Racin' Outta Sebring!!

Happy Monday Everyone!! I hope you all had an awesome week, and a Happy Easter weekend too! We had a overall pretty crazy week this week. It was also the final week of the transfer so we had a lot to pack into our schedule.

We went and did some service for a older couple who are somewhat less active. He openly admits he's lazy and that's why they don't always come to church! But we love them, and actually their son is a member of the Ocoee Ward that I got to know, so that's a funny connection we often talk about! But anyways, we did service for them and also met their daughter, Tina. She has been battling some major health challenges recently, so we gave her a blessing... Later on this week she contacted us saying the doctors were amazed that she was improving quite rapidly!! But she still has a lot going on so pray for her if you will.

Also we gave a blessing last week to our Investigator Steven (Jay's daughter's boyfriend) because he had an infection on his arm.  He didn't really know what a blessing was so we briefly explained how it goes, and how it works through the recipients Faith. If they have the faith to be healed, and it's in God's will, He will do His part! So we met with him this week, and he showed us the spot where the infection WAS! He was so surprised because the redness and all the swelling had completely vanished! He said the pain stopped that night and by the next day it was almost completely gone! So it was very humbling to see how by me exercising my Priesthood Authority and giving that blessing it has/can bless the lives of others and helped them gain a witness that the Priesthood, which was once lost, has again been restored! THEN after that he went around sharing his testimony of how the blessing helped him to all his non-member friends!

What else?... We had a crazy storm on Friday. It was raining so hard that you couldn't see out your windshield. But not only that, the rain started to become hail, so that was so awesome! That's the first time I've seen hail in probably 2 years! And the closest thing to snow in Florida I suppose. haha!

The end of this week got really confusing. Saturday we received transfer calls. Everyone assumed I was leaving..and..well... The initial call was for Elder Davis and I to both stay AGAIN in Sebring for a third transfer together. But at about ten o'clock that night we received a call from our mission assistants saying they messed up on a companionship, so I will be leaving this transfer:( BUT oddly enough I'm only going down to Lake Placid, which is in our district, and meets in the same chapel we do! Haha! So that is going to be weird serving full time there, but still seeing a lot of the same people at church in the halls. I'll be serving with Elder Rowley. I've talked about him before with exchanges, so that will be pretty sweet! I was so sad though because I love the people here in Sebring, the members, and investigators we have. I didn't want to stop teaching them! But I'll still see them every couple weeks or so I'm sure!

And being that I am leaving, I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on the
Atonement for the Easter holiday, which ended up REALLY well. I didn't have much time to prepare, but so many member came up to me after in tears, and such saying that talk was great and it really brought the purpose of Easter to life..etc. so yeah! Also, in Sacrament Meeting, right after the second speaker we had one of our investigators pass out. She has blood sugar problems and also has COPD apparently. She forgot to eat breakfast and went unconscious. Luckily we have a lot of medical professionals in the ward so they checked her blood sugar and called for an ambulance. It was freaky but she is alright!

That's about it though. I don't have a spiritual thought because I'm going go attach 3 pictures of part of my talk. It's a story our mission president's wife gave us. It helps you picture the Atonement in a very unique way! So I'll be sure to send that. I Love and miss you all! Thanks for everything! Have an awesome week!

-Elder A. Olson

GATORAMA!!

Hello!! Hope y'all had a great week! We sure did, although nothing too wild went down. We just had another week full of lessons, and some unexpected exchanges! We did service again this week for Jim, a part member family in the area. We cut down a few of his large trees, so that was definitely a blast!

Wednesday we had another exchange. I stayed in Sebring with Elder Amos. We had a pretty good time and I definitely saw a ton of miracles that day. We received 2 media referrals, so I checked who they were and decided to go pay them a visit! One was a member media referral. A member from Utah sent his biological sisters information to us and asked if we could visit! So we decided to give it a try and see how things end up. She came to the door and was pretty excited to see us! She said she would be perfectly fine with us coming again and talking about the Restoration of the church! But sadly, at that time, she was busy... So we hope we will be able to see her this week! Also, out of nowhere, we received a text that said "hey missionaries, while moving to my new apartment I misplaced my Book of Mormon. Could you bring me a new one...etc." So we got his name, and address. I looked him up on our old teaching records and found out he was a previous investigator with a baptismal date, and that missionaries had taught him basically everything. But unfortunately, he wouldn't quit smoking, so they stopped visiting him. So he's a super cool guy and we will be working with him a little more.

