HOOD LIVIN' HOOD LOVIN'

We had quite the wild week back here in Pine Hills!! So obviously the week started off saying goodbye to lots of members Monday night. It was super difficult to leave that area, not to mention, I had to say goodbye to two separate areas, Sebring and Lake Placid members.  Being that they were so close I didn't say goodbye the previous transfer when I left Sebring for Lake Placid. But luckily I have good relationships with people there so I will definitely come back and visit them!

Then Tuesday was quite the adventure getting up bright and early to head into Orlando!! I ended up seeing a lot of my mission friends and previous companions that were flying home the next day! So that was awesome, and then met my new companion, Elder Ashworth, there! He's a solid kid, so we have had a blast of a first week! We don't know what's going to happen to the area though, because Elder Ashworth and I fly home early together! It's super cool being with him though. He's been my Zone Leader in the past and we've always got along great! It was super weird though, my first day back in the Ole' stopping grounds was so fun. We actually got to go see my recent convert Kedicia!! And to make it even better, we are teaching her step-son who is 10 and trying to work with her husband! And her son is on track to be baptized on July 16!!

Wednesday we went and did a huge zone-wide volunteering for a Local Food Bank called Second Harvest, so that actually took up most of our day. It was like 4-5 hours long. But after that, we just visited other less actives and current investigators we are working with. Still..Super weird to see some familiar faces!

Thursday was a fairly normal day, just lots of lessons. Nothing too extreme went down! Friday was pretty fun though. We had our usual time set apart for weekly planning.. Then at the end of the night we had a temple tour with our investigator Sarah! Her, her husband and two kids have been investigating the church, and actually have been attending the church in Texas for about 2 years. Only Sarah could go, but we had a good time at the temple and she felt really good about it! So we are just continuing to work with her. She knows it's right. And we are just waiting until she is ready basically!

Saturday was a totally wild day. We got a call Friday night saying there was a car accident involving a few missionaries and were both okay. Long story short, one Elder needed to be Emergency transferred to a new area, so President Berry called and asked if we could take in another companion! His name is Elder Hernandez, from Orem Ut. And let me tell you, this kid is a RIOT! He's stinking hilarious! We will have him until we leave, which is AWESOME! So it has pretty much been a fun time so far! Lovin' being back here!

1 Corinthians 10:13 says: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." As we go through trials we often ask "why me?" But as we apply the Atonement and sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. It's easy to look at his pain, suffering, and temptation. He faced the ultimate burden for the children of men! As we go through trials and face the obstacles of temptation, I pray that we turn to our Heavenly Father. God does not give us more than we can bear. As we go through trials make we look ahead and think of the growth possible through the hard times we may face!

Thanks everyone, I'm super excited and nervous to have one month left. I appreciate all the love and support offered! Y'all are the best! Love and miss you guys!

-Elder A. Olson

Dragon Ball Z Car!!

Old Stomping Ground

Elder's at Pirate Ship Apartment!!

Two of my favorite people from my mission!!

Departing Missionaries Last Temple Trip with President & Sister Berry.

Good Morning everyone, hope you had an amazing week this last week. I heard that Orlando has been in the news a lot recently. Please pray for those troubled in this area! Lake Placid was pretty awesome. Although...I realized, I didn't spend much time in Lake Placid this week hahah! I'll tell you what went down.

The beginning of the week was pretty average, and nothing too out of the ordinary really and we just had some solid lessons. Thursday was a big day for us. We had district meeting, apartment checks, and then right after at I went and had a day exchange with Elder Bravo, in Sebring. So we had a fun time visiting a bunch of people from my old area, and his current area! Then after dinner, we ended up driving to St. Cloud and stayed in a notorious apartment named the "Pirate Ship" with Elder Davis and Elder DeMille, because the next morning, Friday morning we had the departing temple trip for the missionaries leaving soon!!! WOOHOO!

That was an amazing temple trip! It was so amazing to be in the temple one last time before I leave Florida. And to make it even more special, it was President and Sister Berrys final temple trip as well! It was a very spiritual, and wonderful experience to spend that time with them, in the temple, and to hear their testimonies at the end of the day!! I'm grateful for them, and all their hard work, help, love and the influence they have been on me in my mission!! After we just chilled in Orlando for some time, waiting for interviews with President for those leaving tomorrow. So we went out to eat, and I got to go visit Elder Rowley!!

Saturday was just a super weird day. We waited for transfer calls and visited a few people in the meantime. And well... The transfer news came in!.... I'll be leaving Lake Placid. I'm pretty bummed about it. I kinda didn't want to leave for my last few weeks,BUT there is some interesting news concerning transfers! IM GOING BACK TO OCOEE SOUTH!!! YAY! So yeah, I'm going back to my old stomping grounds and that should be way interesting. PLUS my companion will be Elder Ashworth, who leaves the same day I do. It should be a SOLID few weeks though. It's going to FLY!

