BREAKING NEWS

Soooo I told you guys, you would be the first to know if I saw Cara... And YES I kept my promise and your the first to know! I didn't even post a picture on insta yet, so this is fresh new news! Now that is something to feel good about! BUT ITS TRUE! I saw her today at the temple :) we giggled like little girls and she ran away from me laughing when she first saw me! We both were shaking. (No this is not a reenactment of a love scene- Lezzz be honest.) It was almost as if I had seen her last week, it felt that natural. But at the same time,  I was literally in shock that she was right there in front of me. Needless to say, I am SO happy I saw her and it made my week. Enjoy these ugly pictures that we took to remember this captivating moment :)

November 25, 2013 {Kim}

JERSEYYY
Heyyy!!! We are just suppose to get on and email you a quick email and say we are safe. im doing great. haha so tired tho havent slept since yesterday. but i already love it here! we went to downtown newark immediately when we got here and we did a fear buster. it was awesome. we placed a book of mormon. we were just running around the city. i was so freezing tho since i dont have anything but a jacket.ha. i will have to write more about that in a letter. i dont have time. but the hermanas i have met so far are soo awesome. so crazy hahaha but so awesome! sorry i was going to call today but then i heard we couldnt so i didnt. but now everyone is saying we were suppose to so thats a bummer. well i gotta go. but i also had an awesome experience on the plane with a baptist woman. we're tight now and i challenged her to read the book of mormon and she accepted. i didnt have an english copy to give her tho. i will write more about that in a letter! so awesome. and the president and his wife are AWESOME! we just ate an amazing meal. well i gotta go. i find out who i am paired with and where i am going tomoorrow afternoon. ahhh. so excited. hasta luego love you all!

November 25, 2013 {Kaitlyn}

Hola mi Familia, 

What a week! First baptism... CHECK! Wow, it was amazing! Who knew that it would be so stressful. Ha we were looking around everywhere to find a dress or a jumper for her, but couldn't find one. Well, we ended up getting one that wasn't the prettiest thing in town but that's alright. Her dress that her dad bought for her made up for that. Wait until you see the pictures! Haha she looks like she's going to prom! :) Ok so let me tell you a little about the baptism. We sang "When I am Baptized" for the musical number. It reminded me of my own baptism. :) President has asked us to share the Restoration while they are getting dressed, so that was super fun. President Wilson came which was really neat. (His mother passed away this weekend and wasn't able to attend the funeral for that, yet he still is always thinking about others.) Elder Scofield was translating for him, but as soon as we quoted the First Vision everything went silent. It was so so neat because every person in the room could feel the spirit that was present. It was amazing! At the end of the service right before the closing hymn Roberta(Ixchel's mom) got up in tears and bore her testimony. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. We had asked her earlier if she would like to do hat but she said she was just to shy. Well, I can't tell you how amazing that was that she did that. If that didn't make her husband feel the spirit then I don't know what would, because that was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. It was a WONDERFUL experience. Watching her being raised out from the water just filled my eyes with tears. This gospel is TRUE!!! There is nothing better in the world that we could be doing apart from living the gospel. We asked her how she felt after and she smiled and said "I feel new." Wow, I just can't even explain to you how amazing it feels to witness the change the gospel makes in a persons life. I LOVE THIS WORK!!! 

It was stake conference for us this week. It is just crazy the announcements that are being made. I can't believe that everybody 12 and older will now be invited to attend the adult session. Hastening the Work is becoming a part of every meeting I attend. It's amazing!!! The messages at conference were absolutely stunning. I wish I could share with you all that I felt, but wrapped up in one thing I learned. I AM EXACTLY WHERE I NEED TO BE. It is amazing how much I come to recognize that more and more everyday. Every experience I have had on my mission has been a testimony builder for me. It makes me think "what in the world have I been doing the rest of my life?!"  6 months has done more for me than the other 19 years of my life. I can just imagine what the next 12 will bring.   All I know is that I needed this to help mold me to the person I one day want to become. My testimony is stronger than ever that I know my Savior lives. Now is the time to be sharing this with the rest of the world. I hope you're all doing your member missionary work and doing the same :) Share it with EVERYONE!! 

We found the Javier's records this week, so hopefully he will be able to receive the priesthood and baptize his wife. (PS can't remember if I told you but I'm going to need to come back for their sealing next year. :) ) He is just the most amazing man. We tell him about tithing and the first thing he says "well, I better start today. I didn't keep track of my income before but I will be sure to start doing that." You can't get better than that. His testimony is a ROCK! It's been the most amazing experience to work with somebody so so prepared!!! We feel quite spoiled for that one :) 

Well, I'm doing amazing over here!! I can't even believe I'm almost to 6 months! I'm thinking I may have to extend at the end of my mission. ;) But seriously, these 6 months have been the most difficult but the most rewarding thing I have ever done and ever will do in my life! I LOVE IT OUT HERE!! :) Hope all is going well back at home. You are always in my prayers, and I am blessed with feeling all of yours. One month from this day I will be speaking on the phone with you. CRAZY! Haha Oh btw we have some fun plans for Thanksgiving! I'll write about those in your letter this week. Love you so so much, and have an EXCELLENT WEEK!!!!!! :)

