottom of the world!  They are all very proud of this place.  It’s sort of the equivalent of Texas in the states.  They have their own flag and everything.  I really like their flag.  It’s called the flag of Magallanes.  Everyone has it everywhere: their mailbox, random stones on a hill, their porch, their couch.  But it’s a pretty cool flag.  They also have their own dance here in Patagonia called Shameme.  From what I could gather about this Patagonian dance is it looks like a mix of the Tango and Merenque, but I didn’t watch very much of it.  They say if I’m here for September 18 (independence day) I’ll see it.  

May 18, 2015 Cambio! (Transfer)

(Mom's note: I forgot to post this in May.  It's her last letter in Valdivia)

Oh psych, guess what?  Cambios happened. And I am leaving.

Well now that we have that out of the way, THIS WEEK WAS GREAT. 

Intercambios rocked my socks off. Hermana Palma is the only girl in her family too so we had a pretty super time with each other. We taught five lessons and all of them were great!!!! It was so much fun! We made a lot of progress with one of our Menos Activos and made a NEW investigator named Melisa and her entire family came and sat down while the abuela knitted a sweater from her sheep's wool. Yeah. It's always so rejuvenating to find new people to teach!!!! It took forever to finally go into their house. We contacted seriously NINE people at that same door before we finally entered the house! And all those times it was different days, except for the first day we met the grandma in the street and she was confused why we were talking to her and just kept asking how we knew her. And then she gave us this big hug and a kiss and said, 'Sorry, I am practically deaf.' and then walked away. And then about an hour later we were knocking doors and came upon Rodrigo (Melisa's cousin) and then woopdeedoo comes the grandma up to that door and she said, 'YOU DO KNOW ME!' hahahaha And then from there we just met every single other person in there including the maid and then FINALLY on Tuesday they let us in! And it was so worth the wait! This family is very centered on living a Christ-like life and it was really cool to be able to see that. They thanked us for what we are doing and said they love our message and gave us a reference for their neighbor and his family too!!!! That's pretty cool. I love them! When we were leaving a folleto for them to read, they saw that we had about five and said, 'Oh give us all of them, we will read them! Do you have a book?' Yeah. These people are awesome. I'm excited for them. 

We also had a lesson with Victoria and Sandra! And wow wow wow wow! Okay so we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ which consists of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. The lesson was awesome as always because Sandra and Victoria just have the greatest love to learn everything they can. Hermana Palma hadn't met Victoria yet, so before the lesson, Victoria started just introducing herself to her and giving her the background of herself, and while she was talking about how she started listening about a month and a half ago she said, 'And when I get baptized....' and just kept going on about herself and investigating and stuff. And it was NEWS TO ME! She just said it so nonchalantly! So the lesson was great! I can’t even explain it. We were able to get out all of her doubts with everything. She said she is mostly only nervous about being baptized because she doesn't want to take that covenant on until she is sure that she will be keeping the Sabbath Day holy after (which is awesome because she is obviously seeking for conversion here) because she struggles going to church. Anyway I asked her where her priorities are, and she said, Yeah I know. I just got to do it. And then we explained the Holy Ghost and the Santa Cena and all of how the gospel of Jesus Christ is just so perfect! Anyway I can't really explain all of the amazing lesson that we had, but it was amazing! And she was trying so hard to have it all understood so that she could teach it to Diego after (she told us that she tries to tell him everything she learns because she wants him to progress at the same time). Diego is her husband. He is awesome too! He is just really busy and we don't see him as much as everyone else. Anyway we didn't put a date with her for her baptism yet because she wants her and Diego to make that decision together. 

And getting baptized in less than a year is a little scary because she knows she will have to change her life a little and she doesn't know if she can do it so fast and then I said, look at your Mom! She has changed so much and has only been investigating for 2 months!' And then Sandra stood up and clapped her hands and said with a little dance, ''Baje peso!!'' which means I lost weight! hahhaah (and she's also been quitting smoking super well and there is just SUCH a special light about her now!!!!) And we all laughed and then Victoria said that she also has already changed so much and didn't realize it until then. 

We told her to pray about a time in June and she said she will. THEN we told her how great the scriptures are to answers prayers or any questions too and said, 'Really? I want to try!' And she grabbed my Book of Mormon and paused a little and then opened it. I was thinking, '....oh...that's not really what I meant.' But I didn't stop her and then she started crying because GUESS WHAT SHE OPENED UP TO???? 

