November, 2015

This week was really good. this week was really busy for us because between all of our service we had Thanksgiving of course but also the prier Bishop of the Pukalani ward died and had his funeral on Saturday so we were doing that all Saturday it was sad the ward really loved him. But Thanks giving was a blast first we woke up at 6:00am to go play B-ball with some non members then after that the Makawao ward was having a turkey bowel so we played foot ball for 2 1/2 hours then after that they wanted to play soccer..... I don’t play soccer :( but i got roped into it and was the worst goalie ever. then some members in our war named the Kirtons they invited us over to play bored games (YES!) haha we did that until 6 Because we had dinner with the Mossman Clan as I like to call them they are all family just there are like four last names because of marriage. they are like my favorite people to have dinner with we just hang out and talk untill we have to leave for curfew. its way fun. also i leared that i will have another person in the family that i don't know thanks to Dayna and Andrew  

November 23, 2015

this week was really good ONE YEAR! haha i am burning a shirt with some other missionary's on Wednesday because it was raining for like 2 days so I didn't get to burn on the 19th but its cool either way. we are going to one of my favorite family's they have a missionary out so they will take good care of us. for really all i want for Christmas is choke candy and some new ties and shirts and garments that's all I need also brown shoes. but I really want to send you guys some stuff for Christmas.   I got my new debit card so that's good i got them both so i am set it all worked out so i am very blessed.   

November 16, 2015

I am ok this week was really hard for me not really sure why mission is really up and down for me most the time i am happy i am here, but sometimes all I want to do is go home but normally if i just pray a lot and read i make it threw. we have a few people none that we really teach we do alot of service in Maui which is really fun! we are slowly making progress with them i think they are all pretty solid so we should be good as long as i don't get transferred. 

 i feel so disconnected from everything its feels good to know where everything is at home. we did 46 hours of service this last week! it was awesome I am burning a shirt on the 19th so i am really excited for that. . I feel like we could be doing more here but if anything at least were out of the pad doing service also its so cold in the morning sometimes its super hard to get out of bed most the time i just study in bed and you know how that turns out haha i am trying to be better i got kind of lax when i came to maui but i am getting back into it and am going to baptize nations hopefully i have only had one real convert baptism hoping to times that by ten by the end of my mission  

November 10, 2015

(got an actual real letter from him)

Aloha Ohana!

Yep this is a letter ha ha. It's been awhile, so I thought I would write you. Where do I begin? Umm so I hit my big one year mark on Dad's Birthday which is in 9 days, in case you're wondering ha ha. I am really excited to be on the down hill side. I am currently serving on the up country side of Maui called Pukalani. It's got the best ward in the world with the exception of the 7th ward of course. My companion is from Murray, Utah, he is the oldest of 4 and is almost done with his mission he finishes in March, he has a lot of experience and success, it's good to be with someone who knows stuff especially after training Elder Jensen, as much fun as that was. Elder Maybe and I were white washed in so we are still trying to find people to teach, we have a few potential members that we do service for. Maui zone has the most service hours in the whole mission. Just in our area alone we have 30-40 hrs a week. We hope that we can open their hearts that way. In Pukalani ward we have a lot of part member families, which is awesome for mission work because there is always a member present for every lesson, and most the time it's their spouse and that's even better. A for me I feel like I have really grown in just the past six weeks in Maui. I used to get all stressed out about numbers and just everything, really but being away from the craziness of Oahu has made me a better teacher and more relaxed and calm missionary, and the ward Elder Mabey and I are in , love us for that. In the last year the bond I have with my Father in Heaven has turned from something that I hoped to have, to something that is unbreakable, and that I know is there. I am a better person because of it, and now I like to read the scriptures instead of dreading it.

Maui is cold!! ha ha really cold where we live, the members say it can get into the 60's during the day and the 40's at night! When i go to bed I use 4 blankets and sometimes use our heater, I know it probably doesn't seem that cold to you, but once you have been living in Hawaii for a year it's really cold if it's below 70. It's crazy to think that I turn 20 in December. It makes me feel old, but not as old as dad, ha ha. I am hoping that I get to stay in Maui for at least the next two transfers, because if I got transferred it would be on my birthday and i would miss the holidays here which would not be cool, but it's kind of a toss up between me and my companion, and anyways I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and for dad to have a Happy 62nd Birthday ha ha. Love you guys!

Elder Olson

P.S I'm not opposed to a Thanksgiving Package!