After that exchange, we had an "emergency exchange" because Elder Davis
and Elder Rowley had to go to a meeting in Orlando, but it was a unexpected unannounced meeting. So Elder Goff and I spent the day together. We started out in his area for an appointment, then came up to Sebring and spent the remainder of it here. It was a pretty fun time and we had just some more solid lessons that day!

This week we also went over to a members who has one of our current
investigators living with them. So we went to teach her and the member, Sister Davis walks out and hands us two coconuts!! Both still in the hard shell that surrounds the normal looking brown hairy coconut. We spent like 20 minutes busting one open so we could reach the actual coconut inside! If was awesome! Those things are tough! I have a few pictures of that here.

COCONUTS!!

Me and Elder Davis with before and after coconut

Also, we just got back from a placed called Gatorama!! It's a super cool alligator and crocodile habitat where you can play with the gators, feed them, etc. It was super fun and we definitely had a good time. I've attached lots of pictures of that so you can see what it's like! We gotta catch some 3 year old gators!

Look Ma!  A Gator!!

Just some Elders and their Gators!!

Close Call!

Other than that, nothing overly exciting or crazy happened! Thanks for the emails! I have a quick spiritual thought I found as I studied and taught from the Life of Howard W. Hunter: "And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12). Think of it! When his body was taken from the cross and hastily placed in a borrowed tomb, He, the sinless Son of God, had already taken upon Him not only the sins and temptations of every human soul who will repent, but all of our sickness and grief and pain of every kind. He suffered these afflictions as we suffer them, according to the flesh. He suffered them all. He did this to perfect his mercy and his ability to lift us above every earthly trial.

Thanks for all you guys do! Have a GREAT Easter this week. Thanks for the love and support! Y'all are the best! Love and miss you! Also.. We have transfer calls the end of this week, Saturday... So we will see what goes down!

-Elder A. Olson 

More Exciting Times in Florida and Hallelujah Easter Initiative.

Me and Elder Davis at Androcles and the Lion 

Happy Monday everyone! Hope y'all had a great week!! We had a pretty good week again and we started out our week on exchanges!! So I went with Elder Rowley to Lake Placid. We had a heck of a good time. He's just a cool kid and a good overall missionary! We had some solid lessons and also went and contacted a potential investigator. We initially went for their father (who was now not living there due to his situation) but were able to talk to and teach his son and daughter. They are both in their 30's (Teila and CJ). They have had a lot of burdens placed upon them in that home because they were being foreclosed on. Their father wasn't there and his overall mental health was not stable. So it was super interesting to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ take effect in their lives! And to see how their feelings went from "life sucks" (basically) to knowing they are not alone and as they rely on their Savior he will bring the peace and comfort they are desperately searching for! So that was nice to be able to help bring that as we taught them!

Me and Elder Rowley!!

Thursday we literally spent ALL day in Vero Beach for Zone Conference. Seriously.. It was a meeting that went from 6:30 a.m. to about 5:00 p.m. Plus, not to mention, that's a little over a two hour drive from Sebring. So we had to get up at 3:30 a.m.!! It was a long, rather tiring day haha!   

We also have given a lot more blessings to people this week. Seriously..
Everyone is getting sick! One of which was a lady we call Nana, because she is Amy's mother! Amy was baptized in December and her mom isn't a member but she absolutely loves us! She ended up going to the hospital for respiratory problems, so we decided to just pay her a visit! She asked for a blessing, which was awesome and that really helped her like the church more. We had a fun time there and Amy came to the hospital to hang out too and deliver some things! The scriptures say multiple times to "Become as Children" and Elder Davis and I succeeded in that one! We were just goofing off and put the rubber
gloves over our heads and we're just messing around! Good times! 

Hospital visits with the Elders

Also, Friday night we went to a play for a member in our ward who is actually coming out to Provo for BYU in August. So we are super excited that she gets to come live in Utah! So yeah, we went with her awesome family to support her and see her in Androcles and the Lion, Which was stinkin' HILARIOUS!! The character who played the lion at one point came into the audience and was running up and down the rows. Well...when she got to Elder Davis and I she stopped, make a sniffing motion and said out loud, "I smell missionaries!" HAHAHA! That was a pretty fun night too!