3 Nefi 11 and the verse she read was when Jesus Christ is says, And this is the manner that you shall baptize. 

So it won't be too far away before she gets baptized!!! We told her that we will teach her and Diego together more. Oh it's so great! I love them so much! 

Okay well...I don't have much time to talk about much of the rest of this week. My companion and I had a great time of power working since the moment we reunited (she jumped into my arms....we love each other :) 

And Pia is going to be baptized soon too, we taught her the 10 commandments this week and invented fun ways to remember them in order with our fingers. 

And on Saturday during our correlation with the ward mission leader, Jared, the elders told me that I am leaving. 

Which kind of sent me through the craziest loop ever in my mind and I teared up ....a lot. Elder Gomez told me that he knew how much I love the people and even though he isn't supposed to tell us until Pday he wanted me to know then so that I could enjoy my last Sunday instead of know so last minute and not be able to enjoy the last bit of time with the people. It was really tough though because I wasn't aloud to tell anyone. No one ever told me about the cambios part of the mission. No one ever told me how hard it is!  

Okay this is for all the people that haven't gone on missions yet: 

FYI: the cambios thing IS HARD. 

But really it was such a good Sunday yesterday!!!! A lot of the less actives came back and Miguel surprised us and CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!! I almost cried. I was so happy to see him there. (He's Hermana Lorena's son that is less active and there is a whole backstory that there really is no time to tell, but I seriously was so so SO happy to see him in church!) 

We weren't allowed to tell anyone yet because they say that Presidente changes it up sometimes and don't know if it's really for sure yet. So last night Presidente Obeso called and called Hermana Oross to the position as the HERMANA LIDER, ...which mean SHE is leaving and to serve in the neighboring zone in Valdivia.... which means I stay in Valdivia! Until Presidente said that I was leaving and transferring to the sector 'Patagonia' in Punta Arenas. 

Well...Yeah so it was a shock for my Hermana Oross and I. Everyone thought we would be sticking around juntos for another cambio at least, or the very least she would be leaving because usually the person that has been there the longest leaves. ...but no then we found out I am leaving, oh but then it's BOTH OF US LEAVING. Until the Hermana Lideres called us to tell us that our house is going to be the hermana lideres house now, which means Hermana Palma will be coming here and working with everyone!!!!! Yeah it's crazy. 

AND I AM ALSO GOING SUPER FAR AWAY! 

I am so sad to be leaving, but I am so so so so so glad to be have worked here in the 12 weeks I did. It's a strange feeling to leave a place full of people that you really don't know if you will see again, but I trust that Heavenly Father knows what's up and knows what those people need and what I need. I guess right now he knows that I need to go to the bottom of the world and eat penguins and freeze. It will be exciting. My new companion will be Hna. Parkinson. She's apparently super awesome. I'm excited to meet her. I'm really sad to leave my Hermana Oross behind. But I am so excited for her!!!!! Well....I got to go. Don't worry my sad heart is okay, I know I'll see a lot of people again (in the Celestial Kingdom hopefully) :) And today and tomorrow are full of plans to work hard to the last second together in this great companionship in this great city and with the greatest people I have ever met. 

Valdivia is really special to me. Yesterday in Sunday School they asked everyone what their favorite part about rain is and they started the turns with me and I said my favorite part about the rain is Valdivia. Everyone laughed a lot and I got to see all their laughing faces. It was good. I am reeeeeeeeeally going to miss everyone. I can't believe it. Ouch. 

Well, I get on a plane to go to the bottom of the world on Wednesday morning. I feel like I'll be starting my mission all over again.... 

I LOVE YOU, 

Hermana Olson :) 

May 25, 2015 Carnet Stuff

Hey family! I only have time to get on super fast and let you know that I cannot write to you this week about my experiences thus far in the Patagonia world of things because I have to go to the police investigations place to get my carnet thing, like identity card for Chile, today because my certification only lasts for so long and I had to wait until I got to Patagonia and I have to do it TODAY! before the thingy expires and it's really important.

So I thought it was awesome that I had a back up thing, because I wrote out what I wanted to say on paper to take a picture of it! But I took a few pictures over by the coast and my camera died! AND I HAD YET TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE LETTER and my companion doesn't have her camera with her. And I have to hurry over to the P.D.I. right now because it's like the DMV supposedly. But I love you and I'll just have to send the letter from this week next week! I'm sorry.