November 9, 2015

( I had been contacted by the mission home and they told me Jason lost his wallet, they had me call the bank, dmv, etc to get things replaced, after I did that, his wallet was found the next day. I was worried he didn't have access to his money, but i should have know he would be taken care of)

No I am good for example we went to Ihop with the whole zone today we knew its not the wisest thing for us to spend money on but we went anyway and right as we were about to spend almost the last of our money the Mahi's from our ward walked in and gave us 40$ and paid for our meal also there is this really cool lady that gives us choke food every Friday so we really don't have to spend any of our money we just do on Pdays mainly so thanks but the Pukalaniu ward has got our backs hahaha

November 2, 2015

Hey so I am 17 days away from my 1/2 way mark haha so awesome! WE GOT OUR CAR BACK! its really cool because its a 2014 BLUE Chevy Cruze I love blue. I heard about Tyler O. I have been emailing him you should go to his farewell.  Being around all of theses big family's makes me wish I was closer with all of my family. I feel like now that we have our car we will be able to have tons of success here In Pukalani there are so many people that are prepared in this area we will do real well. we get a few referrals But i think i have only got about 20 my whole mission most people we find which is way harder then going through the members.I am doing really well right now i love Elder Mabey and i love my ward and my zone. Right now we are taking care of our members cat haha super funny people its like there child we have been doing it for like a week now but the only down side is that is evil it always attacks me stupid cat haha. for hallween we just got to hang out as a zone and play games it was alot of fun! thanks for the picture good to see evelynn walking super cute. love you guys don't think about me i am fine your always in my prayers tell dad I love Him and that I really need to go fishing I miss it so much. Also there is this really awesome family in my ward named the Wunders and they have a son that is visiting from Eagle Mountain right now its super cool he is a bishop and lives by pony express. Whats even more crazy is that he met his wife on his mission. they served in the Oakland California Mission haha so many connections. he knows alot of the kids i went to school with so its way fun having them here.       

October 2015

 

Hiked 10000 feet to see sunrise on top of Haleakala 

October 26. 2015

I am not sure what they do here for Halloween I think most people will go to the suburbs it should be fun my companion and i are planing a BBQ for the missionary's on Maui it should be a blast I just cant believe that i am out a year on the 19 of November is been really fast i hope i can stay strong for another year they say that this one goes faster

No shoes yet i have been looking around for some just no money right now. garments would be great i kind of want something that's just fun and not for mission work tho.

i remembered at like the end of the day but don't tell him that oops but that is really crazy he is almost an adult

When i came to Maui it was still a big plane just not as big at the one i came to Hawaii on but it was still pretty cool to fly i love it actually 

no car yet still broken the elders that were here last tryed drifting in it and they smashed it into a dirt mound and a tree so yep elders are stupid hahaha should be done soon tho

October 19. 2015

Maui just gets more and more awesome everyday! we should be getting our car sometime this week then we can finally get to work i will look for pictures of the pad i don't think i took any yet at least not on the inside but if you want to see where i live google pulehu chapel maui it will show a really old church and we live in the little building next to it plus then you can read some of the history. my companion is great he has had alot of success in his mission so i am hoping it will rub off on me some how  if you send me the CD i can put it all on my flash drive and then send it back so that would be cool also hank smith is awesome

This is where i live, next to this church the Pulehu Chapel. built by the church in 1850

         

October 12, 2015

 Maui is the best! its so awesome we are just so far in the middle of no where its awesome! we have a really good amount of members and they are so chill they just call us and ask if we can come chill at there house. the pukalani ward is really cool because it just got a new bishop and a new elders quorum president they are so excited to work with us actually they just set up splits with us so that's good because right now we dont have a car in a huge area so we haven't been able to do much we  should be getting it back sonn the last elders did something stupid and crashed it now we have to deal with it. YES i got the package it was awesome to get all of those letters i get way more mail then all of my companions its awesome. the pants are exactly what i wanted so thanks the fit great so dose the belt next pday i will have to go look for some shoes i looked around  but so far i cant find anything that fits me. the belt i great as well now i just have to order some G's because now i don't live on a island with a temple. just found out Mariel has officially gotten engaged and will be married by the time I get home

       

Maui


October 5, 2015

So this week has been the most crazy yet. it started out in Kalihi with Elder Valdez and Elder Jensen but on Wednesday morning i woke up to a call from President Warner (that was scary) he just asked me how Elder Jensen and Elder Valdez were doing I told him they were doing great. then he said "Well in that case I need you to pack your bags because I am moving to to Maui. because another Elder had to go home. then he asked me if I was ok with that, and of course I was so yeah im in the Pukalani ward on the country side of Maui. ITS SO BEAUTIFUL i fell so blessed and lucky to be here i have a great new companion from Murray Utah his name is Elder Mabey any way conference was super good I just watched it at the chapel but i loved every minute of it my favorite was the one about standing as a light he related it ti clay on a spinning wheel and how it has to be centered. so thats why i like it so much also the other one about the young rich man the asked the savior what lack I yet? I loved that one i cant remember who said them but I remember the talks. I cant believe Evelyn is walking already i have been gone too long man that's crazy! also so because I got transferred my package is at the Kalihi post office and they wont let The elders pick it up without my ID so the office is trying to figure out how to get it to me its kind of crazy also those shoes started to really hurt me but my poor Filipino elder needed new shoes and so i gave them to him sorry he really needed them i will just have to spend some of my money here to get them.