Other than that, nothing new! We had a hog roast, since some members slaughtered a hog they trapped and raised. We had a big Ward roast and so that was pretty fun! Nothing else really though.. I'll just leave you all with a quote. "There is no choice, sin, or mistake that you or anyone else can make that will change His love for you or for them" -Ronald A. Rasband .  ALSO, starting yesterday, the church released a new Easter Initiative. It has an awesome new video about Following Christ to Find New Life. It's called Hallelujah. So if you haven't seen it you should definitely go watch it at FollowHim.mormon.org I recommend it!! It's a sweet new video!!  I Love and miss you all!!

-Elder A. Olson 

HAPPY MARCH!!

Hello everyone!! We had a pretty good week this week, I mean, like usual. We just taught a TON of lessons this week, and definitely saw some more blessings! With some of our investigators dropping, we were needing new people to teach, and well... The Lord definitely provided us with some! I'll tell y'all about them in a second!

We did some service for a non-member friend of our here in Sebring. His health is very poor, so we like going over weekly to help him out! This week's adventure was scraping all the dead leaves, pine needles, and other garbage out of his gutters and off of his tin roof! So that was pretty cool! While doing service, we received a phone call from a member, who said that another lady, Susie, who we helped move stuff about a month a go, was having a hard time and she wanted to meet with us! The first time we met, she wasn't interested. But because we helped her and more crazy things happened, she was now open to the Gospel! We had an awesome lesson with her. Seriously, our lesson focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She has been raised Christian but no one has ever told her much about the Atonement. In her situation, she has been feeling really down on herself and lonely. As we taught her she said, "I never knew, no one ever told me that I'm not alone. That Christ has felt what I'm feeling. It's reassuring to know I'm not going through this trial alone!"  We also took another member to that lesson that really connected and helped out a lot! So we picked her up as a new investigator and we will see what happens there! She is super awesome though, so we hope it all works out!

We had another member call us and say that she had a few people for us to teach! One is named Katie and she is actually living with the member because she was going to be homeless, so we started teaching her! Then that same member also gave us her friend Levi's information, who is super awesome! We've been working with him all week. He expressed he wants to be baptized so he can clean up his life and better his kids situations. He just wants to learn some more before hand!! He's going through a pretty rough time right now, and so we have focused a lot on the Atonement and the restoration of the gospel. He really enjoys our visits and we are happy to see his progress!

This week we also had the blessing of going to the Orlando Temple!!! It's such a long drive for us, and we had to be there by 6:30, so our mission president allowed us to drive up the night before and stay with the mission president's assistants! They are both super awesome missionaries, and so we had a pretty good time there. Then that morning, we got up and got to go to the temple and do a session! It always amazes me the Spirit that can be felt there, and how while at the temple all feelings of inadequacy and imperfection begin to fade away! It was such a great experience and I always love going and attending the temple! Also funny temple story.. Saturday we went out and visited our friends at the Flea Market, just to check in on em! And while there we were looking at Deb&Anns stuff (the ladies we helped move a few times) we saw SLC Temple Coasters! (Picture below) We asked them if they knew what it was and they had no clue, but they just thought it was pretty! HAHA! So we got to explain and teach a little about that! Then they gave us one each!

SLC Temple Coasters!!

I think as we get closer to Easter we should definitely focus on the ministry, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. And that it is only by and through Him that we too can be resurrected one day. We have been blessed with that opportunity of eternal life and we should focus on the love that our Savior must of had for us individually to go through the burdens of the world. He experienced the pain, the loneliness, and all so that eventually, we can make it to a Father in Heaven once more! So here is a link to a pretty good talk about it if you wanna watch! If not, no worries! Thanks for all y'all do. I love and miss you guys! https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

-Elder A. Olson 

 

The Miracles Continue!!

 

Soaking Up The Sun!!

Me and Elder Davis!!

Hey everyone, how was the week?!  We had a pretty solid week this week, with some AMAZING experiences that I'll bring up later in the email. We started out the week again so an exchange and I spent my time in Lake Placid with Elder Goff. He's a pretty solid missionary for only being out like 8 months. We had a good time and although a lot of the appointments fell through, we were able to help some people out, and give some blessings! So that was pretty sweet. Nothing too exciting happened that I can recall...but I'm not sure...it's been a long week! We did get to go to the local raceway today and see some practice runs, which was awesome, cause well...that's what Sebring is known for, it's raceway! It was cool. (see pic below)

Mostly, it was just another week full of appointment after appointment, which isn't bad by any means, but it just totally makes emails pretty lame. But we were able to see lots of success, like last night. Sunday night Jay and Amy have their kids come over and have some family time. We really have connected with their soon to be Son-in-law.. So hopefully we will be able to be teaching him soon. Plus he's really into large-mouth bass fishing, and said when I come back I can go out and fish with him!!

