March 7, 2016 Something's Fishy

Annamarie’s hand-written letter:

Good Morning Family!

It’s 6:30 a.m. and I got up to use the bathroom and now I can’t go back to sleep.  So I thought I’d take advantage of this extra half-an-hour, before we gotta exercise, and write you folks yet another hand-written email!

It’s really dark in the mornings now.  I can see the moon. . . well, you can always see the moon, but it looks like the fall season finally crept its way around the corner.  Supposedly, fall lasts about 2 days here and then comes the 7-month rain storm =).  I remember when it was dark in the mornings here back in October, then ever so swiftly the sun came out more and more and MORE until it was up at 5:45 ish and down at 10:15!  I’ve lived in Francke for quite some time.  Enough time to experience nearly all 4 seasons! =)

Yesterday, Hermana Gardner and I realized that summer really is on its way out, and that she arrived right in its blooming.  That’s a pretty neat way to start your mission in Chile Osorno.  It’s ideal!

This time with Hermana Gardner has been so ideal.  We still can’t believe it.  Yesterday we were remembering experiences tras experiences and work tras work and after a while we both looked at each other a little worriedly and thought “What’s the catch?”  We feel like there must be something huge like a Twilight Zone twist that puts the entire story in a shock.

We concluded that really Hermana Gardner and I are just the figments of imagination of our real missionary selves, suffering in the pouring rain with no success or enthusiasm, just day-dreaming of what they wished could be their mission.  Imagine that!  We are day-dreamed missionaries!

These 3 months haven’t exactly been easy, but they would classify to be what I would call missionary bliss.  We got along extremely well, we worked extremely hard, and we tood advantage of every moment to enjoy plain old refreshing PREACHING THE GOSPEL!

Well, I could go on forever. . . this is why I wanted to write so that I could save time in my limited time because there is just too much that happens in a day, how could I possibly give a sum-up of a WEEK!

. . .So I guess to get started telling you about my week:

I’ll start with Monday.  And rewind a bit to Sunday. . .we visited Jose and he still was mas o menos with his decision to be baptized.  Long story short, we tried calling him on Monday, but he wasn’t answering.  Then our neighbor, and Relief Society President, Sandra, stopped by his house in the afternoon to invite him to their house for family night.  She let him know we had tried calling him earlier in the day.  He said, “Oh I was in centro buying some “ropita” (clothes)” and Hna. Sandra said he put on a huge smile as if he were a little boy and said, “Shall I show you?”  The next thing she knew he walked into the room wearing ALL WHITE spinning (ever so slowly) and saying, “Que tal?” (How is it?)  He had gone to the market to buy his own baptismal clothes!  Unfortunately. . .the only pants he could find were long john thermal underwear. . .haha  so the bishop made a friendly visit and gently offered to lend him some pants for the service.

All in all, his spontaneous shopping trip got him super enthused and more certain in his decision to be baptized.  He passed the maximum in the Noche de Hogar (family night) with Hermana Sandra and her family.  She said he brought an entire cake.

Continued from the cyber cafe:

Ah! Hola familia! I am here! And this computer is a little terrible. I have to bend down to type in the keyboard because the drawer thing isn't really working and is caved in... and just my luck. I get stuck with this thing. Well, enough with the batter. I will try to write this out.

I'll just have to limit my words and thoughts and amazement of the Goodness of God to a minimum because it is taking forever to type....

Okay so I am sending a foto of the beginning of my handwritten email--what I was able to write in half an hour. Then we exercised and studied and now we are here.

So to continue on with my letter:

On Sunday, Victor came to church and was very happy and content. Then later that evening we had a lesson with him in the church. And he was absolutely and entirely deflated of whatsoever enthusiasm or desires to learn, to participate....and to be baptized. While he was at church someone had entered his window and robbed his wallet that had over 400 dollars inside, and it wasn't exactly his money either. He works in a charity and half of that money was donated. He was devastated because his activity he was in charge of is next week and he didn't know what to do. We told him to trust in the Lord and his purposes. At the end of the lesson, he informed us that he doesn't feel like he should be baptized for another year or so because he needs to be sure that it is all true. He said he wants to be baptized not to be baptized, but to keep going. So he wants to be sure. We told him that knowing isn't so much a thing of time as it is a thing of faith to know. That all he had to do is kneel and pray with sincerity of heart to know, and trust that he would receive an answer. He said very unenthused, ''Yeah...alright.'' It was such a drastic change in him... We were worried, but we knew we did our part. On Monday, Victor called us and said he wasn't going to go to the family night because he had a terrible accident with his back while searching for his wallet in every knook and cranny and had been stuck in bed all day...and he didn't find his wallet. I mean, HE WAS PLAIN MISERABLE.

Later, when we got home, Hermana Gardner realized she had been robbed about 200 bucks, because just that day in centro we had taken out our money for the month and she had taken out personal money. It was a bummer and we felt pretty bad. But anyway that's another story.

On Tuesday, we wanted to find Victor because the interviews were going to be on Thursday, but we needed to know if he was going to baptized, and he wasn't answering his phone. So like any missionary, we were worried. Well, we stopped by the tiny cyber to enter in some referrrals and POP! There was Victor! 

He told us he needed to talk to us. So he did :) 

To make an incredible story more normal, he said that that morning around 3 am he was sick of being in pain and confusion. He hadn't slept for two days and all he did was lay there on his bed. So he decided to finally do something about it. He got up, went outside and knelt down in front of his trees ''like José Shcmidt'' and said a prayer for Heavenly Father to help him know and recognize an answer to know that what we had taught him was true and if he should be baptized on Saturday. He said after the prayer he opened his eyes, saw the trees and got scared because he didn't want anything big to happen, like what happened to Joseph Smith. So he skidaddled inside....hahahaha Oh, Victor. 