Love, 

Hermana Olson

p.s. yeah it is suuuuuuuuper cold here.

May 11, 2015 You Guys are Real!

You guys have no idea how refreshing ....and strange...it was to see you all yesterday! I really don't know how to describe it, but YOU GUYS ARE REAL! It's a weird thing, this mission life. You really feel like everything from before is just kind of this foggy distant life that you know happened because you have pictures and e-mails and memories but you kind of are just wondering if it really happened.. Hahaha that probably sounds so weird, but it's true! It was nice to have a good confirmation that yes, you guys are living your lives and that you all know I'm in Chile and loving it. It was crazy to actually talk to you all! 

Right when I heard Jacob's voice my heart just started beating like crazy and it just didn't stop the entire time because then another sibling popped on and then my future sister popped on (which I was not expecting at all) and then the rest of my family popped on including my freshly returned missionary brother! It was so exciting to see you all and just hang out for a little. 

I don't know what to say. I feel like I told you guys hardly anything! ...even though I'm sure I did. But it was really special to be able to talk to you guys and see you all. 

I love you all so much. And Happy Mother's Day Mom. 

This week lots of things happened, but I can't pick out very much because everything is just swirling around because my mind is drawing a blank as I'm trying to send an e'mail to my family that I talked to yesterday! Ah! I had so many plans to send you pictures and everything, but I guess that will just have to wait until next week. 

I think my favorite lessons that happened this week were with Trinidad, an 8-year-old. She is really sweet and really interested. It's really neat to witness so clearly the light of Christ that is in children. They really do have an innate desire to learn of Christ and follow him. I love Trini's mom and little sister too. I don't know if her mom, Joanna, really is interested though. She loves our company, but we are wondering if she really has interest in what we teach rather than just listening because she likes us. They assisted church last week because Trinidad begged her mom. And Trinidad LOVED it. Joanna liked it too, but not enough to have the ganas to come this week... We have a cita with them tomorrow and I think it will be great. All we have to do is find a way for Joanna to connect this gospel to her life in the manner that she realizes the value and opportunity she has with learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trinidad has been reading the Book of Mormon to Joanna and Trinidad told us she loves it. Oh wow well there are just so many silly details and I don't really have time to type it out because today I actually am short on time. 

This morning the Hermana Lideres called us to let us now that we will be doing intercambios tomorrow 

with them and that I am staying here in Valdivia. So I guess tomorrow we will see how well I know the area and how to be a missionary without my Momma gringa missionary there by my side. hahaha I'm kind of excited though. I really like Hermana Palma. She's from Santiago and is just an awesome misionera. I think it might be a bit of a challenge, but I'm really excited. I also can't wait for her to meet my fantastic investigator buddies! I wish all of you could meet them. 

Maybe after my mission when I don't come home because I am just going to live here for the rest of my life, you can come visit me and meet my friends here in Chile. 

Yesterday, when I was saying bye, I couldn't believe it was already time to say bye and I realized that the next time I see you will be when I am FURTHER in my mission which means closer to not being on my mission anymore.... and that's what really hit me hard. I don't want to come home. I love you guys so much and I miss you all a lot, but I really think that there is no better thing than being called to serve in the service of God. After getting home last night, really sweaty because we had to run the whole way, I had to talk myself through the process that yes, I will probably have to go home after my mission and that it's okay. I thought about Seth being home and I REALIZED I FORGOT TO ASK SETH WHAT HE IS EVEN DOING WITH HIS LIFE. But then I realized that life goes on... Weird. And it's okay. 

I just have to make my eensy teensy time I have here in Chile the best it can be. I don't want to have any regrets of not using my time here as a missionary the best I could. 

I thought about it more, and I realized something a little funny. The mission is the perfect example of The Plan of Salvation:

I had a pre-mission life that almost doesn't feel concrete

Then I was sent to this mission-life with the purpose to follow the Savior's example by being called as a representative as him

And then I am going to 'die'

Then return to live with my family again in my California world.  

And life is just going to keep going on and I won't even be 21 yet..... and so I have AAAAAAALLLLL this life ahead of me. 

Interesting to look at that and realize that if you zoom out to the eternal perspective of things and see that this little missionary life I have that represents earth life doesn't even compare to the ETERNAL scheme of time. Life goes on after this life. 

