Week.. I think it's 13... I'm not sure.

This week was alright. I just don't know what to do about my 10 ways.  We need 10 ways. Please, respond to this email - all of you - and give me as many ideas as you can give me!!!  we need more ideas, because neither of us are creative!!!

Anyways, besides that, this week was alright.  Nothing really special. I didn't even take any pictures so I will take one right now and send it.  I seriously can't remeber what happened this week. that's why I brought my journal.

Lunes: In a lesson with new investigators, I was explaining the Book of Mormon, and the guy pulls out his phone, and starts filming.  ¿¿¿¿QUE???? yeah, I don't even know, but he disappeared after that lesson. Missed his next cita, and didn't assistir a la iglesia.  Just wierd.

Martes: 2 highlights. First, one of our investigators decided to postpone her baptism until the 11 of Abril. We asked her to pray about it, and we warned her of the danger of it, but she still decided to postpone. She will be baptized on the 11 with her neighbor and friend, Fany. Second, we had a lesson with a guy named Fernando. He just wouldn't understand anything. he is one of those people that likes to try to prove wrong churches.  By the end of the lesson, he had some sort of change, because he was quiet, and actually let us talk, then he commited to go to church, and the spirit filled the lesson super strong. He ended up not going to church, but the point is that it was a really great lesson. :)

Miercoles:  There is a new Zone.  We had District meeting. There is a new Elder. He is a Peruvian, but at least I am not the new guy anymore. haha.  That was about it.

Jueves:  So we had a goal to get 10 baptisms in Abril. This week was the last week to get the news and fechas. We just needed people to go to church, so that we could set fechas in Abril. So we did a lot of contacting, and we just invited EVERYONE to church. we met people who seemed like good investigators, and it was an okay day.

Viernes:  Had a good workout in the morning. :)  Sad thing though, is that we didn't have any water for drinking. :P So yeah.  And we got a little disheartened when NO CONTACTING WAS DOING ANYTHING ALL WEEK LONG!!!! Gosh, and then one of the members said that fast Sunday here was the week before conference. So yeah. But still wasn't like the worst day in the world, so yeah.

Sábado:  I tried making my pen die in my journal. We started fasting today. well, I did. and Elder Guevara forgot. As we were going about, Elder Guevara bought an ice Cream, to annoy me. To his surprise, the ice cream melted all over his hand, and it like all went to waste.  Haha. Karma. We also got water that day.  And still no success contacting.

Domingo: I found out that it really wasn't fast Sunday. Wow. The member lied to me! Oh well. I finished my fast, and then we had church at 2. And my pen died finally. we found a big family, and now we have 10 news this week, even though like 5 of them really aren't going to progress.  So, and we only had to people in church, so say goodbye to 10 baptisms in abril. we are still trying to get them in the transfer, this week. 

Anyways, I hope next week is better. Pray for me. sé que mi misión va a ser una bendición, pero es muy difícil. Por favor, oren por mi. Yo necesito mucho. Yo estoy muy agradecido por esta experiencia. Gracias por todo! Hasta la próxima semana! Les amo!

Transfers tomorrow...:(

Elder Guevara, my trainer for the first 6 weeks, who can speak english and Spanish, and has been a great help to me these past 6 weeks, and is from El Salvador, is... sadly.... sorry to say that he.....

...is staying. HA GOTCHA!!!

Just kidding, you probably weren't fooled. :) Alright, let's go through the days again. I like doing that.

Lunes: Had intercambios. Turns out that it was actually with Elder Huish, my district leader4, and not his companion. Elder Huish is also from Mesa, AZ. He has been in the mission for about 8 months now.  He is pretty kool. 

Martes: In the morning, we found a guy who didn't have hands, or a left ear. He literally had hooks for hands! It was crazy, but we didn't show any concern or amazement. We kept our kool, and Elder Huish got a future investigator who seemed very interested in the church. Switched back to my own companion, and we went straight to a lesson. At the end of this lesson, I was prompted to share something about temptation, and commandments. So, I pulled out my scriptures, and shared it. But, it was really crazy, because I was saying things that I didn't even know I could, and I talked for a considerably long time. I can testify that the Holy Ghost was talking through me. It was soo kool. After that, I had another couple lessons, and did a good amount of talking in them too. It was great.