Con Amor, Hermana Wright

November 24, 2013 {Kim}

Last day at the MTC :( :) 

1) Matching with one of my favorite Mexicans. Beyonce Pose. (He loves Beyonce) ^^^

2) Hermano Montes! ^^^

Hollllla! So we were just given permission to email one last time before we head out. wow. i cant even believe that i will be leaving Monday morning. its unreal to me. Im so excited/scared/sad/happy. Its so weird to think about. We had in field orientation yesterday from 9:00am -9:15pm. It didnt seem real. I just said bye to one of my teachers earlier & i cried haha. and im saying bye to my other in just a few minutes. im not excited. They have helped me so much and i am so grateful for them. ahh i love em. So today was awessome. We all taught our last lesson all together. We taught our teacher Hermano Silva as himself before he was baptized. It was one of the most spiritual lessons ever. We didnt want it to end. And i learned so so much from it. We were all begging for more time. Ha. ah so good. Well i dont really have much else to say. My mind is going crazy right now. But i love you all so much! thanks for everything!! hasta luego!! New Jersey here i come! 

peace, love, and blessings! 

love, Hermana Josse

 1) Soccer Crew! ^^^

2) If you wanna inspired. Read this poem i wrote for Hermana Janzen. haha. Im pretty proud of it. ^^^

1) Hermano Silva con the Hermanas ^^^

November 19, 2013 {Kim}

Hola!!!

1) Hermana Brunsdale & Hermana Boley! (Adios Brunsdale)

2) Last temple trip with the family minus Elder Homer (He¨s sick. :( and im super nervous because everyone is getting sick. ahhh) 

Hola!!! Holy cow. I am on my last week here at the MTC. Im so nervous but so excited. I leave the MTC monday morning at 2:00am and my flight is at 7:10. I am not sure if i am able to call but i think so. So be ready. My flight gets into atlanta at 11:24 and my flight to Newark isnt until 1:45 so im assuming they will let me call. But seriously It is insane how fast time is flying. Im gonna be in New Jersey in the blink of an eye. And people keep scaring me more and more.... haha all the Mexicans say they cant even understand Dominicans and Cubans which is who i will be teaching. So im in for a treat since i cant even understand Mexicans when they talk "fast". haha yipeee. Im just praying for a good trainer. How cool would that be if Lindsay Orton was my trainer? but who knows. So to start off...funny story of the week. actually... horror story of the week. So we are outside practicing teaching. I am posing as an investigator for my teacher when all of the sudden a HUGE spider crawls up my skirt. oh my goodness. but i couldnt break character so i stayed composed. hahaha hardest thing ever. i HATE spiders. I flicked the spider off but it shot out a nasty little web and went under and up my skirt AHHHH and then i was asked to say the closing prayer so i had to sit there and pray with a gigantic spider in my pants. hahaha ahahhhhh. That took so much self control. Right after the prayer i was like Hermano there is a spider in my skirt i gotta run to the bathroom. so im like slapping myself all over tryin to kill it but my companion doesnt like to run so we had to just calmly walk to the bathroom. and finally got that nasty thing outta there. Haha scariest thing ever. holy moly. And on another note... for our service project this week we folded sheets again. I have become a professional scrunchie sheet folder if anyone was wondering. The little Mexican that works in the laundry place makes sure you fold it perfectly.. haha he unfolds them and re does them if they arent exaclty perfect. So this week i feel like i have improved a lot in my teaching skills. We had coaching this week. So each of us in our district talked to Hermano Silva separately and gave us advice and stuff. And that helped me soooo so much. He is such a good teacher. We have had some super awesome lessons this week. and yesterdays was probably the bestttt ever. I came outta that one just gleaming. ha. Gosh my thoughts are all over the place right now. I cant think of what else has happened this week...hmmm. We have our last live devotional tonight and im praying that its one of the 12...but i doubt it. cuz Provo always steals em :( but thats ok! I just love love love devotionals. This last sunday we watched the movie "The Testaments" i love love loved it. Thats a very good one. i recommend it. Gosh i am so excited to get out of the MTC but so sad. I love my family that i have gained while i have been here and so many amigos. well i hope everyone is well and choosing the right. hast luego. peace, love, and blessings. 

Love, Hermana Josse

1) Our Latino Amigas! Haha they are hilarious. shout out to Sara Burns.... The one in the front with the thumbs up is from Guadalajara (Sister Martel) 

2) Elder Workman and Hermano Silva. Hermano Silva is the skinniest man.