Boy oh boy is this life a treasure here on earth. We got to come get bodies and enjoy this earth life, but guess what, this earth life isn't forever. So make the best of it. Really, be wise. 

Check your priorities and make them worth something in the eternal perspective so that when you have to return home, you won't regret how you used your little time here on earth. 

Yeah, I have no idea if that made any sense you any of you. I was wanting to write it better, but I don't have time I'm just hoping the get the gist of what I'm trying to say. 

I love you! 

-----more details later I guess. hahaha 

LOVE, 

Hermana Olson

May 4, 2015 Oh Yeah Tomatoes!

Okay, so I guess I jinxed the volcano thing last week when I said that nothing was affecting us.... because right after leaving the cyber and writing that e'mail, outside got really smoky. And later that night acid rain came down from the sky. They canceled school on Tuesday and Wednesday because there was lots of ash (which means that it traveled about a week in the atmosphere!). We got a call from our district leaders saying that we could only go to the SET appointments, which on average, we usually only have one, but on Tuesday we had FOUR! AND none of them fell. So it felt cool to have been able to work when it was a day that we couldn't really work. It also felt great to breathe in ash....haha but we are all good. Wednesday wasn't as bad, just smoky smell. 

On Wednesday, we had a cita with Noelia and Ernaldi, but this time we had to let them know that we had to pass them to the elders in the Angachilla sector because we aren't supposed to be teaching people out of our sector. And they aren't progressing (because they don't want to get married..), so our ward mission leader told us that we can’t be putting in our time anymore to go all the way over there. So we were sad. But we told them and they took it surprisingly well!!! And we told them that the elders are awesome and everything was good. I think it will be good for them to get a fresh start with elders because they have been in enseñanza for 6 months now and things are just going in circles with us... so it will be good. They were sad to say bye, but they turned it into a fun time too. Ivan, their boy the same age as John, played the violin for us and he is just as good as John. And I really liked listening to him.  It made me think about John and how awesome he is too. And we had a good lesson. And then we had to leave....but we left a little late and we had a family night with Pia that was going to be in 15 minutes! And we were in a different sector and Pia lives clear on the other side of our sector.

So we ran, with a quick pit stop at our house to bring the brownies because the brownies were NECESSARY. 

And then we ran more. And more. We finally arrived at the house ONLY 15 minutes late, yes we ran for 27 minutes straight in dresses and boots and bags.... (3 minutes to take out the 30 seconds of grabbing the brownies and the other 2 and a half minutes we spent speed walking to catch some breath). We got to the house and the only person that was there was Pia's dad, who isn't a member, and we haven't really talked to him ever. But he told us that everyone had to leave for the baby that was just born from Pia's older sister. And so we said, alright, here are the brownies and he laughed. And asked why we were sweating....(we were sweating a lot). Anyway, even though we didn't have a lesson with them, I think it was good that her dad saw our effort because they called us the next day and asked for us to come back. Which to be honest they didn't really like it when we were there. And Pia I'm sure thought we were boring... and we didn't know how to teach her very well because she's 10 and doesn't talk a lot and her mom is less active and never really talked to us much either. .

Anyway we went back and HAD A BLAST! Teaching the gospel and talking about dentures! We went with a different approach this time and had a mind game that connected with our lesson. And we finished up our lesson and somehow her sister brought up dentures and then the conversation just took off and then I told them about Hannahmarie, when she popped them out in front of me when I was all alone with her. And EVERYONE LAUGHED SO HARD! And it made Pia LAUGH! I made Pia laugh!!!! We were all laughing so hard that Pia even started laughing out tears. Oh it was just so fun! And when we had to leave, Pia asked us to stay!!! And she keeps calling us every day asking when we are coming back! Oh it was just good. We went back yesterday with another mind game lesson and she loved it. And we have a family night planned for tomorrow so we might even start teaching her dad! It's just awesome! I love Pia. It feels great for her to finally be comfortable with us! Who knew Hannahmarie's dentures would help us out? haha

We have a new investigator, Joanna and her daughters, Trinidad and Augustina,. And they came to church yesterday! And it was awesome and I think I won't say much just because I don't have much time. 

SANDRA HAS A DATE! And that is another awesome story.... That I don't have time for.

I have pulga bites out the wazooo!!!! It seriously looks like I have chicken pox. So that's fun. 