Anyway, he said that when he went inside, he got the impression to recheck his bed for his wallet. So he did. But to his dismay, there was nothing. So he sat down to try to recognize an answer to his prayer. But all that entered into his mind again was ''recheck your bed.'' So he did! ....and yet again there was nothing. He said he got a little bummed out and decided to just try to sleep and not think so much. Then he said all he remembers is having a dream of someone knocking on the door and him sitting up in his bed, but not answering because he was freaked out that someone was at his door so early in the morning, so he laid back down. That's all that he remembered. And then. . .

He woke up, it was normal morning. The first thing he remembered was his prayer he said. Then the first thing that happened was he moved his hand. AND THEN, there, in his hand lay his wallet. He told us that he knew he was prompted to check his bed twice because his normal more doubtful self might have excused this miracle to be a coincidence. He knew, and testified to us that Heavenly Father answered his prayer and that everything we had taught him was true. And there in his heart, he recieved his answer.

There was so much joy when we heard that. This measley typed up story doesn't do the way he told us justice. But the best line of it all was what followed right after, ''Así que, hermanas, vayan a calentar el agua, en sábado, me bautizo.'' (So, sisters, go warm up the water, Saturday, I'm getting baptized.)

And the great circle of life just so happened to put us there in that cyber in that moment where it all began. We invited him to an English class and he came. Hermana Gardner and I started this class to find people. And well, we found Victor.

He and Jose were baptized this Saturday. It was so special.

There is so much more to tell you. But here is when the clock ticked too fast and I must end.

I know I am leaving Francke. It's been the greatest time of my life. I treasure this ward more than I even know. It's difficult to describe my feelings, so I won't.

But I will say, I never felt more calm in my life, a pesar que los lideres no nos van a decir los cambios until tomorrow! (even though the leaders aren't going to tell the transfers until tomorrow.) So we know something is happening. I guess you'll all find out next week!

I love you all! 

Pictures:

 

What a happy day

 The picture of them walking above was so awesome. Jose was so giddy and said, ''Me voy en avión!'' (I'm flying in a plane!") After his baptism he said "I feel so light! ...but it seems like the water may have been a little to hott because I leave a little balded." hahaha he has a good sense of humor

 Someone got a candid shot of when I dropped Victor's camera.... yeah the picture explains it all. The lens went super chueco and it looked pretty bad. Victor was patient and loving...thank goodness. hahaha 

AND we all said a billion prayers in our hearts and I smacked the lens sideways and bAM! WEehee it fixed.

This is him in his suit that he saved especially for his confirmation. And that tie is from California he was pretty thrilled about all that! 

yeah buy1 

Hermana Olson

February 29, 2016 --------------

This week was even better than the last. Last week's me would have said, ''I still don't know how that is possible,'' but this week's me finally figured it out. 

Line upon line. 

That's how life is and how is always will be. 

On Wednesday we had a South American-Wide missionary conference with Elder Bednar. It was amazing. I learned so much from all the things I already knew. Elder Bednar gave us two guidelines for our notes of while he spoke:

1. Don't write anything I say down. (I wrote that down....)

2. (I don't remember what it was because I didn't write it down....hahaha and I literally just realized that I don't remember the second guideline, but I do remember he gave us two guidelines) 

Anyway he told us to write what the Spirit is saying and not what he says. It was the coolest note taking experience ever. I learned a lot and my comp as well. We applied it immediately and saw many many many fruits. 

We focused on the making sure that the Spirit was the teacher in our lessons and studies and not ourselves. The Spirit is a perfect teacher. All of our investigators´progress just TOOK OFF. It was an accelerating miracle. 

José stopped reading the Book of Mormon picture book because he decided to put confidence in himself. He's read all the way up to Alma. He doesn't remember much of it, unless he opens up and then teaches us everything! 

Victor now not only is our trusty faithful English student, but is a faithful nonmemeber member of our ward. The ward loves him. He's hilarious and sincere. This Friday we had a goodbye party for Hermana Cristina and her new husband that are moving to Antofogasta, Victor came and talked to the bishop for about an hour. The bishop absolutely loves Victor and is excited for another priesthood holder so enthused for to contribute to the ward. 

We found out more about Ismenia from some neighbors. She had a stroke about 2 years ago. She also had a husband two years ago. When she got the stroke, she didn't lose just her ability to speak, read, write, but she lost a lot of friends and her husband. The ward is amazing and has developed a ton of love for her!!! The bishop put light in her house. Some other brothers from the ward cut her foot tall grass and now people in cars go to pick her up in the morning for church. It's amazing how much love really heals people. She still has a paralyzed side of her body, but her heart is alright. AND all of a sudden she looked down at the Book of Mormon and screamed and looked at us and pointed to the book and looked at us and looked down at the book and said ``ESO!`` ESO!!! After a few guesses she we all concluded that she was able to read and understand what the cover of the Book of Mormon said! She was very excited to be left a mini tarea to read a few verses. She can read!  

All three of them have accepted to be baptized this Saturday. 

The mission is the maximum. There is no purer joy than seeing the effect the gospel has in the lives of those that are willing to permit the Spirit work in their hearts, or their minds, or even their strength. I love it and I love the work. 