Sadly, this week we had lots of people either drop us, or stop progressing and so we had to drop some as well!! It was kind of a bummer and we basically lost contact with Melody this week too. She hasn't been answering her phone or door and it's kinda stressful, but no worries!! 
 
We had some Tornado warnings come through our area, and our mission
president even texted us telling us to be safe and keep an eye out! But all we got was some rain and wind and nothing too wild sadly...but gladly! hahah! And now the weather has really started to get warm...like....80's again almost. We helped a few nonmember friends we have out here (Deb & Ann) unload their U-haul trailer again. If you remember we packed that sucker up a few weeks ago at the flea market, well...now the flea market is open again..so they called the professional movers...(the elders) to come help!

But overall, the most exciting thing that happened this week was on another
exchange. I stayed in Sebring with Elder Smith, and we had probably one of the most solid lessons on my mission!! We were teaching Dave and before the lesson he really opened up to us, telling us a lot about his previous situation. And for confidentiality reasons, I'm not going to say much, but I will say he had some troubles in the past. Saturday morning as I was praying to know what to teach him. We had originally set to teach him about the Priesthood, but I had a strong and distinct impression to show a bible video about Christ's Apostle Peter walking on the water towards Christ, and read Matthew 14 of that account. Little did I know that it would have the impact that it did. Apparently many years ago in Dave's life he was struggling. He read that specific chapter and it applied to his life more than any other scripture and that scripture actually made him take some actions that changed his life years ago. So after I shared the lesson and read he said "How did you know to share that?" Simply enough it was God, prompting me by the Spirit that this was EXACTLY what Dave needed that day. It was awesome!!! I totally left like.. A lot of details out, so maybe after my mission I can say just a little more about it. But for now, I KNOW that was a miracle sent from God, and that he truly answered prayers. Dave also  mentioned that of all the lessons he's ever had, this one will always be remembered. I'm privileged to be apart of being a messenger for something that helped changed someone's life! I'm blessed to have received that answer from God. It's just living proof to me that God really does answer prayers! He is always mindful of the things we need and that they may be answered through the efforts of other people!

But that was the week! Thanks for all the love and support everyone! Y'all are amazing! I hope you all have a bright and great week ahead of you! Love and miss you all!!

-Elder A. Olson

Gettin' Work Done!!

 

Grocery Heaven Right Here!!

 

Hug a Tree!

Hey everyone! How was y'alls week this week?! It's been super busy here in Sebring.. Literally, nothing that exciting happened this week cause we just jumped from lesson to lesson, which I mean is good for missionary work. haha! Tuesday we had a ZL exchange, so I think I mentioned last week that I was staying in Sebring with Elder Yates. He's a pretty funny missionary! I've known him for most of my mission and so it was pretty fun. We has a member's wife pass away last week, so we went to her service on Tuesday and it was very comforting. Most of this family were non-members, so it was truly a blessing to be able to share the Plan of Salvation that our Father in Heaven has set for us. And that although physical separation may come in our lives due to death, the comfort of eternal families makes it all better, in knowing that you have the ability to see your family again. Family is important or else God wouldn't have us in them. God respects that and he wants us to be happy. There was actually a minister from another denomination there, and he said a pretty interesting quote, "She is in a much better place, and that place is now much better with her there." We also JUST found out today that a recent convert we worked with in Ocoee passed away last night as well...

After the service, we hopped into service clothes and went to tear out some tree stumps!! So that was pretty cool. Wednesday was just a lot of appointments and we were actually able to pick up 5 new investigators that day, which is SUPER awesome. So we are working with them and a few are slightly interested and some have the desire to be baptized. They just have to work through addictions or legal stuff, but we will continue to serve and help them out!!