September 28, 2015

(he emailed us a video of him eating a worm, but i dont know how to post it on here sorry)

HEY FAMILY! Im glad you got the video haha. so we were at a service project and as were were digging we kept finding a tone of worms then we found a really big one then one of the elders said you should eat one. i said no the he said he would give me 5 dollars then i said only if you could get all the other Elders to put in $5 then of course all the elders put in $5 so i ate the worm but hey i made $30! so ya it just tasted like dirt it wasn't to bad. plus the story alone was worth it.

Ok so for me the hardest part about mission is always having to be with somebody always and now I have two somebody's :/ but its not to bad I could hate them, but I don't I have to great missionary's with me the only down side is no more personal space not that I had any. are apartment is super small as it is but oh well everything is for a reason 

Right now we have this super cool lady named Maddie that i have been working with since i got to kalihi she is really progressing she cam to a ward party, a family history, class our activity night and even came to church i have kind of made her my goal before I leave Kalihi

I got the shoes they are a little small  even thou thats my shoe size i think its just the design but i am wearing them right now there a little tight but i think i will just try and make them work and break them in i will let you know how it goes i havent got anything else yet but i will be looking. Also one year is way better then 2 haha love you guys!

                                                          Tripanionship

                                                                         District at Ihop

August/September 2015

Sept 21, 2015

Hey, here are some pictures! this week was good we got some crazy transfer news Elder Jensen and I will be getting a 3rd companion We will have Elder Valdez with us for this transfer so we will be a Tripanionship then who know what will happen I am super excited because i am already friends with this elder he is awesome so now I will have my awesome son and and awesome companion. this transfer I hit 6 months in Kalihi which normally means i am getting transferred so that's exciting! the only hing is I don't know how exactly we will fit another Elder and all his stuff in our tiny pad but it will be fun either way! 

BTW the picture is of Big Mac Monday today    

                                                            Big Mac Monday

                                                      Elder Jensen & Elder Olson

                                                        Preschool kids, love Elder Olson

Glad Jason is eating so healthy! ha ha

Sept 14, 2015

HEY! MAN! we had such an awesome week! We got one of our investigators to come to church. it felt so good to see her there. it even looked like she was a member. Also this week we found a new investigator named rick he is super awesome. he has this really cool house that was built in 1927. Its full of art and really cool stuff that is really old. we have a service project on Wednesday there because its kind of falling apart. Also this is week 6 of the transfers so that means transfers in Wednesday of next week doesn't mean much for elder Jensen and I we still have one more transfer together then i hope the send me to Maui because I haven't left what we missionary's call the ROCK or Oahu anyways. Tell grandma and grandpa I love them and miss them also that they are in my prayers. Recently my best friends in the zone Elder Warnick and Elder Matson and us all piched in to buy Settlers of Catan it alot like settlers of zarahemla but a little better. so we have been playing that for the last 3 Pdays its so fun. Well I am pretty sure at Christmas i am going to need all new garments just so your aware also I need a new black mission belt and new brown shoes. sorry all my stuff started crapping out on me and i want my memory card back so i dont know if you want to just send the shoes and belt or send me money garments can wait until Christmas the shoes and belt cant also I ripped a pair of pants so now i need new pants as well i went to Walmart here to see if they have any they do but there all XXX there huge they don't sell little people clothes here i know that's alot of stuff just let me know how you want to work it sorry. LOVE you guys!

-Elder Olson

                                                           Playing Catan

Sept 8, 2015

Hey mom im doing just fine here in Hawaii this week was really slow for us especially now that were walking but so far we have been blessed for it so its worth it. Elder Jensen is doing great he is really starting to understand how a mission really is. I am have alot of fun showing him all the cool things especially the food. I don't have a whole lot to tell you so i don't know how I am supposed to write a long email. How is grandma? and how is Max? I do miss you all so much. right now i am just super excited to hit my one year mark. So that's where my heads been. love you guys!   

August 31, 2015

HI!