1) Hermana Janzen

2) Mexico City

November 18, 2013 {Cara}

Tirrrred

Ohana-

Thankyou so much for your letters Mom and Dad. They really are what keep me going.
Every week I get more and more excited to hear from you! CONGRATS again to all the mamas. Janey! Hip Hip Horray!! And Alyssa- Congrats on your lesson, I'm sure your a wonderful teacher. Being in the YSA ward, I can totally picture you being an awesome teacher over there in good ol OKIE. Aaron- what happened to him? Is he living still? Whats his email?/ address? Gavin- WOW!! congrats on an awesome football season! Dad is so proud of you and so am I! Way to conquer your last year of highschool football:) Abby- Haha I love you.. whats new with you pretty sis? Jorg- Howzit being a missionary in the 5th grade? Jantz- THANKYOU for the update on the pool! I'm so happy you love it. It makes me happy, actually, to hear you guys talk about how much you use that pool! To me- that pool has lots and lots of memories behind it... even though I was only able to put my toe in it....

Here's why- I reflect on the amounts of missionary work our pool provided us in California. And how for the past 8 years we were promised a pool after that. We even left random dirt patches for it! The many years of weeding and throwing rocks out of those dirt patches..... and the wonderful 'bonding' time we had as siblings as we did so...(<--ha ha)

but you guys always promised us a pool no matter what. Now we finally have one:) That pool represents how far our family has come.. It amazes me completely. It represents a father I have been so blessed with, who has worked hard every. single. day. to provide for our family. A dad who knows the true meaning of work, and endurance, and persavierance, and dedication. A dad that exercised his faith and in return was blessed. It also represent the mom I have been so blessed with, who no matter what never gave up. Every day at home she lead us in family prayer, she made sure we had a family dinner, she made sure we were going to wednesday church, and most importantly she made sure we were going to church on Sunday. I wont ever forget that mom! You even got me home for curfew every weekend. You cared about every one of us kids. You never gave up! You guys kept your covenant you made with heavenly Father and the blessings he gave in return are so apparent. Never in a million years, did I think that we'd ACTUALLY get a pool. Haha you guys kept your promise! Ha ha:) But so did Heavenly Father and I love it! So thats what I think of our pool:) It's good to know its 90 degrees Jantz! That's how hot it is over here too:/

And Man.. this work is soooo incredible.. but sooo draining, I'm going to be honest. Its kickin my bum. My bum that has gained (drum roll please..... 17 POUNDS! Yep. So much food.. Ok moving on)

Quick update- The villegas are doing AWESOME! They love the Book of Mormon! I bought them a picture book version and they LOVE it! And we now have 5 out of 7 of the brothers we are teaching!! You guys this family is what keeps me going. They are so happy, yet they have so little. Haha our lesson, we were all sitting on a circle on the floor and had to ask them to put the book of mormons down for at least 15 minutes so we could share the Plan of Salvation ( which they thought was amazing how we can go to a kingdom:) ) Christie - the mom - loves it all too. We have taught the boys how to pray and they love doing it now! The mom records them and watches them while she's at work:)

Update on Mikey- He's so solid. Haha its awesome. The spirit is so strong in all our lessons. So strong! He has been prepared. He knows everything we say is true, he's always saying, "makes sense" . We just keep on teaching him and he just accepts it all! We asked him to start making up question or something, because our lessons just go so fast and so smoothly! The spirit is so apparent too:) I love feelin the spirit! His favorite part is the Spirit world. Alot of peoples are, by the way, and I believe its because it truly shows how much heavenly father loves his children. He's not going to just send them straight to 'Hell". He's going to do all he can to help us. That's what the Atonement is for! And I would love to keep going and testifying but I want to hurry and tell y'all about.........

 

Mark. So in Maui, I remember this one time- after personal study, pondering the thought of teaching an Athiest. And how tough it'd be, but that it'd be a cool challenge. Welp- Heavenly Father has provided me with the challenge here in Oahu. And I've accepted! Mark is one of the YSA's friend, and man- he has got some TOUGH questions... and he's had the lessons before, AND has read a lot of the book of Mormon. When we stopped by his home we introduced ourselves and asked if we could come back and share a message.... haha instead- he said, "no.... I want to hear it right now." and then went off, talking for about 15 minutes on religion and stuff and how we're wasting his time talking with him, haha yet, he was not wanting us to leave, he was- in a way- asking for us to help him? And the spirit was telling us to stay.

 

So Me and Sister Teuscher just pause. We're both just praying to know what to tell this man to try to get him to want to listen to us and learn more. We read Mosiah 5:13. We asked him, what he knows about Jesus Christ.. because he's kinda like.... a know it all type...  and he thought he was answering the question by talking about the bible. So then we asked the question again.. and then he started talking about God... So I asked the question one more time... and explained it a little bit better and said, "Mark what do you know about the man who is named Jesus Christ." He sat there for a good minute............. and he couldn't answer! He said, "The only thing I know about Jesus is what I saw on t.v.... it was a cartoon show... I'm so sorry. Do you guys know anything about him you could share with me?" His face showed he was so embarrassed by that answer.. and it broke my heart! We looked at him and asked if we can read with him a story about Jesus Christ from the Bible. He agreed! We promised him it'd only take 20 minutes. Then he made us shake on it. We are meeting with him Saturday!!