So that's the week! I've just been saying my goodbyes and getting ready for the transfer starting tomorrow. 

Here is a quick quote I found this week from President Kimball: Spencer W. Kimball, emphasized the need to continually read and study the scriptures. He said: ‘I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns’ [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (2006), 67]”

Thanks everyone for all you do!!! I appreciate all the love and support. I Love you all and miss you all! Have a great week!:)

-Elder A. Olson

Final Six Weeks

Well... Another week gone in Lake Placid! It's been quite the good week, well, For the most part! The week started off pretty wild with a tropical storm warning. Lake Placid ended up getting quite a bit of rain, but nothing too bad! We were asked to retire to our apartments early so we avoided most of the storm!

We also had a Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday all the way out in Vero Beach again, which was really good. I only have one more, and with transfers coming up I was excited to go and say goodbye to most of those people, since I might not see them again before I leave. So it was a good little trip with a pretty spiritual and awesome meeting attached! The mission is also doing a "fast food fast" for a month. So normally we would go grab food, since it's another 2 hour drive home, But because of the fast we went to the Zone Leaders apartments and ate some French Toast.

This week we had a lot of people not answer their door, so we ended up doing a bit of finding.. We were in a particular area and decided to stop by a member's home, who we have never met or heard of really. He was surprisingly really nice, and as we sat in his home, talking with him it was so strange. He has been married to his wife of another faith for 30 years, who doesn't really approve of the Latter-Day Saints. He has a rock solid testimony that the church is true because of experiences in his life, however, he voiced he is worried about his relationship, which is understandable. I just think the craziest thing about it all is the fact that he recognizes the hindrance in his life. He hasn't even prayed or tried to read scriptures In those 30 years.. We asked him to pray, once a day and he started weeping, saying he knows that eternity is on the line, but he is literally scared to pray because he KNOWS what the answer will be.. He KNOWS God will answer him.. His faith is so strong, and it's the action on that faith we are trying to work with him on.

We also has a GREAT lesson with an investigator of ours this week. His name is Joe. He is a young and VERY solid guy. He attended LDS services before, while in the military, and enjoyed it very much! We taught the restoration to him and he loved it!! We also set Neil on a new baptismal date for July 16th!! He is still working hard and loving the visits! He's a great man! And we set a baptismal date with our investigator Patrick as well! So that one will be held July 23rd!! WOOHOO! President Berry emailed us and said he was proud of the work that has happened in this area, since it's been a part of Orlando Mission!

Also...as you are all aware, there was a crazy incident that happened in Orlando. It is very saddening.. I ask you pray for those in Orlando that peace will ensue after this attack. It was really just down the road from where I served in Ocoee..

Thank you all! Love and miss you! Have a great week!:)  Here is a spiritual thought for the week.

-Elder A. Olson

Lake Placid Livin'

Another great week in Lake Placid!! It was quite the adventure this week and it seemed to go fairly quick too! We started out the week with an exchange on Tuesday/Wednesday.  And well...it was a little different. I was with a missionary who hasn't been out very long, and he basically just throws down on everyone he teaches and usually brings up unnecessary topics.. He totally bashed one of our investigators, abandoning the lesson we were supposed to teach.. It was a good exchange regardless, we had lots of lessons, and got in contact with lots of cool people! It was just a HUGE stress to the week this week. But that could potentially be my last exchange on the mission!

We have continued to work with Neil and our other fellow investigators. We had a good lesson with one named Patrick and his roommate. They had lots of questions about the Plan of Salvation. It was cool to see how peaceful the gospel is to people. They were so uneasy about the concept of heaven and hell. After we explained our beliefs regarding after mortality, their entire attitude switched, so they are showing some interest!

There is apparently a pretty big tropical storm coming into Florida today, so we are expecting some flooding, according to what the news said.. And if not, just lots and lots of rain!! I'm sure it'll be worse closer to Tampa area. Also, sorry if this emails later than usual. We went bowling today with some of the youth in our church and their friends, so that was a blast! Also, Thursday we were invited to a Sebring ward's graduation party, So that was super fun. we talked to a lot of non-members there and partied.

We had a super solid day yesterday at church. It was definitely one of the most spiritual meetings I've ever been to! It was great, plus we had a great turnout with roughly 50 people attending the branch! We had a less active come who hasn't been in like 30 years, then we had U'quayzia (our recent convert) bring her friend TaLazarus to church, and she seemed interested, kinda. So we will hopefully start teaching her as well!!