Miercoles: I shared an insight on the spot in Spanish at the district meeting, and did pretty good. my Spanish is getting a lot better really fast.  Then, that night, we found a family with FHE, and a bunch of neighbor kids came. We got 3 new investigators, and a bunch of future, because we talked to the other kids' parents afterwards. The best part, They are ALL married. That is a miracle! Nobody is married here. So, that was really kool. Also had some fun listening to a member making a fool of himself. Yeah, it was a good day.

Jueves: By this point in the week, I was determined to have a good week. We set a goal of 10 baptisms in April, and we are wrking hard to get them. I had my first interview with President finally, and it took most of the day long.  It was good, and we did a lot of contacting afterwards, and got some future investigators.  President shared the story that dad shared a lot about the guy who wnted some advice to fix his life or something, and the mentor guy grabbed him, and shoved his head under the water, until the guy almost drowned, then he pulled him back up and said that if he wants it as bad as he wanted to breath, he can do it.  So, I got pretty inspired. haha, so yeah. I want to be the best.

Viernes: This week, I had a really, really bad kink in my neck... It really hurt. But I am determined to be optomistic. Then, that night, We got 4 refferals from a recent convert, and we got a bunch of new investigators.  We have been having a lot of success in finding this week. almost so much, that I don't feel like I deserve it. this wek, and from now on, I will earn the success I get.

Sábado: Not a lot to report. Found another married family. We just had to wait to ee who will go to church.

Domingo: We only had 1 investigator go to church. But, we didn't expect a lot to go this week. It seemed that everything was going wrong for everybody. We need to somehow get people to church. If you have any advice on how to make that happen, please tell me. Also, if you have any ideas for finding, let me hear them. We need better ideas. 

Lunes: personal P-Day. Finally bought our groceries.  I get milk again! And I got more of that really good vanilla cereal.  Elder Guevara is staying.

This week has been great. I am determined to work harder. I want to want success as bad as I want to breath. I am working towards that desire. I am working towards becoming a better missionary.  Oh, and Mom, if you could send me some more stuff, that would be great. ;)  I need another 5x7 pane of glass, because the one that you sent broke, I need some more pens, because people keep stealing them, so I only have like 2 and a half left, and I use them a lot. Also, an English Hymnbook, so I can read the hymns, and more lined paper, because that doesn't exist here... :P

He estado teniendo una muy grande experiencia. Gracias por sus oraciones por mi, y suplico que puedan seguir orando. La misión es maravillosa, pero es difícil. Por favor, oren por mi. Voy a orar más y más por ustedes. Quiero que ustedes están felices también. Si pueden, ayúdenme con ideas para encontrar. Necesitamos más maneras, porque nuestra meta es 10 bautismos en Abril. Gracias! Ahora, mi testimonio es este: 

Sé que el Señor vive, y que me ayuda. Sé que me ha dado todo que tengo. Él es mi Salvador y Redentor. su sacrificio por nosotros es más grande que podamos comprender. Sé que Dios realmente contesta cuando oramos, y que Él quiere que estamos feliz. Ellos van a ayudarnos, guiarnos, y protegernos, si pedimos.  estoy muy muy muy agradecido por ellos, y cada oportunidad que me han dados.  Gracias por todos. les amo mucho, y espero que puedan sentir mi, y Su amor cada día. Tengan una maravillosa semana! (Or else... >:)  )

De nuevo, LES AMO!!

Élder Olsen (Riley)

"Facing adversity head on and overcoming it." -Dad

This week was great. Not the best week that I have ever had, obviously, but I went into it optomistically, so it came out alright. I am grateful for all of your support and motivation! Like mom, I don't really think that I have a lot to talk about. Let's go by day, see if I can remeber anything super special.

Lunes: We started "Mini-Sión" in a different place called "Las Viñas".  We didn't like the place, but decided that we would give it a shot. the first day was okay, but it wasn't very good. Then, we had lessons and stuff. That was it.

Martes: We have been trying to do 10 ways to find this week, and we did a lot of it. I will explain more later.  Mini-Sión was a lot better feeling the second day.