 

Alright family well I truly love you all. I am so grateful to have you in my life. I'm so blessed to know who Jesus Christ is, He is our Savior and our Redeemer. My daily studies and love for everyone here have developed an eternal love for Him. I know true joy and happiness and answers to our prayers come through our faith in him and his Atoning Sacrafice he made for all of us! This is His church He himself established to provide a way for us to find joy and peace while on this tricky time on earth:) His church has been restored and I am SO blessed to have the opportunity to work hard each day and to help the people in Hawaii prepare themselves for the time He will one day come again:) I love it l love it I love it!

 

I hope you guys love it as much as I do, and have the same desire to spread it as well! Olsen missionaries No ka Oi:) (<--the best) This email is soooo long sorry hahaha but its because my companion is doing lots of computer work and I just got carried away typing. Ok love you!

 

Aloha

Sister Olsen

 

Sunday was stake conference and Dieter F. Uchtdorf and David A. Bednar spoke- it was wonderful. Truly Truly wonderrrful

Nov 18, 2013 {Kaitlyn}

Tribute To Ryan Runia 

Hello my dearest family,

I couldn't believe the news I was given by President this week. I wasn't expecting anything at all, butFriday night I came home to President at our apartment when he then had told me the news. I'm so sorry for everything the family has been experiencing these past few months. Being so far away the most comfort I can give is to say that Heavenly Father is watching down on us all. Ironically that night President came I was on exchanges with an Hermana who had lost her husband to cancer just after a year and a half of being married. She said that her mission hasn't been a healing process, but a strengthening. As she said that I instantly thought of Cari. It's going to be extremely tough, but because of her astounding testimony in this gospel she'll be able to have the strength to overcome the pain.

 

I was reading back on a conference talk today and it made me think back to this same thought. "The Strength to Endure" by Elder Richard J. Maynes. He talks about how there may be challenges we face in life that we cannot solve. They will be with us until we pass on to the next life. He goes on to say "as we continue to endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life." "This is what the gospel gives us-not immunity from death, but victory over it through the hope we have in a glorious resurrection" In a talk by Neal A. Maxwell entitled "But for a Small Moment" he explains; "We have a Father who loves us specifically and gives us things to do and, because he loves us, will cause us, at times, to have our souls stretched and to be fitted for a better world by coping with life in this world. May God bless us with that kind of commitment, with the capactiy to be serious diciples and to accept both the agendum that he prepared for each of us because he loves us and the curiculum, prepared for each of us, which he has customized to teach us the things we most need to know, because he loves us."

 

I've been thinking about you all this week. Today I was reading in personal study different talks and scriptures that I could share. The last one I came across was so simple but so amazing. John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." What a powerful scripture, eh? I know this to be true with all my heart. A mission is the time to experiment on the truth of this scripture. I have felt more than ever being out here that the Lord never leaves us alone. Clearly our trials are still going to be hard, but he is going to give us every last bit of comfort we need to endure well these trials. I have a strong testimony of the Plan God has for each one of us. Ryan is on the other side of the veil watching over Cari and the kids. He will be with them everyday, cheering them on. What an amazing comfort it is to know of these truths. I am so grateful to be strengthening my testimony of this doctrine so that I can help in times such as these. Cari know that I love you so so very much. You are an amazing role model to me with the strength you have had this past week. You and your family have shown me so much in what it means to truly live the things you believe. Please please please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. You will all be in my prayers at all times. Love you so so much. Remember, when things make it to hard to stand, Kneel.

 

As for me, I had an excellent week this week. We had many many miracles happen! We have Ixchel's baptism next SUnday. Everything is set and stone. Super super exciting. We'll continue working on her dad. He's one of those that knows but work is more important to him. He's un poquito flojo. ;) We'll get him though!

 

We aren't getting transferred! YIPEE! The Zone Leaders have been putting in a good word for us. Haha I guess it's been a while since we had good Hermana's in the area. They're so kind to put in a good word with the AP's and President Wilson :)

 

Yesterday at church we did translating. It is IMPOSSIBLE! I can't multi-task in English! Hahaha on top of that the lady that was speaking speaks a thousand miles a minute! Haha the English people must have been quite confused. Hahahaha oh well! It'll help us with Spanish TONSS! Hopefully I'll get a bit better at it though! Hahaha

 

Well family, I love you so so much! Thank you for all your amazing examples. I know these trials aren't fun, but I am positive that they will make each on of us stronger! Have an amazing week! Les Quiero BASTANTE!

 

Con Amor, Hermana Wright  

Author's Note

I wasn't kidding when I said it was going to be a blog overload! But now we are finally here, all caught up! I am not sure where Cara's email for this week went, so just know she is doing very good :)

Short story with Cara, though. She was literally two minutes away from me all day last Tuesday when she went to the temple! I had things called "school" and "other responsibilities," so I never got a chance to see her! Sad day. I am confident one of these days we will run into each other, though, and all you blog readers will be some of the first people I notify! Be excited :)

In Hawaiian news, everything is paradisiacal like you think it would be. Soccer season ended after an eight-game win streak! Not mad about that :)