Sorry this emails fairly bland, not much seemed to happen this week because we just jumped from appointment to appointment to knocking doors it seemed.. But I do have a few quotes to share.

"True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ." —Richard G. Scott, "The Atonement Can Secure Your Peace and Happiness" 

"There will be days ... when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the Head of this Church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose."
—Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?"


"Someone has written, “Love is a verb.” It requires doing—not just saying and thinking. The test is in what one does, how one acts, for love is conveyed in word and deed." —David B. Haight, "Love All"

Hope you all have a fantastic week this week!! I now have less than 50 days!!! Phew...crazy! Thanks for all the love and support, talk to y'all soon!

-Elder A. Olson

Seeing The Fruits of Our Labors

Hey guys! We had a pretty awesome week this week, so I hope you did as well! This week started out pretty crazy with our Zone Conference. We had to get up at 4 a.m and we had to make the long trek all the way to Vero Beach, in order to be there by 7. So not only was the morning long, but that meeting lasted until about 6 p.m. or so! It was a super solid meeting and sadly it was President Berry's final ZC so he said his farewell and how much he has loved it here, serving with, for, and beside us! Also something cool happened while there. We had a senior couple come to our apartment the night before to install something, and during out meeting we got a shout-out from the mission leadership because apparently we have the cleanest apartment that they've seen in over a year! WOOHOO! So that was cool, cause well.. Awkward fact about it is that we didn't bother to clean up but just pick our stuff up after we use it. Simple as that. I didn't think I was THAT clean though and either I'm cleaner than I thought or the rest of the mission are just slobs. hahah!

We were able to see some miracles though!!! We have been doing a TON of finding, and well.. When you go knocking it's cool because that's where you can see and witness how the Spirit guides you to the right people. Elder Creer and I decided to go knocking, and I just drove down a cool looking street, parked on a random side street and we knocked that area. But the street I ended up picking at random was a solid one. They were SUPER nice people and all of the doors ended up being positive, although not everyone was interested. It was hot and I was tired and I didn't want to knock on this particular door. But we did anyway and BAM!!... Joe. He is a SUPER awesome guy, and was so nice! Honestly he seemed interested in learning more after we taught a little! So we have set a rough return appointment and we will see how things go!

We have continued to work with Neil and a few others. A lot aren't progressing though, which is rough cause we can't always keep working with some of them if they deny the change. To choose Christ is to choose change. So we are going to see how they pan out. Neil, on the other hand, is doing well, although not progressing much and now has some problems to work through. But all is well!!

We weren't able to go to the temple this week, sadly. The recent converts cancelled last minute, but no worries. We have plans to go later, early June sometime to see it. Ashanti won't be there, since she moved out for the summer, but it will be a worthwhile trip regardless!

We had a combined Sebring and Lake Placid BBQ at a members home. It was another "bring a friend" thing, so that was great with lots of food, lots of laughs, and met some cool non-members! (All of which are in Sebring) but it's all alright! It was a good time! It makes me excited to do some fun outdoorsy things when I get back to Utah!

I have a quote from Paul H Dunn: I've changed a few words here and
there so it's directed to everyone, not just the men he was speaking
to.

"In life you will stumble a time or two. That is a part of the growing process. The lives of many great people will testify to you that ofttimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than you fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser. Never let fear, discouragement or disappointment keep you down! Get up once more and you'll win, stay down and you'll lose. It's one thing to be born with the ability to succeed, it's another to discipline it and control it, so that you WILL succeed."

Love and miss you guys, have a GREAT week!!

-Elder A. Olson

Season 16: Episode 2

So first off.. To explain the title I'm on transfer 16 - week 2, just to clear up confusion haha! This week was a pretty sweet week! Basically the same usual stuff went down, but it wasn't as stressful so that was nice! We just had another solid week of lessons and meeting some new people, along with getting to know some new faces and we even spent a bit of time knocking doors! We were able to visit some old people I used to teach in Sebring, that now live down here! They have lots of questions about the church, which is good, but we are just trying to see how truly interested they are!

We have continued to work with Neil and he's such a funny and awesome guy! We taught him the principle of prayer and how we can communicate with God. He always thought prayers were memorized and told us he was ashamed he doesn't know any. After teaching him how we pray and how God doesn't want to hear the same words every time he hears from us. He WANTS to hear our struggles and what we need help with, he wants to hear how our day went, he wants to hear what we are thankful for, he just wants us to be us! And so Neil after 87 years said his first prayer!

Also quick, random, kinda gross story about a lesson we had with them this week. We took a member with us, and well... At first they weren't home. The member quickly blurted out "I urgently need to use the restroom" so we made a mad dash for the local Walgreens. He came out looking refreshed and we headed back to see if they were home (which they were). Luckily Neil and Ruth are hard of hearing because out of no where the words uttered from that members mouth were somethings like: "what did I eat to cause such a reaction?" Neil and Ruth didn't catch a word! Phew... It was quite comical!

