Rough Week....Sweet Week! Exotic Cars, Upcoming Baptism and Temple Palm Trees!

 

Alex Selfie with his Zelda Sword

Hi All!  Man, this week in Ocoee was such a sweet one, yet a very difficult one. I don't think I've seen so many deaths due to car accidents in my life!  There have been four that I've seen this past week and also someone riding a bike was hit and killed by our apartment! So that was tough...It was difficult because no matter what I would do, my thoughts were usually directed towards home. This area is sometimes just filled with drama... It made things hard and teaching rough, But I managed to get through! Phew.. BUT on the flip side, it was a very solid week and we had a total of 25 full lessons! 17 of those we had member fellowship lessons! So I was very happy and our zone leaders and president called to tell us “Good Job” and so that was a HUGE blessing!  That was the sweet part of the week!

Possibly one of my favorite parts about serving in Florida, is the fact that I see exotic cars all the time. Like today on our way to the temple, I saw a Ferrari 458 Italia, and a Lamborghini Diablo! SOO SWEET! So yeah! Happy day I guess hahah!

This week, a member of a different ward took us out to lunch. And although he had never met me before, he recognized me!...but from where?  Apparently, he saw my picture on a website that had pictures of family Skypes from Christmas and where the missionary was serving. So he saw me by accident on that website even before he met me!!! CRAZY!!!... And kind of weird!

But this week is going to be so awesome! One of our investigators (Jessica) is getting baptized on Saturday!! She's been waiting for this for an entire YEAR! She is WAY awesome and I'm so excited for her to finally be baptized!! She's been attending so long everyone thought she already was baptized hahah! Also, we have temple service tomorrow!! Basically our temple service is outdoor maintenance and yard work. The last time we worked at the temple, Elder Peay (who's from Salem and is AWESOME!) and I trimmed Palm trees, which includes cutting the dead Palms and Palm nuts off of them! It’s not too exciting, but hey, I'm at the temple so I couldn't be happier!!

On January 16th we get to go through the Orlando Temple for a Session!!!! YAAAAY!! It only happens 4 times on your mission! WOO!

Anyway..here is a little quote for you guys I found. "Hope is being able to see there is LIGHT despite all of the darkness" - Desmond Tutu

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission. Time is really flying and I'm excited to continue serving my Lord and help bring his children back home. I love and appreciate all of you and what you do and mean to me!! I miss and love you all!

Have an AMAZING week!!

-Elder A. Olson

Christmas Happenings,Skyping Technical Difficulties, It's a 75% off Miracle and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas! Alex is obviously the "A". :)

Skype with Elder Olson on Christmas Day!  He would immediately stop talking and strike a pose whenever the camera came out.  We are glad to see that Alex hasn't changed!

HAPPY New Year this week!  I would like to start off by saying THANK YOU to EVERYONE who helped make this Christmas such an amazing one!! I sincerely appreciate all of the efforts to help me out on this Christmas while away! It was definitely a unique one, and one to remember! I'm thankful for all the letters, cards, packages and prayers!! It means so much! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well!

So basically, it was a busy holiday!  We did a ton on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We taught a bunch of lessons, ate lots of food at member’s houses, were able to Skype with our families, and hung out with some awesome people! And although it has been an overwhelming and overall stressful week, I love the people we teach!  They are all older and already know a lot… but that's also a hard thing. We have some that are nearly impossible to teach and they just argue with a lot of the doctrine we teach. This is because they were previously in a different denomination. We also had a lesson with an investigator last night, and we took a recent convert with us.  Unfortunately, part of the way through the discussion, the member basically started teaching false doctrine...that was stressing me out so much! We had to clear everything up! Oh well that's missionary work I guess! 

Christmas Day was totally AWESOME though!! Being able to see the people I miss and love was the perfect gift. And although we had technical difficulties at first (and that slightly freaked me out with no sound for the first five minutes) I was so happy to be able to finally talk to my amazing family, grandparents, and friend!!!  Thank you all for that opportunity, that's truly what made this Christmas special. I'm thankful for that amount of time I was given to see and talk with you guys again!

And tomorrow marks my 5th month on the mission!!! It’s kind of crazy to look back on the past five months and I realized that it doesn't really feel or seem like it's been that long. There definitely are days that it hits me, but when I look and think about what's to come, the privilege of being on a mission far surpasses the amount of time, and sacrifices it takes!

Also I experienced a miracle this week...as you may remember I found a LEGIT Legend of Zelda sword last week.  And even though I haven’t played it in a long time, I loved it when I saw it! Well, I went into the shop again this week and the owner said everything was 75% off!!  So now I am the proud owner of a sword!  I'll probably have to send it home hahahah! It's awesome!

Proud owner of the Legend of Zelda Sword!

Well...nothing too new this week other than it was a busy and stressful. Somehow managed to get through it! I just want to express my love for all of you! I'm so thankful for everything you do and the influence you all have on my life!