With much love,

McKenzie Evans
Your Hawaiian Blogger Babe

Reflective stomach, you know it

November 12, 2013 {Kim}

Hola!!!! Holy cow....i have to start out by saying....i only have 12 DAYS left in the MTC! This is my 5th week! whaaat! That is just so crazy to me! I love it here. Although we do the same exact thing everyday...i really do love it so so much. The people are amazing and i am going to be so so sad to leave them. There will be tears for sure. Well this week has been greatttt. I was called up to give a talkon sunday! And that went pretty well. I attempted some spanish haha but my spanish is noooo bueno. so hopefully it made a little bit of sense and helped at least one person. Sundays are just awesome. It was also me and my companions turn to be interviewed by the Branch president. And i was so thankful for that...He is the nicest cutest man ever. It was just so nice to talk to him. And share with him my experiences so far. His family is phenomenal... his dad is the 1st counselor in the mtc presidency and he gave an awesome lesson on sunday about specific prays. Mexicans are just the cutest nicest people ever. We also had an unreal devotional by Hermano Cates who is the director of the whole CCM. It was such a good talk about not looking back and longing. We need to foucs our minds 100 percent on the Lords work. Faith is always pointed towards the future. Mans extremity is Gods opportunity. soo good. i can tell you that i know for sure that  We truly do need the Lords help for this work. there is no way we could do it alone. no wayyy. After the sunday night movie we go back to our classes and discuss the movies that we watched...as a district. We had another awesome and spiritual meeting as a district. And Elder Workman was talking about how all the Elders need to practice their priesthood so he was saying how he wanted to give all of us a blessing the night before we leave the MTC. But then they just asked if anyone wanted one right then. So i said sure. Although i didnt realize it at the time.... it was muchhh needed. i heard everything i needed to hear. I am so grateful for the Elders and their willingness and worthiness to be able to practice their priesthood. Everyone was crying haha so after me everyone ended up getting a blessing and it was just an awesome night. I cant say it enough...i love my district. And i have had the opportunity to play FUTSAL 2 times this weeek! and now everyone plays everyday!!! It was so awesome to be able to do that!!! haha i miss soccer so much. The futsal crew calls me Hermana fifa & hermana Ronaldo.  i cant play everyday tho cuz my companion hates sports. So we decided to do an every other day thing. so hopefully thatll work out. and i get to play outdoor today!!!! yipee. Its good to be able to play since we are sitting all day everyday. and its soo hard for me to focus if i dont have my exercise - sports time. So on Thursday we also had an awesome TRC (Training Resource Center) which is where we go and we either become the investigator or we teach a volunteer who is already a member. Ill be honest and say that we always dread TRC so much. We always say whattt on earth are we suppose to teach someone that is already an active member (in spanish i might add) ha. We have always been the teachers. So this week we didnt have enough volunteers. So we had to teach one of the teachers. Hermana Young. ill be honest... when she walked in...i was like your kidding. why do we get stuck with the teacher? well that was stupid of me to think. ha. thats never a good thing to think. Well that lesson turned out to be one of the best lessons so far. we talked about prayer with her and the spirit was so strong. i almost cried. And i love hermana young so much. she is the cutest - nicest woman. sorry this email is all over the place haha. funny story. so me and one of my roomates .. do the spin bikes during  exercise time when we have time. we have to stand up the whole time and have it on a high resistence. and we just goof around on them to try and make it fun so we do this thing where we are like turn left, go right, uphill, downhill, one foot, two feet. its the stupidest thing and we look so funny doing it but it makes it makes it so much harder & funner. haha. and funny part of this is.... the other day im in line at lunch and this girl comes up to me and says... so me and my roomates were talking and we think that you have some awesome exercises and we were wondering if you could teach us. hahaha. so now we have a little class. its hilarious. but it really works. if only we had more time to exercise tho. well i love you all sooo so much. i hope you are all diligently studying your scriptures and attending church. and praying often. peace. love. and blessings. 

love, Hermana Josse

November 12, 2013 {Kaitlyn}

Ok, hope you are prepared for a list of stories right now. This week has been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! We have had miracle after miracle after miracle. I'm just going to start with Friday and do it from there, because the others are too long ago.

Friday's milagro: Maria Fernanda has a baptismal date!!! Happy birthday to me :) Her date is the 14th of December. That was a HUGE break through. She knows that these things are true, but it's been super hard for her because ALL of her family are catholics. Hermana asked her boldly to pick a date and she just said she wasn't ready for that. We continued to explain that the date is a way to take that first step of faith. I told her the story of Desi and it was amazing how similar they were. At the end of it all she says "ok lets pick a date." It was AMAZING! Best thing EVER!! Also we were talking about prayer and Javier (her husband) mentioned how she doesn't even like to pray out loud with only him. She's super timid... but she prayed for US!! :) Ahhh he's going to set up an interview to receive the priesthood. They're just both progressing SOOO much! I'm sorry to say but I'm going to have to come back to Virginia as soon as I'm back from my mish so that I can be at their sealing. AHH this just brings me the most joy in the WORLD!!!