There is so much to be done this week, just as them all. I'm excited for what lines fall upon the lines of last week! This is the last week before cambios. Everyone in the ward talks about cambios as if they knew. But they've been doing that since the second week of this cambio. haha I feel calm. I feel content with the work we are doing and the work we will continue to do up until the last moment, which in the eternal scheme of things...doesn't exist :) 

Well that's all I have time for! I love you all!

Hermana Olson

P.S. HOLY COW EMILY WHAT MORE RANDOM CALL COULD EXIST. But I know that it wasn't random because Heavenly Father made it the most precise in the timing. ...I'll see you in another two years I guess :) 

P.P.S. Mom I still don' have my pendrive to load pics from my camera so these are from my comps cam. I'll send the other written letter emails next week. I love you. 

fotos:

Lider (chilean walmart) apparently had a great celebration for my companion today!!!! hahaha 

She is the best. I love her.

This is the family night last week. Franco brought his sister and Yovanny brought his mom! New investigators!!!! I love these people so much.

This was an activity with Barrio Francke a long time ago, but I found these pictures and still love them. 

The stake president, presidente Muñoz. He has a lot of energy and enthusiasm always. He's in our ward. The older brother of our ward missionary leader. Super awesome. 

The ward!!! hahaha they are all so great! This is a dance called Chichiwa. It's like the children's song equivalent of I don't want to be Chicken. But it is REALLY long and annoying unless you're with a good company. Unfortunately, missionaries can't dance. :) 

In the right corner is our fantastic bishop and his wife! THEY ARE SO FANTASTIC. 

February 22, 2016 !!!!!!!!

(This is Annamarie's reaction to the news that her cousin, Katrina Cookson, just got called to HER mission!  She will be arriving the same week that Annamarie leaves.)

I have been staring at this computer for way too long. I figured I had better start writing before my time runs out. I don't know what to write. My time is practically up. 

Ok. I guess I'll just get down to the nitty gritty because there is literally nothing else that comes to my mind to tell you. 

DKFHASDF AFGUIGIDUSHSDI UGKJGHSDUFGHADIGUHEIGSDKFJHSDKFGRIKGHIGHFDKGHSIGIRG REUFH EIEITU EIETEIUFGHIKDGH SEIUSFH ILGUHSDLGUIHSÑG ERGU ERG UEG DSUIGH DFKGH SDFH SDIG SDIGUF SDGUIH SDGLHSD GLSDHG LSEUGH KATRINA.SEIUGH IUGH RUIGH RKUGH IUGH ERGUH EIRGU ERIGH RIGUH ERIUGHERIUG LG FI HADSGKÑH GLÑUHG RIUGH VJKBNDFILHGUYREI FDÑ DKDSFKHDASFISDFHKDSGHF DFKGJHSDLH GLDFÁDKFHD A´DFD `PGDLGKJDL FHDHERG ERUIH KJHD GIUHRGUILHDLIUHÑDUTGH IAEUDGHKJGHIUGHEUIH IUG SIUGHASDIUGHLDG EÑUGH IUGH  KATRINA. ALÑUGH ALIUGHAÑIOGH AIUGH ARIUH SIUGH AIGUH RIGUÑH ARIUÑGH DAILUSGH ÑFDIOGH AFIUHIGUHARIUGHER GÑHRG PGHFLGHAÑGUHPGHERHÑGÁGIOHAGIHAÑIG HADGÑHIGUH AGA´SÇADS GOIDAÇÇASDGKATRINA. A´DIG A´DSIGAÇÇASDG AÇG A´G ÇAGÇAD GÁDSG ADSIGAÑDSG A´DIGJ FOIB ÑAELRIJPÑJZ-JAÑO AÑLGJ AÑOGIJAÑGNAIOGH AÑDIGJ ADÑUGH ADÑJUJ DOIASJ-JIDOÑGHJA´D DSFLJPHADGLJQE.IHÀIDHA-LDSKGÉO IEOFJ-ILHFDÑGIHADOIELAJ-A DSAIFG ADIJAD SODGUJODÑAIGJ AEDGJ AÑOGI EIOJ EPIOJ OGIJASD -EJI ÁIOJ ´DOIGJAÑOIDGH ÉIOJHQ-´PI UQOIJH ÁDLKSJG AOIDGJ ADÑGJ A´<EOUJ OIHJNG<ALDJD ÑGIOJAD ÁDJ-QAEOJ UADOIJMAG ÁSDT-OJ AOIJ GÁSDGJA<DLÑGJ ASÑOIGJAS´DIGJE-LKJ EOÑI SDOP JAE-ADSIO JDSÑOIGJALKJ ÑKLJ ADÑJ DÑSIOGJADÑSIGJ ADÑGIJHFPG FG-JKÑOQIJOIJGÀIOJG Q´J ÑFSIJ COÑBIJA-LJG QIOJ F´JA-FJ QÑOIJZÒIGJ-J AS´G´D´KATRINA.GJAÇAÇÇD A´SDJ AÍODFGJA<ÇADSF AD´SADÇSF ASDOIF ADÍOJ SD IQWH-EIPJ ÒIAJ.GJ ASDOH ADG DFKLJASÑDFLKJASDFOPSDAIFASD SDFOIJSDFPIOSDJF ÀSDIOF SDFJSDOÌFJ SDOFIJDIOFJSO`DFIJ ADS`FIJ DSOFIDGOJIASD`Ç DLKFJASÑDFHADSPFHDSGOSDIGASDFJÑAIDFO OIDFJASD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. That felt good. I should have just done that a long time ago. 