Again I'm thankful for the letters, packages and prayer directed towards me! Sorry if this email wasn't the most exciting thing ever but not much new has happened. I am up to the usual missionary work in a new place that I am still getting used to...and new companion.

I love and miss you all! Have an amazing New Year!! WOO 2015!! 

Be safe and have a great week!!

Elder A. Olson

New Area- "Crime Hills", New Companion, Elder Davis - "Hey I know you!" and Merry Christmas!!

First off, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you ALL!!! I hope you all have an AMAZING holiday season, even though there's no snow yet really. If it makes you feel any better, I don't have snow either!

So yes...I was transferred to a new area with a new companion last week! I am now serving in Ocoee, FL., which is actually considered the ghetto of the mission. It’s definitely a LOT different than DeLand, but isn't THAT bad I guess. Our area consists of a little city called Pine Hills, which has the nickname around here of "Crime Hills". It fits its name because Elder Davis (My new Companion) and I had our bike helmets stolen! .... So yeah... it’s slightly sketchy!

Elder Davis is pretty awesome though, and he has been out 6 months. We both went to the same high school for 2 years and actually have some friends in common and so that's pretty sweet! He lived in Payson, and his family currently lives in Spanish Fork! So it has been really cool to talk about things around that area and people we both know.

Ocoee is definitely a wild time! Here they have a GIANT thrift store that consists of 40 Stores called J Mart and a few of our investigators own shops inside!!! Basically, you can get anything you can imagine there! I found a sword from Zelda…and I want it... and also custom chains. (Just so we fit in the hood I guess?) So YUP!!  Good times!

I have the feeling I’m only going to be in this area for one transfer though. It may be just one and then done in the area…. and Elder Davis will stay more.

The ward in this new area is pretty awesome though!!! The members that we have talked to so far are extremely awesome! They were especially nice to me because I replaced an elder that sadly, not many people liked. But it’s a VERY hard area and many are poor so we don't get fed too much but that's quite alright. Besides that, they are good to fellowship and they are ALWAYS willing to come out with us!

With being so close to the Orlando Temple (15 minutes away) every Tuesday we get to go and do service for the upkeep of the outside of the temple. It is AWESOME and such a good spiritual opportunity!!

Sorry, there is not much to say as I am still getting used to things, and this area.

I love you all and hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas and Holiday Season! Thanks so much for the many letters, cards, prayers, and support! It makes this time of year easier to be away. I love and miss you!

--Elder A. Olson

TRANSFERS, DELAND, NEW WARD INITIATIVES AND CAROLING!

Hi Everyone!  Well...the week has come!! Bum bum BUMMM!!! Transfer week!

It's already hard enough for me to believe it's been SIX weeks, and extremely hard for me to believe I've been here 4 1/2 months!! But I guess my time in DeLand is officially over.. Yup! I got the call Saturday night saying I’m out of DeLand and Cotton is staying! Part of me honestly doesn't want to leave. This is all I know since I've been on my mission. But maybe it'll be a good thing to get out and experience a new place!

It was so hard saying goodbye to some of these ward members and they seriously have become like friends and family. Hopefully in this email I can attach a few pictures with some of them in it! I wanted to stay for 1 more transfer here actually and I feel like it'll be weird. Now I go to a new area, with a new companion, spend nine days before it's Christmas. I'm going to know absolutely NO ONE! But hey, I know that I'm called to specific areas at specific times in my mission to help the people. I just have my fingers crossed that I will be going to Melbourne, FL hahahah! That's the place I want to serve the absolute most. I've heard it's an awesome area, great ward, and one of my favorite bands SWIMM lives down there!!

This week was absolutely crazy! Elder Cotton and I "launched" a new initiative for the DeLand 2nd Ward. We decided to go through the Ward roster and pick out the inactive, less-active, or part-member families. Then we would find an auxiliary leader who connects with that family/person and try to reactivate them!! Because as missionaries, we can go out and baptize the world, but we also need to focus on those who already are baptized and that aren't attending.So this week we visited A LOT of them. And as a result, we started re-teaching three different families in one week! AND we got them to come to church yesterday! What great blessings!

Friday night we also did Christmas Caroling at the Dixie Lodge, which are homes for severe mentally disabled patients. It was such a blast and these people had an awesome time! We sang some Christmas songs, drank some hot chocolate, told a Christmas story, and gave all of them little gifts!! Overall, it was pretty sweet and to see the joy on the faces of those people made all the efforts worth it!

That's basically my week this week!  Nothing too crazy, but some miracles definitely were around us! I've had such an amazing time here in DeLand, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to come and serve here! It is such a special area to me and especially because it's my first. I'm excited to see what the rest of my mission has in store and where I might go next! I will let you know next week!! 

Thank you for all the love and support along with all of the prayers for myself and those I'm teaching! You guys are the best! I'm thankful for the Christmas cards and letters! It's definitely going to make this snow-less green winter much easier! Have an amazing week everyone! I love and miss you all! 

--Elder A. Olson