Miercoles: District meeting. Elder Hiuish brought some guacamole that he made. It was really good. Then, someone said to me "You've got something in the mail." Kool! That's a first.  So it was this shoebox. It was from mom, but was Brady's idea. :) I loved it. Twix (I bragged to everyone about it today.) Some cookies, milk duds, junior mints.  a couple weeks ago, I told my mom, jokingly, that I wanted some banana bread... and she actually sent it!!!!!!!! That was sooo funny to me.  It was good, but not as good as it is when it is fresh, and toasted. It was all wet with a wierd juice stuff that came out of it, it was super dense, and it was cold, because I kept it in the fridge.  Oh well, I ate it, so it's ok. The cookies were great though! Molases crinkles. :) And then, to top it off, there were Pictures of the Temple, and My family.  The frame with my family in it was broken, but the temple one was intact. as I looked through the piuctures, I got SO happy. But, I got to the last one in the stack, and I cried. I am so embarassed. Elder Guevara doesn't like babies. :P Jk, but the last picture was the picture of me and my brothers. The first thing that came to my mind was "Every Brother is a Superhero."  Wow.  Freaking. Awsome. I love you guys so much. Thank you so much.

Jueves: Saw a pretty serious fight happen. It was interesting. The cops came, and arrested the attacker. Fun stuff.

Viernes: Las Viñas turned out to be perfect. Lots of people who could be ready. We have done a lot of contacting. 

Sábado: Nothing super special. In the night, I had a little pep talk with myself. I got super ready and happy. I am getting the language, sometimes, and I just felt awesome. I made a goal to talk only in Spanish on Sunday, and to make a joke. Great night.

Domingo: I did it! Only Spanish today! I didn't make a joke, and I didn't talk a lot, But, I did it, and I found out that I am doing exchanges again. with the same guy. So, no English. kool. Bring it on!

Today was zone P-Day. We had a little party, sort of. It is our Zone Leader's las P-Day. he goes home next week, to Nevada. He is kool. I will miss him a little, but I didn't get to know him too well. But, good for him! His name is Elder Hackleman.  I was trying to learn some children's hymns, and wasn't doing to bad!" I learned 2, almost memorized. We'll Bring the World His Truth, and My Heavenly Father Loves me. I love that song. It reminds me of Mom. Anyways, that was my day.

And my week. The names of the family that I baptized last week are: Miguel Morales Mendoza(42); Lidia Rodas Hernandez de Morales(34), Leidi Julissa Morales Rodas(15), Miguel Angel Morales Rodas(13), and Sergio Joel Morales Rodas (9).  Names are different here. Everyone has 2 last names. For instance, my name if I was born here would have been Riley Jacob Olsen Arave. It is strange. And then, If youare a girl, and are married, your name doesn't change. You just get one added on.  For instance, the wife of this family, her name is Lidia Rodas Hernandez, but she is married to a Morales, so she gets a "de Morales" added on. Interesting. I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait until next week for the pictures. 

"Las 10 Maneras de Encontrar" are just 10 different ways to contact or find people. We are supposed to have 10 every week, and it is harder than it seems.  These, for us, are as follows: FHE (a game to play with families), BoM challenge (give someone a book of mormon with the challenge to read it and pray, and we will stop by in 3 days to see.), Mini-Sión, Contact Neighbors of members, contact in a Plaza (which was a complete failure, but we tried it), ward BoM (give a member a book of mormon, and have them give it to someone, and bring them to church), Old investigators, contact with a video (Together Forever), Church Tour (Thursdays, where I saw the fight), and teach a lesson to a member and ask referals.  They worked somewhat. it was the first week that we used it, and we trippled our number of new investigators from last week. (That isn't saying much, last week was terrible, with only 3 investigators. This week we had 8, which isn't completely trippled, but close enough.) We will continue to use the 10 ways, and hopefully, we won't be transferred next week. TRANSFERS ARE NEXT WEEK! Wow! 6 weeks. Faster than the CCM, that's for sure. I really hope that Elder Guevara is not transferred, and I REALLY hope that I have to show around a new companion that doesn't speak English. Anyways, we will see what happens next week. This week is what I will focus on.