There you have it. The Osorno-Chilean Spanish Language. ....leaving the fingers of a super duper literally trembling from excitement sister missionary cousin person that is super excited. 

Katrina, I am thrilled. Completely 100 percent thrilled. Now there will be someone else in the family that can say they served in the greatest mission! 

Wow. 

WOW! 

I am so excited for Katrina!!!!!! A new world just opened up... And I am so excited!!!! That is literally all I can come to say! I don't know what else to say. What an enormous alegría! WOOOO!!!!! 

Okay. I guess I should try to buckle down (I really am shaking), and tell you a bit of this week´s happenings. 

....I am drawing blanks! 

Franco and Yovanny were baptized this Saturday!!!! 

....something tells me that I haven't mentioned them before either and I don't know HOW because these boys are two of a one of a kind!! 

Franco is 10. His mom was baptized when she was 15 and has been inactive ever since. He's the youngest of 3 kids. He started coming to church in November. One day he just showed up. He said he was checking out the churches. Hermana Laguna and I tried passing by his house to teach him, but his family didn't want us to, so we didn't. But he kept coming!

Yovanny is 14. He lives with his mom. One Sunday (actually the first one of the year), one of the sisters in the ward pulled us out into the hallway and said, ''There is a kid looking for you.'' And Yovanny was out standing in the hall. We didn't know who he was, but when he saw us he smiled and said, ''Here I am!'' And we said, ''HEY......YOU!'' .....and ran through every single name we ever thought of in our minds to try to place with the face of some teenager that just showed up to church! 

...well I didn't remember seeing him ever, but he said that Hermana Laguna and I had contacted him in the street while he was playing soccer back in OCTOBER and told him where we meet on Sundays if he ever had the interest to come. ....and three months later he came. I felt pretty bad for not remembering him, but he didn't seem to mind! 

Dooodooodooooooo! A little later Franco turns the corner and says, ''PRIMO!'' Ha. So they are cousins. They were both pleasantly surprised to see each other there in the Mormon church, and since have kept each other good company. 

Franco is the smartest Chilean child I have ever met. In some of our lessons, we would be teaching a concept to Yovanny and begin to look up a scripture, and just by saying where it was, a good number of times, Franco would recite it word for word at super velocity speedy rapidez! He had been reading the Book of Mormon Hermana Laguana and I gave him back in November....and he can tell whatsoever story up to the stripling warriors. Yovanny's interest was very similar to the reason Joseph Smith was investigating. The first time we taught him, we asked what he was looking for. He said, ''I am worried about my spiritual well being. I want to know who God is better and I want to learn to trust myself more.'' Ok. To keep the short long story not so long ni short.....

They were baptized! And they are quite popular here in the streets of Francke....and it was a pretty special to be there at their baptism because we had 21 nonmembers that assisted. And only 8 of those nonmembers were our investigators! It was so special!!!! And they really made an impact on their families. Franco's sister is 20. She came to church yesterday and today, we are going to teach her for the first time. 

Happy happy happy! 

Francke is great. I love being a missionary. The Chile Osorno mission really is a treasure. It will be even more so once Hermana Cookson arrives, of course :) 

That's all I got time for now,

Love,

Hermana Olson

February 1, 2016 Become as a Child

I'll tell you about some of the investigators we've been teaching.

José lives just around the corner from us. He's always sitting out on his lawn chair in front of his adorable house. About a month ago we FINALLY stopped to talk to him. He told us his wife had passed away in November and his life felt very empty and pointless. They weren't able to have children so he really doesn't have anything. We shared a little bit of the great message us little missionary girls have to offer. He's 84 years old and said at this point of his life he wasn't looking for religion. 

A few weeks later we passed by again with a member, and entered his house. After realizing he was terribly confused about the unknown state of his dead wife, he asked us what we had to say en cuanto de what is happening with his wife. He was drastically comforted to know that he can see her again, and thus he was interested in learning more (not to mention, his wife, too, is being taught). With a little more time he acquired a desire to be baptized, however he was doubtful that he was capable of gaining a testimony due to his retention of new information. We simplified our teaching and his commitments, we passed by each day and retaught what we had taught him the previous day; sin embargo, his discapacity of retention continued! Each day we would arrive and he couldn't remember much of what we had taught or what the small scripture he had read five minutes before explained. 

He's 84, and from all the diplomas on the wall, he's a wise and intelligent man-- you can imagine the frustration he must have! It got to a point that he felt bad to ''waste our time'' and said it would be better for us to focus on other people. He was in tears. He simply want to learn! After he said that, we sat there in silence for a few moments.  His likeness to a child brought to my attention a very child-like solution! My Children's Book of Mormon that I bought in Santiago! We told him the story of the tortoise and the hare and told him to wait just a bit! In a few minutes we ran back and gave it to him. He laughed seeing all the pictures and simplified chapters, but he said he'd try it out. 

The next day, he sat us down and said, ''This book has moved me. I found two chapters last night that arrived at my heart. I just reread them, and I am equally amazed.'' He had found 3 Nephi 11 and 12 and gave us a summary of it all in his amazement. Then he opened up to it and said, ''Did you know this was in here?! Can I read it to you?'' So he read, and as he read, the Spirit testified to all of us the truthfulness and the grace that the Book of Mormon has. Josè wept. The spirit was so strong. At the end, he shared with us his testimony of the Book of Mormon. Then he said, ''I know I have a purpose in my life even at the few years I have left. Nothing has made me feel more complete as did this experience. I feel like I'm beginning to live again, but this time with a purpose.'' In church he introduced himself to the gospel principles class, ''I'm José. I have 84 years. I lost my wife 2 months ago. Shortly after, God sent me the sisters. I'm born and raised Catholic, but his gospel is conquering me so much that it makes this old man cry.'' Everyone laughed. He loved church. 