Saturday: We had the Noche de Hispanidad which is where all the countries set up a little booth with all their typical things. They make all the different foods, dance, dress the same way, everything. When hispanics party they really party! One of the ladies in the ward had Hermana D and I dress up in Guatemalean attire. It was SOOO fun. We sang their National Anthem with them, and just had the best time ever :)

Sunday: Oooo where to start with Sunday? Ok well to shorten we just had an amazing day. All our investigators absolutely LOVED church. We had one there for the first time and she just wouldn't stop saying how much she loved it. She's actually English speaking so we're passing her off to the Elders... but still she's amazing. She'll be baptized in no time! :) Ok so after church we went to the Sorensen's for dinner. Woah. It was sooo crazy how much they reminded me of mom and dad. The first thing he was telling us is how he's trying to stay caught up with his wife learning spanish, ony through apps. (While she's taking a class). Dad in a nutshell right? Hahaha then she had the name tags for where we were sitting. Just like mom right? And then took a piece of Brucee cake out last night when she was cooking it because she just couldn't resist. Then she filled that spot with frosting. Hahahaha so funny. They were the cutest family in the world. So fun to have that experience to go into such a spirit filled home. It's very rare out here as sad as that seems.

Monday: Yesterday was amazing!!! Elder Sitati from the presidency of the quorum of the 70 came to speak to us. It was AMAZING!!! It calmed every single one of my biggest fears about the mission. The spirit was SOOO strong in the room, and it was just a wonderful spiritual tank filler :) Haha I wish I could share everything he shared with us, but all I can say is that it was something that everybody needs to hear! What a wonderful experience! :) We talked all about our purpose as a missionary and how it's not only for them but for us as well. He adjusted our purpose to: "COME UNTO CHRIST & invite others to come unto christ.... Baptism, AND ALL SAVING ORDINACNES....receiving, AND BEING WORHTY of the Gift of the Holy Ghost." Just by adding a few words to our purpose we recognize that this is our purpose for life. We are teaching what we need to be living. We are learning how to live it better each and everyday. Ahh it was just amazing! To end a wonderful day we had our first lesson with one of our members mother that has been coming to church. Sunday she asked "what's an apostasy" during relief society. prime right? Anyway, she wants to be baptized!!! Maybe in December, or maybe in January because her mom is coming from Guatemala. Beside the point, she is PREPARED. It was a sure YES directly after I invited her. The Lord has prepared sooo many people. The members are full time finders and the missionaries full time teachers. I recongized that more than ever this week. THis work is on FIRE!!! :) :)

The coolest part of all of this is that every single one of our 3 investigators on date come from part member families. You see miracles through working with them. Sara Burns you are going to see wonders with that, because you'll work with them more than anyone. Ahh what an amazing week.

Love you all so so much family! Thank you for all the love and support! I always look forward from reading your letters and emails. Have an amazing week! Keep on keeping on :)

November 5, 2013 {Kim)

Hooooola!
I want to start out by giving a BIG FAT BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT TO MY FAVORITE SISTER IN THE WORLD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREA! Lucky number 13!!! Holy cow. I hope you have a fantastic day!!! love you!!! So nothing huge has happened this week. We started teaching Daniel. So now we have 2 investigators. whoo. Hes so tough. haha. Our teacher (Hermano Silva) is posing as an investigator that he had on his mission. and she was super tough to teach... so thats what we get. We became friends with one of the latinos that lives in our house. She got here  way before her companion did so she just followed usround. Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she is from Mexico city. She is so funny. She kept making fun of me because i cant speak spanish. haha it was hilarious. So its been pretty crazy down here in Mexico. There have been a ton of Day of the dead parties going on. The music is so loud. Haha Mexican rap is the weirdest thing. After the devotional last Tuesday night we had a district review and it was one of the most spiritual meetings ever. Everyone (even the elders) were crying. it was unreal. I love my district so much. we are all such good friends. We went to the temple today and we had to do it in spanish. haha luckily everyone there is so nice and helpful or we would have been sooo lost. It was awesome tho! we had the opportunity of being the first people ever to see the new temple movie in spanish. so thats awesome. This week has had some ups and downs. im trying not to get frustrated with the language but its so hard not to sometimes. im not learning as fast as i would like to. but i know it will come in time as long as i am trying my best. well i love you all so so much! peace. love. and blessings. 

hasta luego 

love, Hermana Josse

ps.if you are planning on sending a letter (which i hope you are haha) it would probably be best if you sent them by tomorrow and no more after that. They take forever to get here so i will probably be in Jersey by the time they got here. craaaazy. time is flying by. haha i wish letters got here faster cuz they make me so happy. 

love you allllll!!!