We spent a lot of time in the hospital this week too. We actually were called on a lot to go and give blessings to people, which was awesome. Some were non-members we didn't even know! BUT as I've been giving these blessings it has been awesome to feel how the Spirit works and ultimately how God works. Like for instance, one of our investigators 'A-Rod' was put in the hospital for pain. We called him to see if we could visit, and right as we walked in he asked for a blessing. As I administered the blessing, the Spirit was so strong, and afterwards he actually said he could physically feel a difference in the pain, that it wasn't as bad! We visited him a few times, and we truly got to connect with him and now are aware of his concerns. So we will see what happens there!!

Hmm...what else?... We are still working with Dave to get a baptismal date set up, but other than that nothing much new. I am hanging in there and this time is going by so fast! I feel like it was just last week that I emailed about my 18 month mark, and well...I'm at 19 months now!! WILD!!!

Me and Elder Davis with Dave at the Orlando Temple

To keep this story short and the details to a minimum, we had an experience where a man got extremely mad at us for no reason, like literally he was furious and yelled all sorts of colorful words at us, just because he could. And what did it teach me? That this man was having a horrible day because of who knows what. And the lesson I learned is that we cannot place our happiness in the hands of others. Sometimes we have got to stop in our day and reflect and ask, "Am I letting others control my happiness?" Don't let people ruin your day, or stop you from what you can become. Don't place your happiness in the hands of others.

Not much of a thought today, just a quote... "Those who move forward with a Happy Spirit will find that things always work out." -Gordon B. Hinckley

Thanks for everything, I miss and love you guys. Have a good week!

-Elder A. Olson 

Gator!!

Elders in the Wild

Florida at it's finest

Oranges!!

Alligator Road

Hey Everyone!  I hope your week was great!  This week was a super busy one for us!!.. Most of it was actually spent in the car though. On Tuesday there were transfers, so nothing really exciting happened because Elder Davis and I both stayed. We did have Elder Amos spend the day with us while his new companion came down to their area on Wednesday and it was more or less just a typical day of missionary work!! Nothing too exciting happened then, but Thursday we had a pretty solid day!!

Thursday we had our monthly Zone Training Meeting. It was held at Vero Beach, which is a two and a half hour drive from Sebring, so like I said... We spent what seems like most of the day in the car, and at a meeting! On the way back, while driving, we saw lots and lots of Alligators!  They were seriously just lined along the sides of the road. You'd see one like every half mile or so. We took a picture of a few of them, but sadly they weren't close enough for us to get a close picture. lol. But we did see a big ol' one. It was probably a good 8-10 foot or so....decent size!

Friday was well...another day in the car!!! We actually had to drive all the way BACK to Vero Beach again for a specialty meeting meant for DL's.. So another like 5 hour trip there and back. There were less Alligators this time though.. It was too cold that morning for them! But we also had a miracle happen Friday as well. We received a Media Referral from a lady ordering a free bible from us. we'll...we ran out of those. So we basically decided to stop by and introduce ourselves anyway, and let her know it is on its way! She ended up being super solid!! Her name is Debbie and she's a really nice lady looking for a new church in the area. We had a good discussion and set a return appointment. She seemed excited to hear about how the Gospel has been restored back to Earth in the proper form Christ had established! So that was a blessing we witnessed for sure!

Saturday was a pretty special day. The Ward had a Youth Temple Trip and so we decided to take that opportunity and take our investigator Dave to the temple and do a tour, being that he is our closest to baptism!! The temple was AMAZING of course, and it was awesome to see his excitement as we talked and had a discussion about the temple. In his own words he said, "Since the moment I started investigating, I've known this is right and this is true. It's never hit me until today how huge, how important, or how life changing this all is. I cannot wait!!" He is such a solid guy. He then had a interview with our Mission President. Overall, it went super well and we will see what happens!

Other than that, nothing too crazy is going on. We have an exchange tonight with the Zone Leaders.. All I know is I'm staying here with one of them. lol! I've seen a lot of blessings this week as I've received many answers to prayers, and witnessed how spiritual promptings have guided me in what I should do and say. It's been awesome!

Because of His Atoning experience in mortality, our Savior is able to comfort, heal, and strengthen all men and women everywhere. But I believe He does so only for those who seek Him and ask for His help. The Apostle James taught, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up”  (James 4:10). We qualify for that blessing when we believe in Him and pray for His help. Having ‘descended below all things,’ He comprehends, perfectly and personally, the full range of human suffering. We might even say that having descended beneath it all, He is perfectly positioned to lift us and give us the strength we need to endure our afflictions. We have only to ask.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and also have a good week ahead of you! Love and miss you all!

-Elder A. Olson