José said he feels so energized that he polished his entire chandelier! He was pretty proud. It was worthy of taking a foto...and I guess for him to take my hand? hahah JOSÉ!!!

Isemenia is another child of God. We met her out on a bench in front of her house. She's mute and the whole left side of her body is paralyzed. We ended up singing a hymn and passing by the next day. We sat outside on her porch and told her the story of Jesus Christ coming to the Americas. To perk her interest a little more, we taught her with the same enthusiasm as Dad's hole-in-the-roof story-telling powers. She loved it! Then we invited her to come to Claudio's baptism that day. We came back later.  She showed us her little wheelchair with deflated tires. She lives at the very end of our sector and the church building is close to the entrance. There is a super fast shortcut up a little hill and across the train tracks and down a mini rocky road...but that with a wheelchair would be (almost) impossible. We tried figuring out which way would be the best route to the church (....because we had 30 minutes before the baptism. oops.) And we finally decided to speed down the mile-long Chuquicamata road which half was in the middle of construction to get around the corner and run a quarter mile down the road back to where the church is. Boy oh BOY did she have a blast! Her hair was blowing behind her and all she could say with the biggest smile ever was ''EEEESSOOOO!'' I think it's one of my most cherished memories on the mission. We got to the baptism super sweaty but with 14 minutes to spare! Our church is two stories and so it was another ''ride.'' 

We've visited her everyday since. The members absolutely love her and she always has a giant smile on her face. she can say, Hola, sí, no, eso, chuta, po, and a new one she picked up ''men'' or Amen when we finish the prayers. We have really needed to adapt our teaching and not only for her to understand our lessons, but for us to understand her needs and what she really thinks. It's been a challenge, but it is so special and fun! 

Victor is the most dedicated student of our English class. We met him in a cyber and invited him to come the day of our first class. And he lives literally right in front of the church. He's 40 years old and very silly. The first thing he said when he walked in the classroom on the first day was, ''I'm just here to learn English! I'm not going to pray or anything!'' ---and then in English--- ''Do you get me?'' We told him not to worry, but we knew at one point or another the time would come that we would teach him.

Welp, this last Thursday, very oddly, NO ONE showed up, except for Victor. There wasn't another woman in the building so we had to teach outside, but we got to know him better and he is AWESOME! He created his own job of providing and serving those with disabilities. His parents are both super sick and he just serves and serves. We started diving into the gospel with him just by relating everything he was saying to what we teach. haha And he was getting all excited and asking us questions and then after a few minutes he like flinched and said, ''WAIT! Hold on...I'm not going to commit myself to anything!'' We told him not to worry, we don't obligate anyone, the desire to listen will just come naturally. He said, ''NOT FOR ME!'' And we said, ''Ok that's fine.'' Then we had to go home, but we told him we were teaching someone with disabilities the next day and invited him to come. He perked up and said, ''Of course!'' 

So he came and he also learned. He and Ismenia, actually, hit it off. She chose him to pray and he willingly did so! We invited them both to church, and as new buddies, they both accepted! haha it was pretty cool. 

English Class is so much fun! We've been doing it for a month now and it's people of all ages and understandings. It's fantastic! And SO. FUN. We are all laughing the whole time. It's pretty cool to see everyone all on the same child state, innocent and willing to learn ....and in childish ways. On Tuesday we taught them the I'm a little teacup song! And to end the class each time they all sing Barney's  "I Love You" song. 

And well, those are a few of the many children of God we are teaching. This is truly amazing to be here. From the sound of things, I bet you all think the mission for us is just whistling a dandy tune all the day long and skipping our ways to citas. haha, When it all comes down to it, that's the way it ends up! But let me just tell you, the mission is hard! But it's the most intelligent thing I've done. 

Hermana Gardner and I are continually humbled that we, these dinky younguns, are allowed to be a part of so much success and progress in the lives of others, when neither of us really feel like we know what we are doing! But by having a portion of the responsibility of these dear people, we've needed to work on overcoming the natural man. 

Mosiah 3:19 

When we open our heart to the Lord, he fills it with his power and helps us realize the potential we have of being his servants and becoming perfected in HIM. It's organized in such a way that our opportunites to succeed are maximized. And if you think about it, it's easier! For his yoke is easy and his burden is light. 

This week we got to have another newby for a day (actually I just so ended up already knowing her because she and I shoveled water out of her apartment when the Rexburg flood happened a little over a year ago....how small this silly world.) I felt a twinge of desire to just start everything over again.... be better! ...but the critical measure of success is by my own delegation of who I have become and in relation to my own abilities and comparison to my past self. And ever since my 13 year old birthday, I've never felt more like a child. I am doing my best. I have a lot of weaknesses and a lot to learn. But am withholding nothing from the Lord. I am serving with all my might, mind heart, and strength. And when there comes a time when I falter, the Spirit simply makes it clear that there is yet another weakness I must strengthen. 

Truly truly dooly this is the easier way to live. Life is hard. Not the gospel. 

Let us all becometh like children :) 

I love you all---you fantastic children of God, you! haha

Hermana Olson

And hermana Hoskins, my neighbor in BYU idaho. We had a blast. It oddly rained the entire day and we literally were rejected by everyone. What a comparison to hna. Gardner's first day in the mission. hahaaha WOO! 

My companion is da bessssss. Seriously, we love being companions. 