November 5, 2013 {Cara}

I love to see the temple,,, I hope every one of you are going there one day soon!:) 

Ohana,

Hahahaha Oh my goodness I am so blessed with such a wonderful mother whose emails make me laugh so hard I have to bite my tongue to not distract all the other focused missionaries that are reading emails as well. Thanks Mom for all the updates! Wow! CONGRATS to all the future mothers out there.. including Kim Kardashian hahaha. Updates are good mother. Thankyou:)

AND OHhh my good-ness! We just got back from going to the temple today and as I was walking up the stairs I was talking about "how great I'd be to have something that smells good to put on" and BAM. A package full of perfumes and lotions was waiting there for me. Woo! Everything else in there was a wonderful, FUN, surprise:) Thank you so much!! Maybe we'll get less doors shut on us:) And I am going to represent the Thunder shirt tonight at Sports Night:)

Speaking of doors..... TRACTING is my favorite thing in the entire world! So I'm just going to tell you a bunch of Miracles in this email, because like I said, we went to the temple today (which was GLORIOUS) and it was an alllll day thing over in Laie and we just got back!:/

Miracle 1: I have been praying to find families that we could teach, because the Gospel is so focused on familes, I know that theres one out there for us to teach. Well guess what? Me and Sister Talanoa were on exchanges, and one of our appointments fell through... so I said, "Welp! That just means there's some other family out there waiting for us!"

We head a street over, and the first door we knock on was a mother named Stephanie with 2 kids. We said a prayer for her and her children. She couldn't stop smiling. Spirit was strong. Her son asked for us to come back. We got a return appointment. And she wants to be baptized. Prayer works, and everything happens for a reason Ohana.

Miracle 2: The Villegas family is a family with a single mother of 7 boys. There has been way too many miracles in this family! I'm going to share an experience with you guys. Its a very spiritual experience and me and Sister Teuscher couldn't believe it.

--- Early in the morning we had an appointment with Christie (the mom) and it went so well. We invited her son whose 6 to say the closing prayer, it was super simple and I just whispered in his ear what to say. It touched the mother in a way she "never felt before" she says. We let her know it was Heavenly Fathers love, letting her know He's there:)

Well after we left, I got this feeling to go back to Christie's that night. All day, for some reason I just had a feeling like we needed to go back that night, as if it was already a set plan to do so. Haha so I tell Sister Teuscher, "Ok its time for us to go back to Christie's now" She looks at me and says, "Yep your right." We take a U- turn and head over! We were both feeling the same thing all day long, and just didn't mention it to each other until that moment we knew. Haha comp unity woo woo! check.:)

Well Christie is gone at work... and so we knock. No one answers. The boys are home, but no one comes. We knock harder. The son gets up from the couch and looks at us, but doesn't "see'' us..... me and sister teuscher were like "what in the world was that?!". The windows were opened so we said, 'Aloha villegas!" No one came. No one heard or even budged... We knocked again.. SO surprised that no one is coming because we are literally RIGHT THERE!!!!!! We waited for about 5 more minutes and then we did one more simple knock......

Everyone- all at once- heard it, jumped up and came running to the door. The little boys love the missionaries so they were all so excited to see us. haha so we say hi to the boys and ask how their football practice was... and were like, "okk... wellll I guess we'll go..." haha and RIGHT when we are about to leave, Liki (one of the sons) and his cousins all pull up!!

Thats the Miracle:)

Liki has been to a mormon church, and loved it! He had such SOLID questions for us. Like "Do you guys believe that after you die, you live together with your family again?" Or "How does Jesus Christ help us in our life?" and "where did we come from?"

We got to all stand in the Villegas garage and bare our testimonies and the spirit was SO strong! I love testifying. He's about in his 20's and you could tell he is the oldest and the 'leader' of the family, because everyone was just amazed that Liki was actually asking these questions and talking with the missionaries. All the little brothers were just watching him ask, and listening to us answer, for about an hour!

He's now going to sit in on our lessons with his mom and little brothers. I KNOW, as silly as this may sound, that there was a reason why the Villegas family took FOREVER (couldn't) hear, or see me and sister Teuscher at the door... Heavenly Father was waiting for Liki and his cousins to show up, so we could have that powerful, spiritual experience with their family in their garage.

The spirit was so strong you guys. I felt it. Sister Teuscher felt it, and all those brothers felt it together. I felt Heavenly Fathers love for each and every one of them there!! The best part was the end. Before we left we asked if we could leave them with a prayer. Remember how the little 6 year old, Chazz boy brought the spirit so strong into their home earlier?? Wellllll.... why not have him do it again!? Soo once again, I knelt down by Chazz and whispered to him a prayer to say.

As we were walking out, I look over one last time and see - Liki turned to his cousins with his hand over his chest and said, "man, I do not know what this feeling is, but it sure is choking me up."

Haha me and Sister Teuscher walk around to our car and just start freaking out, saying a graditude prayer and just amazed with what really just happened. One of the most powerful experiences/ lessons I have ever had on my mission. I know that Heavenly Father's timing is perfect and I know that he answers our prayers! I know that what ever is important to us- If it is for the benefit of his children, he will grant it to us! I have a testimony. The temple today was incredible! I haven't been for almost 6 months! So that was super awesome:)

Well I love how I was going to tell you a bunch of miracles............ buuuuut I only got to 2. Haha just know that miracles happen every day over here..... and I never cease to be amazed by them!! I was reading in Mark 1 about the Savior and his ministry in Galilee and how he performed miracles, blessed people, and then left to PRAY to Heavenly Father- and went on to the next town! He didn't stay around to check up on all the people.... nope! He just kept goin and blessin people! I love Jesus. He is such an example. I related myself to this alot. Haha- remember how stubborn and upset I was about leaving Maui and not being able to see all those baptisms happening?