Well, I feel weird that I will be seeing all of you on Sunday! I guess it will be really nice to just talk to you because I honestly feel so weird with this e'mail communicating thing that’s been going on since I've been here in Chile because I just don't feel like I'm actually communicating with you guys because I send emails that don’t really get sent so when I send them they are old and stuff. And then I don't really reply to you very well...... Well, yes, it will just be good. 

I was going to send pictures this week, but I guess next Monday will be better because I'll have more time to not have to worry about telling you crazy looooooooooooooooooong detailed emails that may or may not actually get to you. 

Hermana Olson

April 20, 2015 The Lord Knows the Desires of Our Hearts

This week I studied a lot about desire. And then our district meeting was AWESOME! It was about desires and I learned a lot and just got a huge push of desires! 

Deseo is a motivated conviction, al terminar cada dìa debe sentir como no puede tomar 1 paso màs. (Upon ending each day, you should feel like you can’t take one more step.) I decided my desire is to labor so that there WILL be fruits.

I left that meeting feeling desires to work my hardest. We had an awesome member, Steffany, who leaves on a mission in May to Peru, with us for 4 hours.  And we were so excited to have a member come with us to FOUR appointments that were set! 

All of our citas fell. Every single one! 8 pm rolled around and Steffany had to leave. We decided to go back to Marden's house, being two hours after the time that his wife should be there. We climbed the stairs and decided to say a prayer before we knocked. (OH YEAH we went at least 4 times these past two weeks and found a different woman behind the door all four times and we thought all of them were his wife, but they were all just friends that were watching her kids for her because I think maybe she is a teacher or something... anyway all of those friends were not interested at all in our message, before we figured out they weren't Marden's wife, and so it was a bit of a relief every time when we found out that she wasn't actually his wife.... hahaha and the fifth time we went today, we found yet another babysitter and she finally told us the time that Marden's wife would be back!) 

We prayed that she would be able to be behind that door. So we knocked, and ...nadie (no one). My companion was very disillusioned, but I decided to knock the next door because contacts always, always brighten our spirits. Well, I knocked the next door and then when someone opened it, a man walked right in past us to deliver some firewood. And the person at the door said, I'd much rather have wood than you guys at my door. So we went to the next floor and knocked four more doors, all of which answered with just BRUTAL rejections. I kept knocking and knocking hoping we would have some measure of èxito, but instead we just had a solid 30 minutes of pure terrible rejections! Some people were nice at first saying, Oh I don't have time to talk, and we'd offer just to give them a tarjeta of Jesus Christ or something and one lady just yelled at us from her window saying, 'whatever you give me I'm just going to rip it up and throw it in the trash.' It was quite a different experience than EVERY single other time we've knocked doors, or even gotten rejected, for that matter. People are usually much more courteous when they are mean. My poor companion was completely desanimada. And then our last cita for the night called us and canceled. I thought on it for a little. Heavenly Father knows the desires of our hearts. He knew we were putting in our best to keep pressing forward. I knew we met Marden because we needed to meet him. I knew it, and I was just kind of trying to figure out why it has been 2 weeks and we just couldn't find them. Then dingalingalingaling! 

If Marden's wife wasn't in the apartment when we asked Heavenly Father for her to be there, she just simply wasn't going to magically appear behind that door. When we are asking just seconds before we knock on that door. So I figured, Heavenly Father wants to help us because he knows how much we just wanted to meet Marden's wife, but we just didn't give Him a little more time to work it out. I turned to my companion and said let's go back. I explained it and we went. As we turned the corner to the stretch of Marden's apartment, there was a light. 

We looked at each other and climbed the stairs. As I walked toward the door I had the greatest of hope that this would be her, that she would be like Marden, and that we could be able to just meet her! We stood in front of that door with the greatest of hope. It's a feeling I really have never experienced. To be about to knock a door to meet someone you have been waiting for so long to meet that you haven't met. That's what a felt. I knocked and just knew that we were going to meet someone great. Someone that has been waiting. 

And who opens the door? Ruth. 

With a smile that brought the sweetest light when we felt so surrounded by darkness. She said Hola! Gave us a kiss on the cheek. We told her who we were and why we were there. And she told us she had hardly put her things down when we knocked on the door. As we talked to her, it felt like we already all knew each other. I couldn't stop smiling. She is super excited for us to come back! AND SO ARE WE! 