Anyways, this week we spent a lot of time focusing on less active members and visiting all the ones we don't know or have no information on. So that was great, and doing so actually set us up with some great service opportunities to help families move and such! We did meet some awesome members we've never met before though, and also a lot of them had non member family living there. So we will hopefully continue to meet with those families and help bring the joys of the gospel to them again!

Elder Creer and I also were brainstorming on some ideas for a fun branch activity we could throw. There is an outdoor movie screen on the side of one of the buildings here in Lake Placid, and so we figured we are going to talk to the owner and try to plan a "Bring a Friend BBQ and movie night" and show the new church released movie Meet The Mormons!! So that would be SWEET if it all works out!

We were also able to get lots of pics with the Murals here in the town, so I'll attach some of those pics!! This upcoming week is full of meetings for the zone and stuff like that, so lots of travel and waking up at like 3:30 in the morning so we can make the commute to Zone Conference on time.

Just a few quick quotes I used/found this week from various leaders of the church.

* "Our spiritual stability increases in proportion to the degree to
which we establish Jesus Christ as our foundation."
—Dale G. Renlund,
"Spiritual Stability: Building an Unsinkable Ship", Liahona, April
2016

* "You and I can not only survive but prevail ... in our efforts to
stand for truth in perilous times."
—Susan W. Tanner, "Glad Tidings
from Cumorah"

* "As we strive ever more consistently to do good and to become
better, we can walk with the confidence that God will guide our
steps."
       —David A. Bednar, "The Spirit of Revelation"

* "Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if
you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart."
       —Henry B. Eyring, "This Day"

I love and miss you all!! Have a great week this week. Thanks again as always for the constant support you are to me! It's just been unsettling to think that in 2 short months all this, this amazing journey, comes to a close. Missionary work never stops, but the physical call and full time devotion do. This is the very thing I've come to embrace, live, enjoy, and love doing! It's strange, it's almost like I can't imagine how "normal life" is even going to be like anymore haha! Anywho, have a fantastic week! Also pray that we are guided to the elect who want the gospel!!!:)

-Elder A. Olson

More 'Gators and Murals

Happy Monday! I hope y'all had a great week this week. I guess there isn't much to say about our week sadly. It was a busy week but not a lot to write about. Tuesday we had transfers, which was pretty cool. We don't do the actual transfer meeting anymore so Elder Bravo and I just chilled together for like four hours waiting for our new companions to come down. I got a new companion named Elder Creer.  He's a super cool kid from Spanish Fork!  It's been funny to think that I've had companions from Payson and now Spanish Fork when there are hundreds of missionaries in this mission. Anyway, he's awesome! He's been out for 9 months now and so far it's been a solid transfer with him. So we will continue to see how things go!

We did end up having a great week this week concerning teaching and finding. We taught like 32 lessons this week and found some new investigators. Some aren't as solid as others, but you never know the effects the gospel could have on someone, so might as well give em a shot! We have continued to work with our current investigators. Carl has been doing okay. He finished the Book of Mormon and has started rereading the Old Testament. The only problem we are having with him is getting him interested in coming to church. So we will see what we can do. We also have been working hard with a investigator of ours named Neil. He's an awesome 87 year old man that we found a few weeks ago. He has been really interested in the lessons and has never really had the influence of religion in his life. Last time we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we should follow the example of Jesus Christ. So he accepted a baptismal date for June 18th and so we will continue working with him! We also have been working with Randy who is the boyfriend to a less active member we teach.

Elder Creer and have been taking lots of pictures with the murals around town too and so I will attach some pictures with those. Overall, it was a pretty long casual week, and nothing overly exciting, however, it was successful so that was GREAT!!

Anyway, here is a talk given by Jeffery R Holland titled "None Were With Him" I suggest you look up and read/watch the full talk. It's amazing. Here's just a fragment of it. —

 "I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation. Rightly He would say: “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me. … I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold [me].” He ventured into the Garden of Gethsemane alone. Falling on His face in prayer, “sorrowful … unto death,” the record says, His sweat came as great drops of blood as He pled with the Father to let this crushing, brutal cup pass from Him. But, of course, it could not pass. Returning from such anguished prayer, He found His three chief disciples asleep, prompting Him to ask, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” So it happens two more times until on His third return He says compassionately, “Sleep on now, and take your rest,”  though there would be no rest for Him. Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually--that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind--us, all of us--would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone. But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path--the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel."

Sorry that was LONG, but that is a crucial topic and an amazing talk! Thanks for everything, love and miss you all! Have a great week!:)