Testimonio: Sé que esta iglesia es la únicamente verdadera iglesia en todo del mundo. Solo en esta iglesia tenemos la plenitud del evangelio, y la autoridad para hacer ordenanzas como bautismo y la santa cena. Yo estoy muy agradecido por esta oportunidad de servir aquí en Misión Perú Lima Oeste.  La misión realmente es maravillosa. Sí, la misión es un deber, pero para mi, es mucho más que eso. Es una bendición. Gracias por toda su ayuda. estoy feliz por eso. Hasta el 23 de Marzo! Les amo!

This was truly a great week. A lot happened. I like how I did it last week, day by day, so I will do it again.

Lunes: On Monday, it was p-day, and was awesome, as always. At least, until 6...  I had exchanges.  I went with an Elder Perez, from Comumbia, who doesn't speak English, for 24 hours.  He was really kool, and knew how I was with the language, so he spoke very slow, and gave me LOTS of oppurtunities to speak. I Was completely lost for most of the evening, just knda following him as he went placing, trying to answer his questions as good as I can, but I was feeling better by the end of the day. Listened to some music, said a prayer, and went to sleep.

Martes: Woke up and had some new kind of cereal, with a vanilla creme filling, and it was GOOD. Had personal study, memorized the last point of the 10 "Cómo Comenzar a Enseñar" points, and rread a bunch of El Libro de Mormón. Then, for companion study, we practiced using the points, and teaching prayer, as a first lesson.  Then, he went to go get a small trim cut at like 10:30, and he shared the first lesson with the guy cutting his hair. We went back, and prepared for the day, went to lunch, and one member got almsost seemingly mad at me, because I wouldn't talk much. I talked a bit, and we had a couple lessons. At 6, we went back to our own companions, and I taught a couple lessons to our investigators with baptismal dates.

Miercoles: Had district meeting, waited during interviews of our investigators, all of them passed, but 3 needed another interview, and had them that night, and passed those too. :) 6 baptisms.

Jueves: Our running water wasn't running today. :P so, we couldnt shower, or use the toilet.  We got a new investigator named Fany, but pretty uneventful. 

Viernes: Still no running running water. Zone meeting. In the afternoon, we discovered that, due to certain circumstances, one of our investigators could no longer get baptized on saturday, but will work towards a later week. Then Elder Guevara told me that I had to baptize all of the family. Then I went home, listened to some music, and went to sleep.

Sábado: So yeah. I baptized 5 people, discovered of a talk that I was supposed to give for Sunday at church. And also, we had to change our schedule to go to the District Leader's baptisms at 6. Yeah, then wrote a bit of my talk, and went to bed.

Domingo: Finished my talk, practiced a musical number for church, had lunch, and went to church at 2.  Our family was confirmed, and due to time restrictions, I didn't end up having to give a talk!! :D So, yeah it was great. We had a lesson with last week's convert, Johan, and we taught lesson 3, and I was saying things in Spanish that I didn't know that I could! It wasn't perfect, and Elder guevara still did most of the talking, but it was one of the best lessons that I have ever had. Afterward, Johan wanted to learn English a bit, so we taught him some English. How to pray. Yeah. It was a good day.

And now there is today. We studied, shopped, prepared for the week, had lomo saltado for lunch with some Inca Kola, and now we are here. It has been a really great week.

Oh, and I am going to answer what I think a lot of you are thinking.  I BAPTIZED MY FIRST TIME!!!! FIVE PEOPLE!!!! IN SPANISH!!!!  I was soo nervous and anxious, but as soon as I got in the water, I was super calm, and I felt the Spirit. I had to do every single person twice, because they kept sticking their feet up, but it was successful, and I am freking soo happy. I felt good, and it was the spiritual highlight of my week. Sé que esta iglesia tiene la verdad. Jesucristo verdaderamente es nuestro salvador y solo mediente Él podemos tener la vida eterna. I miss you all, and am glad to see that you have all had great weeks. :) Have another one. ;)

Love you guys!

Elder Olsen

 

They have something here, that made my day. TRIX cereal, NOT IN PUFFS. I know it's stupid, bu I just HAD to get it. Haha.

I was bored.

And this one is the really good cereal I was talking about.