January 25, 2016 The Usual Thing that Usually Happens Happened to Us!!!!

Bam shabang. Cambios came swerving around the corner a lot faster than you'd suspect, and I was already well, basically certain that I was going. Odd. Because a trainer is a trainer for two cambios so you can just relax when it comes to cambios, but long story short I was pretty certain I was a gonner. A few weeks ago I almost went to president to set things straight, but I didn't want to interfere with whatever the Lord is expecting of me. So I really didn't tell anyone about anything and decided I'd just take it to the Lord. And well, I'm terrible at asking things, but I wanted to ask that I stay in Francke to finish the training. ...but I didn’t know how to ask that, so on Wednesday night I tried the asking thing and asked for someone to spill water on my face on Thursday. And we went to Subway right before a worldwide missionary conference from the apostles and as I was sitting down an innocent Chilean citizen spilled water on my face! Imagine that! Well, it works. There you have it, Heavenly Father takes care of His business. So I asked for me to stay if it be His will. That's a curious thing there, His will. Because He really does know what's around the corner and exactly how it will all play out. Well, we got the call in the morning, and boy oh boy are there cambios! Literally every single companionship is changing and two sectors in the Osorno area are having a white wash (an entire companionship leaves and a new one comes in), 30 missionaries are going home on Wednesday and every. single. companionship. is changing! ...except for ours. (Oh and the assistants to the pres.)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Looks like the cambios slammed on their brakes just in time for Hermana Gardner to cross the street. Oh what a fantastic cherry-on-the-top relief! I laugh now just because I don't think I changed anything, Heavenly Father already knew it was going to turn out this way, but I guess He wanted me to at least learn how to ask Him for things more clearly. Little by little I'm learning how to align my will with His but also being deliberate and not taking a lazy river inner tube float down His plan he has for me. We gotta work for it because you get so much more out of it! 

Okay as far as the week goes. Surprise surprise: THIS WEEK WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THE LAST! 

Bullet points go:

·  On Friday Claudio got baptized and his girlfriend Amparo miraculously got one of her daughters back home with her (long story with an amazing miracle). 

·  On Friday, Juan Carlos also got baptized

·  On Saturday, The ward went on an amazing paseo (outing?) to a camping park with lots of pools (cool mixture right? almost as cool as Ohanapecosh just without the brain freezing glacier water and avalanched giant trees to make forts of...) 

·  EVERYONE WENT. And when I mean everyone I mean every. single. active member of the ward, and many less actives AND almost every single one of our investigators too! They all left at 9:30 am which is quite a Chilean miracle if you ask me because to go to a paseo they can show up on time, but to church it`s as if they all had a heart attack and just couldn't make it on time! bahaha anyway they all left cheery happy and shabam we passed by Claudio later at his carrito to see he wasn't at the paseo!!! So we called up another investigator that wasn't going to go in the big bus and go separate with her family in her car (not very many people have their own cars here) and she and her husband (investigators) decided to take Claudio and his family on over!!!! When we got to their house, Claudio was introducing himself with all the good pride in his heart saying that he was just baptized the day before and that they should highly consider it because it feels great! haha It was pretty neat and the family told us that they had a great conversation on the half an hour ride over. 

·  Needless to say everyone had a blast and the fair skinned Chileans got sunburnt. They call it allergy to the sun. I guess it's not all that common to get sunburnt because they were all freaking out. Well, I gave them the special ''California girl'' tip of using the aloe vera plants that all of them have in their gardens for the sun burns! hahahaha And well, they had a great FULL day of fun. They left at 9:30 am and didn't get back until 8:00! 

·  Well, it was pretty strange to stay in this little square of a town without all our buddies to visit, but we are missionaries so we just made like Jack and hit the road with street contacting! Boy oh boy did we find some great people!
Ok...no time, but one of my favorites was a woman who answered her door with absolutely no interest to hear what we had to say. I usually don't like to beg for the people to listen to us, but we asked if we could at least give her a picture of Jesus. It was of Jesus appearing to Mary after his resurrection. She grabbed it and looked down at it, and did a very solemn double take. She stared for a few moments and then began to silently cry. We waited for a while and then she said, ''I had a dream last night with this picture. This exact picture. You were sent from God.'' Well, she suddenly became very receptive and she was rejecting us because her heart was needy and a little bit hardened. I'm glad a little card had sufficient power to soften her heart! Her name is Irén.

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Okay so those are the extra bullet points that you will need to multiply by forty three million sixty seven thousand and eight times to remind me what other amazing stuff you weren't able to read this week. Maybe one day I'll write it all out. For now the time beats me. 

Boy oh boy am I excited for this week and the more things to share with you. 

I guess I'd just like to finish with a spiritual thought:

The Book of Mormon.

Yeah, there you go. Read it. That right there is the pure dew from heaven. I LOVE IT! 

Okay fam, I love you. The time will never permit me to do all I want. So just enjoy the little I write! Love you all!

Hermana Olson

This is a picture someone took of us reading our emails.

January 18, 2016 And Then My Brain Went Splat

Hey family! This letter was going to be super d duper longity long long in my brief attempt of telling you literally every juicy detail of probably every single moment and thought that can pass through my brain in every day of this great week here in Chile Chile lindo. And well on the bus I was trying to rewind to the beginning of the week and HOLY COW, I can't believe that this was but a week! Because, here's news to you: a lot has happened. 

So getting off the bus my velcro shoe strap got stuck in the metal fold of the bus stair and I face planted off the bus. And well, after a good laugh I realized that whatever was passing through my brain to write kind of just splatted on that corner and stayed there. 