If I was still in Maui I wouldn't be here. As simple as that. Just like Jesus- Keep going! No need to stay for praise... and results... and baptisms... and after stuff. Keep the work moving forward. Just gotta do it. Biggest lesson I learned this week:) I'm loving the scriptures!

I love y'all so so so so much!! I love this Ghetto, dry area we like to call Waipahu:) Haha I forget I'm in Hawaii over here, it sure is wonderful though!

 Y'all looked so cute for Halloween! We did trunk or treat in the Samoan and Tongan wards. It was fun:) Have a wonderful week! Pray for the Villegas, and Stephanie and her family. Oh- also Charity- another miracle family. And fonotis- another miracle family. Ahh wish I could just call you guys and tell you everyyyything!!!!! We are meeting so many people!!!

Aloha

Sister Olsen

November 4, 2013 {Kaitlyn}

Hello hello :) :),

Wow, today was such an exciting day with all the emails. Josh sent me a picture and guess who it was?? Mitchell and Matt Conley, my buddies from BYU. Oh man, all three of them are goofballs so they will have lots of fun together. I get the most random emails sometimes because EVERYBODY is on a mission so then we just guess on the emails of all our friends. anyway, Josh seems to be doing great! How fun!! :)

Super sad to hear about Larry Krout! How did he pass away? It must've been sudden because I haven't heard anything about that.  Give there family my love. I guess maybe it was a good thing that Jamyn didn't go on her mish then? That's good to hear that her husband seems to be a super nice man. How sad!

As far as my week goes, it was WONDERFUL! :) It started off with a nice lunch at the GOLDEEEN CORAAAL as Emmet would say. I guess it's tradition for Emmet to take all the newbees to the Golden Coral. Emmet is a cute old man in our ward. He's white but he speaks Spanish so he attends our ward. The Golden Coral according to Emmet is the star next to Kolob. Hahaha that should say enough about him. He's wonderful! Funniest man alive.

Next we had a pretty neat experience. We work in the apartment complex called "The Nottingham Green" and it is the most diverse place you'll ever see. We run into tonss of Arabians. Well, there is this one lady in specific that we have seen like 5 times. She doesn't speak a lick of English, but she always smiles and stops to try to talk to us. She points to our tags and says "Jesus, I love Jesus." Well, with that being said we decided after seeing her so many times that we wanted to get her a Book of Mormon in Arabic for her. Miracle of the week, the second we came into NG she was there walking with her son. We quickly pulled over and jumped out of the car to give her the Book. She invited us in but we had another meeting to be to. We decided to stop by on Sunday to teach her though, and she was darling. She brough us out Mountain Dew's on a platter. Then she was skyping her sister and just was smiling as she told her sister about us. We couldn't really teach her, but we did invite the spirit in her house. We got lds.org pulled up for her to read, and we sang the classic "I am a Child of God." Someday she'll be baptize :) Someday when I learn arabic I'll teach her the rest of what we believe. So far I know how to say Jesus Christ, Book of Mormon, Hello/Goodbye, and count to 5. :) It's a start right?? Haha

Next exciting thing was the Noche de Hogar(family night) with Maria and Javier. It went WONDERFULLY! We taught L3 (the gospel) with Senor Huevo (our good little friend Mr. Egg). It's a fun little object lesson that we like to use for teaching lesson 3. Well, as nervous as we were to teach in front of all these people, (especially our Ward mission Leader, the intimidating one) it ended up going perfectly! At the end everybody shared what they remembered about their baptisms. Hermana Ramirez shared hers and it was absolutely perfect for Maria. She went through the exact things that Maria is struggling with right now, which is that ALL her family is catholic. Well, little did Hermana Ramirez know that she was sharing exactly what Maria needed to hear. Truly it was such a miracle! Javier by the end was so cute saying that he wished he could be baptized again! It is AMAZING where he has come. If you don't remember Javier is the one that is a member, but really had know idea what baptism even meant at that point. His testimony is UNBELIEVABLE, and it has been so fun to work with those two. It'll be perfect, because one year after Maria's baptism they can go through the temple and that'll be right when I get home! I'll just fly straight to Virginia :) AHHH they're just the cutest little couple ever. This week has been full of MIRACLES with them!

I hope that those stories made a little bit of sense. It's hard because I feel like to share one part of the story I have to share it all, but then it becomes FAR to long. Just trust me when I say that MIRACLES happen thousands of times a day. The experiences I am having here are STUNNING. I am so grateful to be a representative of our Lord and Savior for these short 18 months. I can't believe that 5 months have already passed! Ahhh I am so grateful for the experience to be here in Virginia, and still look forward to Argentina. Although... my ward mission leader is from there and he has me pretty nervous for their now. He said they have no patience there, and that they talk a million miles and hour. He's so mean to me... telling me all the things I don't want to hear! ;) Goofball. Hahaha Who know's when I'll get there... but the time will come!

Love you all so much! Hope all is going well :) It's so fun to hear about how you're all doing. Keep up the great work back there in good ole UTAH :) LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL TONS AND TONS!