 

March 2, 2015 Baptism of Johan and clean shoes for a moment

Alrighty. So this week was ok. Not alot really happens.  There is never anything super different. I will go by days...

Monday: Elder Guevara got a haircut, and we taught a couple of lessons. Bore testimony.

Tuesday: We had a big day planned, but every single lesson fell through. We tried contacting but nobody would listen to us, and at the end of the day, we finally had one lesson happen, and he was a Dominican or something who slurred his Spanish so bad, not even Elder Guevara could understand him... To make things worse, he said something anout a gringa that he married in Texas, and died or something, so he was trying to talk to ME because I am a gringo.  Wow... I had no idea what he was talking about, and he wouldn't accept us to come back...  But he kept the LdM. :P

Wednesday: Johan Javier Hurtado Principe had his second baptismal interview, and passed! Other than that... it was an average, one third understood day.

Thursday: Read to 2 Nefi in el Libro de Mormón aloud in personal study, and was another very average day of not much.

Friday: Was funny, because it was my turn to contact, and I saw this guy and went up to him, shook his hand, and he said claro claro... then pushed pass me and went inside... He REALLY didn't care... and we tried knocking on the door, but he wouldn't answer... until his daughter came, and said that he wasn't home. :P

Saturday: We didn't do a lot, because of the baptism at 6. We were told to be there at 5, and Elder Guevara spent a while getting ready. we got a couple of lessons in, and the others fell through.  Johan was baptized, and there was a great turnout, and all of the Zone came (because that is what they are supposed to do) so yeah. He bore his testimony, and Elder Guevara said it was very powerful. I didn't understand a whole lot of what he said, but I could feel the Spirit. We have correlation on Saturday nights, so we had it right after, at 8, and it lasted until 9.

The baptism with Johan. His wife and mother in law were already members.

Elder Guevara, Johan Javier Hurtado Principe, and Me

My first baptism in my mission journal

Sunday: Was pretty a'ight.  I was so thirsty, that I drank like half ofe the water in our room. :P Then we had a lesson with new investigators (a family of 3) and taught our gfamily of 5 investigators who are getting baptized on Saturday with their friend. so we have 6 baptisms this week. I am nervous, because Elder Guevara tells me that I am going to be doing half of the 6.... and I don't really know spanish... or how to baptise. :P So that will be fun.  

Anyways, then today, I bought some white bread and butter, and had a slice with butter on it, and it was exactly the same as it is supposed to be. It was AWESOME. Best food I've had since I've been in Perú. Haha, jk, but it made me feel at home, and it was good. :)

So, that was my week.  I am very proud of Spencer for being the good brother that I knew he could be. Dad told me that he has been doing a really good job at that. I wanted to thank him in front of everybody who will read this letter, because he is the example at home now, and I am very proud of him for being so good.  I am happy for all of my brtohers and family, and am proud of them too. Zachary, for being so fun and optimistic (at least in his letters) and getting his Life Scout like a boss. Brady, for getting the Priesthood and his awesome castle that Dad just sent me a picture of, and getting his 1st Class. Paxton, for getting his Bobcat and being such a good brother to everyone, not just his actual brothers. And R2 because he is still being cute. Dad, for being so uplifting and encouraging to me. And Mom, for being brave enough to hike. Thanks everyone for behaving while I am gone.

Now for my testimony... en español.

Sé que el Evangelio ha sido restaurado a la tierra por medio de José Smith, el cual fue llamado de Dios y Jesucristo. Ayer, leímos en una lección con un converso reciente la historia de José Smith.  Puedo siempre sentir el espíritu cuando leo ese.  Sé que Él realmente vio Dios y Jesucristo.  Sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero.  Sé que el profeta Thomas S. Monson es un profeta verdadero, y que he sido llamado por él, o sea, por Dios, para venir aquí y compartir lo que sé a ellos que no saben. Esta es una oportunidad grande.  Serviré con toda mi corazón, mente, y fuerza.  Yo amo a esta iglesia, porque es la verdad, completamente. estoy muy muy muy agradecido para estar aquí.  Gracias a todas personas que me ayudaron. Mamá, papá, Sarah, Xander, y todos mis hermanos. Les amo!!

The view of the ocean from my area!

 

And my clean shoes:)

A nice coke:)