So I am literally just drawing a big flat splatted blank for this letter. 

Wow. 

uuuuuuhhhhhhhh.... 

Okay well I'll just get down to it. 

That family that I told you about last week is soaring in their progress. I honestly cannot believe that it has hardly passed one week since we met them.... We've seen them every day and they are the epitome of a family that was prepared by the Lord. They accepted to be baptized on the 31st of this month! And they are basically eating the Book of Mormon. Every time we go over, they show us some verses of their daily scripture study that they have marked. A few days into visiting them, the wife said, "Would you be able to give me a separate Book of Mormon because every time I go to pick it up to read it, HE'S reading it! And he reads way faster and so I don't want him to spoil it!" hahahaha So we gave her one and then their daughter that is 11 asked us for her own as well because she wants to get ready to serve her own mission. 

This family is unbelievable. But I believe it because I get front row seats of it every day. When we first started teaching them, the dad, Ademir, was a little taken off because he just hadn't heard of any of this before. Then he prayed and meditated and he is more excited than ever because he knows it's true and feels like he's made the greatest discovery of his entire life. Carola and their daughter, Belèn are right there with him. They love this gospel. 

You'd think that they just never had the chance to receive the missionaries before, but this week, Carola told us something super interesting. She said that out of all the churches the one she rejected the absolute most was us! 

She told us in a lot of frustration because she wish she had found it before, but it was her own decision to avoid it all. 

Well, then after a sudden realization she said, ''It was because Satan didn't want me to know the truth! But here I am!'' 

They asked about the temples and what sealing means one day when we showed up, and so we took advantage of the situation and taught them about eternal marriage to find out they aren't married, not a surprise. So we very simply taught the law of Chastity and challenged them to get married. They said, the only thing that holds us back from deciding to do it is having our own house. We want to be more stable and I want to be able to give her more for the married life. They said they had been waiting for 12 years for a house. 

We shared 3 Nefi 13:31 a 35 with them and promised them that if they search the kingdom of God first, Heavenly Father would bless them with a house. They said, ''Yes, we need to keep this commandment of God. We will do it.'' An hour later, they called us and said after 12 years of waiting the house was granted to them. WHAT?! 

Anyway, this family has faith, enthusiasm, and love for the Lord and this gospel. I could go on forever now. But I won't. :)

This week was super successful. We now have 7 investigators getting ready to be baptized and Juan Carlos had a miracle happen this week too! And he's getting baptized on Friday along with Claudio! We are working with the members a ton and the work is progressing so rapidly! We decided to meet with the bishop this week and he gave us 16 references. It's great. 

I am still drawing blanks because I don't know how to explain everything that is happening here! I love my comp. 

Love,

Hermana Olson

okay woopdeedoo. Looks like my camera card went splat too. 

I don't think I'll be sending pics home for the rest of my mission, family. Sorry! I just don't like the viruses. 

January 11, 2016 Go to him, bring them home

This week Claudia was baptized! Part of me feels like I haven't mentioned her before, which is a pity because she is a treasure! And her family is amazing. 

Hermana Laguna and I started teaching her about 2 months ago because she had showed up to church with her 10-year-old daughter saying her daughter wanted to be baptized. Pretty handy, I'll say. Her older children, Luis and Yesenia, had been baptized in another ward 10 years ago, but after a few years they all sort of slipped away. She hadn't been baptized because she wasn't married and her man didn't want to get married. Well, to keep the story shorter, two years ago she separated from him so she could get baptized and they moved to Francke in a house in the backyard of a house (never to be found!) Nevertheless, the Lord knows his children and takes care of them pretty darn well, so after two years of never having the courage to go to church in a new ward, her 10-yea-rold daughter had a random desire to be baptized, thus giving Claudia the courage, now having someone to accompany her. 

So she showed up to church, we visited her the next day and Clyda was already bored with church stuff, but Claudia was found! 

She came a long way and now (to keep the story still shorter) her whole family has returned, and we are teaching her mom and Yesenia`s boyfriend!!!! 

It was a glorious day and the ward has really done a fantastic job of taking care of her. The bishop invited her family to a family night in his house tonight and yesterday, Claudia asked if she could go with us to teach our other investigator, Nancy, who was sitting next to her in the Principles of the Gospel class! Woo! 

Ok so that's a teensy bit of Claudia. 

Friday was supposed to be the baptism of Claudio too. Unfortunately, we got a call an hour before from a very exasperated Claudio saying NO. The owner of his carrito that he sells salchipapas and completos was supposed to come by the same hour of his baptism to basically end it all. End his job. Which meant he would be leaving Francke the next day for Entre Lagos (an hour away) and try to find a job there and live there.... So he just mentally wasn't comfortable with the idea of being baptized. We talked to him on the phone for a while and his no turned into I'll think about it and call you later. Well, half an hour passed and we were thrown off big time so we prayed. 

The words that clearly came to our minds were, ''Go to him, bring them home.'' 

We thought for a while on what it could mean, but then realized there wasn't any time to just think because we had 30 minutes left before the baptism! So we ran over to his carrito thinking, perhaps we are supposed to bring him and his wife to the church? But we didn't know so we just kind of went like Nefi, knowing not beforehand what we should do. 