After getting to the bottom of those stairs, my companion and I turned to each other with the biggest smiles on our faces and cried real real tears of JOY. 

Saturday it RAINED!! Constant, non-stop rain and I busted out that awesome rain coat from you, Mom. As I was wearing it and the desire thing was all in my head, I just couldn't help but think about how awesome of a coat I was wearing! I'm pleasantly entertained and amazed, Mom, that you took that HUGE coat on your mission, hardly used it once or twice, then brought it back home only to live in no rain land, California, for your whole life keeping that coat in hopes that maybe your daughter could use it for her mission. ....and also only have 1 daughter in your huge clan of offspring....(that sounds weird) therefore only having ONE chance for this daughter of yours to serve in a mission that would require a GOOD raincoat. And then BAM! Your desire was granted!!! And boy oh boy am I happy that you wanted that sooooo bad ;) haha I bet you really were only supposed to have boys, Mom, but because you saved this giant rain coat from your mission, Heavenly Father just had to help you out a bit and send you that one girl that was going to serve a mission in Chile Osorno :) haha but really, thanks for the coat. Everyone has been commenting on it these last two days saying, Wow! That's a great coat.' And I just think to myself, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. :) 

Well, everyone has said that the sun has parted from Valdivia now and we will not be seeing the sun until October. BRING IT ON. I LOVE RAIN. Really, I'm amazed at how well Heavenly Father knows me. This place in Chile is just for me. If I could I would live here forever. Really. The rain isn't even the best part. ITS THE PEOPLE. I can't even tell you how much the people I have met mean to me. I don't want to leave this sector ever.

Okay what else... OH YEAH. Speaking of desires, guess what Sandra told us???????!!!!! She wants to get baptized!!! YEAH! She just said it so casually on Saturday. We hadn't even started the lesson yet and we were just talking about our day with her and then my companion asked, Do you believe that this is the true church, Sandra? And she said, Mira. I was thinking about it the other day, and I decided that I want to get baptized. I know it's just right. I want to make a lot of changes in my life. I want to lose weight and quit smoking. And I don't know how to explain it, but I just have this desire in my heart to just do it. I know it's what I have to do.' And she said it just like that. Plop. And I'm telling you it was just OUT OF THE BLUE! Both my companion and I kind of just stared because we were so stunned and confused because it was so just confusing. Just because she didn't want to be baptized EVER! Finally when we came to our senses we just were SO HAPPY and we smiled and told her we were so excited for her. Then she said thank you for not giving up on me. !!!!!! And she gave us big hugs and then said, 'Ah! You guys asked so much. And what did I say? NO! AhAH! But now I said yes!' hahahaha she's SO GREAT! 

We weren't able to put a date for her baptism though because she wants time to know more. She said probably not for a year..... But we had a really good lesson and she thinks she can sooner, she told us to give her a week and a half to read the book of Mormon so that she can just feel like she isn't 'lacking as much conocimiento' We'll  work with her, because I know she really has that firm desire to do this! 

Oh so Hna Oross taught me a little bit of some bagpipe playing this week while we were laying in our beds. IT'S THE GREATEST DISCOVERY since toe socks. 

So apparently you can sound like a human bagpipe when you plug your nose and chop your jugular really hard while you make noises. We do it almost daily just because it’s so awesome! SO while we were on the phone with the zone leaders we just started playing them for them. And both of them freaked out and asked us HOW we knew how to play. And then after that they said, Wait, HOW DO YOU HAVE A GAITA IN YOUR CASA?? And then we said the first thing that came to our mind and said we found it on the street (....in Chile) And then they said, 'REally??' And we said yes. And they were super excited. 

....so excited that while we were planning the next Ward FHE that is Saint Patrick's Day themed (because it's to celebrate their ancestors, thus connecting to the Family History thing we have planned) they told Jared, our ward missionary, that we could play the bagpipes! And Jared, oh boy, he got SO excited. And at first he didn't believe us, and the elders were saying NO, THEY PLAYED FOR US! ....and so Jared was OVERJOYED. Like, really really excited. .....and then we didn't know what to do so we just played our bagpipes right there, as in hitting our throats super hard and plugging our noses, and the elders were confused. And Jared was very very very disappointed.  So now he made us promise to figure out how to Irish dance and we are going to do that..... It was fun. I'll have to show you how we sound like bagpipes. The Elders were so confused! Hahahaha 

...but now we have to work on an Irish dancing routine........ Woopdidoo. I'd much rather play the bagpipes.

And that's all I have time for....because what the woopdidoo. I WRITE WAY TOO  MUCH:  

Hermana Olson

P.S. JACOB CONGRATUALATIONS. You have almost exactly 9 months between the time you get married and when I come home. soo... But really, I am so so so so so so so so happy for you. I also was mind blown when I saw your email because I seriously had a dream on Saturday that you proposed and I was telling my companion about it and then BAM you actually did and I was like Waaaaaaaa???!!!! Yeah. I am so excited. 

Also if Samuel has a phone. Does that mean that everyone one of my eensy tweensy baby brothers have one too? I don't think I want a phone when I come back. I like life with 50 numbers on my phone and that's it. It's a good simple life, this mission life. Simple AND AWESOME! 

April 27, 2015 I Think I'll Be on My Mission During the Second Coming

Well, this is the second volcano that erupted. Volcan Calbuco in Puerto Mont. It's not too far from us, it's a little South, but I guess we're far enough to not have any problems. Nothing has happened to us here in Valdivia. We could see the HUGE cloud in the sky though. AND everyone that we saw that day that it erupted had their news on and HOLY COW THAT WAS A HUGE ERUPTION! All that really happened was that a huge wave of lady bugs flew from there. TONS and TONS of lady bugs!! That was actually pretty cool. 

Oh! And on T.V. there was a clip of the water tower here in Valdivia with the cloud of the eruption in the sky behind it and there were two people walking next to the tower on the sidewalk and it might have been Hna Oross and I!!! Maybe.... hehehe I only saw that clip once, but we will just look it up after our missions to see if we really were or not! hahahaha So yeah, the volcano erupted. I really don't know very much about it and as far as I know, it's not affecting us here. I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing any white top volcanoes while I'm here.... I think they are all going to blow before I get to them... Which is crazy! (...and I'm not trying to be insensitive about these disasters happening.)

Every time it rains for about the whole day, everyone tells us that the sun isn't coming back until October. And then it comes back STRONG AND HOT the next day when we're all bundled up. I don't know when this whole 'Valdi-lluvia' thing is going to live up to its name. 

We made lots and lots of goodies for people this week. brownies, banana bread, and chocolate-chip cookies. And everyone LOVES them!!! Everyone is asking for the recipes and asking us to come over to their house to show them! haha it's funny because they are three of the most general goodies up in the states, but here they don't really have chewy delicious cookies. They are mostly cracker kind of things. So it's fun to share that with people. 

OKAY! DIEGO AND VICTORIA CAME TO STAKE CONFERENCE! IT WAS AWESOME! They walked in RIGHT when the choir was singing 'yo sè que vive mi Señor' and sat down and I almost cried. It was just so special to see them come in and sit down! They were all dressed up and everything. It was just really, really, really special. My comp and I are in the choir and we didn't get to sit with them, but they kept smiling at us and THEY LOVED CONFERENCE! We had the Santiago temple president and his wife there AND our mission president and his wife there and all of them spoke and everyone talked about eternal families and President Obeso and his wife gave AMAZING talks that were just perfect for Diego and Vicki to hear. It was just awesome. The spirit was so strong!

I also realized that Presidente Obeso and his wife remind me of Grandma and Grandpa Olson. A lot. I've been able to see them a lot these past two weeks because we had a zone conference last week that was AWESOME! I think I forgot to mention that in last week's letter, but it was just AWESOME! And then we saw them this weekend for stake conference too. I really like Presidente Obeso and his wife. 

I also sang a song 'Conmigo Quedate Señor' for this stake conference. It's Abide with Me, 'tis eventide. Afterward, the temple president and his wife talked to me and told me that they think they heard me sing that in the CCM. Turns out the CCM devotionals aren't just for the missionaries in the CCM, they had a live stream play all the way to Santiago too! haha so that was neat and funny. 

Well, I'm out of time... I can't remember a lot of things that happened this week. I'm so flubbered up because I have been trying to figure out what on earth is wrong with my e'mail!!!!!! But I think I sent them all now. If not. ....I don't know what to do. 

I want you to know that this is the greatest time of my life and I can't even describe it to the point that I am feeling it, but the people that I meet and work with and teach are just so precious to me and I love being here. I love being a missionary. I love you all! 

Love, 

Hermana Olson