We showed up, talked to him, and really could feel that that day really wasn't supposed to be his baptism. Then we drew a blank after getting that settled... So we came. What else are we supposed to do! Then a family showed up and interrupted us asking for some salchipapas. They sat down and my comp and I were still a little shaken up, and then a random member from another ward showed up asking for a pamphlet on the Plan of Salvation for his friend. We gave it to him and then began talking to the family because Claudio was inside his carrito working. In a few short minutes we shared about the plan that Heavenly Father has for their family. We put an appointment for Tuesday and they told us more or less where they live. Then realizing we had less than 15 minutes before the baptism we tried to get up. I wanted to leave them a folleto for the plan of salvation to give them some sort of commitment, but that man had oddly robbed us of our ONLY lesson 2 pamphlet! hahaha How’s that? So then I got the impression to invite them to the baptism, but felt strange about it, it being so short notice, until my awesome comp beat me to it and they VERY excitingly said yes! 

Okay, this family surely ate their salchipapas like pigs because 15 minutes later, they were there! And they loved it. The next day we left a card on their doorstep (guessing the house from the description they gave because it didn't have a number) explaining our purpose as missionaries and leaving the folleto for them to read before Tuesday. We didn't want to be too pushy, but we left the note with hope because there was something special about that family! Sunday, we passed by running because we had taken the wrong way to a cita (appointment) and were 10 minutes late. Then we heard, ''HEY!'' And out from the house came running, Carola (the mom). We ran back and they invited us in. We were having a bit of small talk and then somehow began talking about the Atonement and how it helps us all in our personal challenges. Her husband, Adimir, gave her a big hug and said, my wife was full of pain today. We got your note and realized we needed you sooner than Tuesday. We just said a prayer and looked out the window as you two ran past. 

Wow. 

We were late to the planned cita, but somehow Heavenly Father even diverted our course to put them in our path. They are coming to a family home evening tonight in the house of one of their daughter's friends, consider that! 

What a blessing it is to be used in the Lord's hands so precisely. I would usually say I can't believe it, but I can. I can believe it because I know that Heavenly Father knows his children and is a loving Heavenly Father with servants here on the earth that he gives us the privilege of experiencing such joy, such love, and just such a simple solution to living a better life, one that gets better even into the eternities. 

So I guess that's what the Spirit was trying to say when it told us to go to Claudio and bring that family home. 

Oh! And yesterday we passed by the carrito and saw that Claudio's carrito was open... He approached us with a broken heart and said God had given him a second chance with his job! ...however he had broken the Sabbath and absolutely no one had bought a single completo. He said, I will never work on Sunday again. When can I be baptized? 

The timing of the Lord is perfect, we should always look to what He has in plans because they are, in fact, for our benefit. 

Last Monday we went to Subway with our investigator Patricia and had a spontaneous trip to a park. We were afraid about talking too much about other things not related to the gospel, but instead we realized that she really recognizes the purpose of the missionaries and told us about how she has been repenting every day and says that although she has seen so many types of psychologists to help bring peace to her, there was no peace more surreal than that she found by applying the things we teach her and going to church with her husband and daughter. Later in the week she said the first day we showed up was divinely organized by God because that day she and her husband had been considering separating. She said we saved their marriage. And we kindly told her, the Lord saved their relationship because he needed them to be married. 

Okay so there have been very many prepared people sprouting up out of the blue and it's absolutely worth marveling because I have never felt so full of joy. Here in Francke, the dandelions all just bloomed at the same moment it appears because they are everywhere! I guess they have some kind of power or something because the same is happening with so many people! 

I think the tender moment of the week would be yesterday in Sacrament Meeting sitting next to our investigator Nancy. She's almost deaf, but has read more than half of the Book of Mormon. She loves coming to church, but also gets a little disanimated because she can't converse very effectively with all the ''super loving people'' and so going to church is a little overwhelming. Also she isn't baptized yet because she is terrified of water. Anyway after the sacrament, I just wrote on a mini sticky note, ''Hermana Nancy, we love you very much!'' and passed it to her. When she read it the sweetest smile came upon her face and she looked at me and then showed it to her nephew sitting next to her. After looking at it a little more, she got very solemn and unzipped her jacket and stuck it on her shirt right over her heart. A few moments later, she pointed to her eyes to show me she was crying. I love Tìa Nancy. She is so loved by the ward as well! To have made her feel so special from something so tiny, made me realize the promise that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

OH! And well I'm out of time, but I just have to tell you! On Thursday President called us and said he and his wife wanted to accompany us to whatever cita we had! It was Patricia! ...but she had to go to work. All of our investigators were unavailable and then we decided to take him to an inactive family that held lots of grudges from the ward. ....and the bishop very accidentally had forgotten to give the wife a health blessing the day before. Anyway we showed up, knowing they hated us coming with members, but they received us and they, not knowing who the Obesos were said, first thing, ''You are sent from God. I need a blessing, I cannot walk.'' Before giving the blessing they were very direct and simply taught that they need to go to the temple, her husband should be holding the priesthood to be able to give the blessing and their daughter should serve a mission and her boyfriend (recent convert) should too and that his mom (that was present) should receive the missionaries. And then he gave a blessing to them all. And well, they all came to church, the mom was literally healed and they have a conviction in themselves. You can just note by seeing them. It was amazing. The spirit the president and his wife brought to teach literally changed those two families' eternities. Yesterday we taught them how to make banana bread. haha So that's fun! 

The Lord really is blessing us with our work and like the scriptures say, it is precisely in the occasion that the Lord blesses his people, they harden their hearts and forget their Lord. Well, it's a very easy cycle to fall into, but seeing so plainly the Lord's doing in literally all that we do, it would be pretty foolish to forget him. 

AH! I love being a missionary! I gotta go. I love you all! Hermana Olson