Ok everyone just thought I would send out a mass email and give you all an update on my work here in Hawaii. My Mission has been so great I have come so much closer to my father in heaven. Since being out I have learned how to feel the spirit always and to let it guide my choices as a missionary. Sometimes missionaries try to do the lords work with out him and it doesn't work, its really really hard to do. Trust me I've Tried. In the last month our so my mission has really changed. It started when my Mission president asked me to train Elder Jensen, In my head It seemed easy but in reality not so much haha. Watching him learn and grow as a missionary has showed me just how much I have changed from when I started and now. When your a Greenie you feel like you can just baptize anyone if you share enough scriptures or say enough prayers, but in reality its not so much what you teach or share its actually its what you don't say. if your always talking how are they going feel the spirit. As missionary's we are useless without the spirit we just cant do anything without it. The holy ghost testify's of truth it helps us know what to say and how to say it or when we should not say anything at all. I just want to bare my testimony of the gift I received when I was 8. its grown with me its been with me when I had nothing else. sometime I cant hear it because of the games, music or movies I watch but its always been there. I know that your gift is still with you too. You might not hear it or feel it but its there, always has been. I know it can be with you and lift you as mine has me. Please get back in touch with your spirit and see the difference it can make in your life. it make take a sacrifice but you tell me if its worth it or not.

 love you all so much have a great day everyday! -Elder Olson                   

August 25/26th, 2015

Hey, so I had to spend my laundry money on new garments so i could use 20$ for my laundry love you guys sorry I only have 30min today and yes I emailed Tyler he says he loves it so far. Elder Jensen and i are doing great we had a pretty hard week this week because on Wednesday they took our car and gave us bikes which suck! hahaha but then on friday one of the bikes broke so then we had to walk until Monday so we could get a new bike also its been raining alot here and our roof started leaking and i ripped my favorite pair of pants then he ripped his shirt on a fence. so ya it was hard last week but i was trying really hard to be positive for my companion. and it turned out to be a pretty good week mission work wise. i feel that the lord was trying to let me see just how much i am blessed to be serving in hawaii and in the kalihi ward. This week has been much better because the ended up having an available car so they gave it to us then the temple was awesome today its just what i needed the lord helped us realize the little blessings. love you guys and pray for you all the time.      

hey! so we get to email today too because our got cut short yesterday. also we just found out their taking our car again its really starting to be hard to stay positive especially because now grandma is sick again why cant she just stay healthy?   

August 17th, 2015

Everything is great another awesome week, but wow this training thing is a little harder than I thought it was going to be haha. Were doing great but sometimes I feel a little in over my head. So my greeines name is actually Elder Jensen. He is from Sandy Utah he was well trained in the MTC, and is full of ideas. he has already progressed in just the short time together already I am really excited to teach him whatever it is that the lord thinks I know haha. Good luck with your race run a few for me I could use it. LOVE YOU ALL!     

Elder Olson and Elder Jensen

this lady in our ward makes super cool 

aloha ties so i got her some fabric so now i have some way cool ties 

August 10, 2015

Hey mom so ya I probably should send letters back to I will some time soon. I write and email Dustin all the time it good to hear from him i miss him a ton. but ya he just got called as a district leader i knew he would be a leader one day. He is a way better missionary then me for sure. BIG NEWS tho, transfers is Wednesday and President Warner called us on Saturday and asked me to train a new missionary from Idaho! I am super excited i would much rather train then be a DL or a ZL plus it means President trusts me so that feels really good. So I get my son on Wednesday and we will be together for his first 12 weeks or 3 months i am in charge of making him a great missionary. its a little scary but it something i am stoked about. Elder Salazar will be missed but he will be just fine he is leaving to Big Island on Wednesday so he is excited we had a good 3 months together he was my favorite companion so far. that memory card is just for sending videos home when I need to clear space off of my other card this is the best way I could think of to send my videos home please send it back but i did just fill up my 16 gig so i do need money for another one of those if its not to much to ask I hate asking for money because you already do so much for me but sometimes i have to other wise i will run out of food money. Anyways I got to see sister Molina yesterday we had dinner. I will attach pictures it was really weird to switch roles with her. haha also elder Salazar has a huge crush on her to bad shes engaged.             

Sister Molina's Family



August 3, 2015

hey! so I am sending you a really long video answering all of your questions. Plus this week we did something awesome! so saturday a guy from our ward took us to this place for dinner its called Honolulu burgers 

They have this awesome! thing called the Kamehameha challenge its this huge burger and if you can eat it in an hour its free check it out !

(He sent us some videos, but I don't know how to put them on here, sorry)

July, 2015

July 27, 2015

So this morning we went to this place called the ice ponds it was really cool here are some pictures they call the  ice ponds because there cold but clearly the locals have never been in a really cold like because they were not cold .

July 20, 2015

8 Months! WOW!  1/3 done! The time is flying when your having fun. we met this guy named Ron Smith he has been taught by missionary's for 3 or so years and then the missionary's kind of lost him for 7 months so when we found him in our records we went over to meet him and the first thing he said after we introduced our self's was so when can we get started because I want to go all the way this time! so we set up an appointment to teach the restoration. During our visit he kept saying seek ye first the kingdom of god that's what I want to do. then he asked when can he get baptized? we were shocked so we set a date and he is getting baptized on the 8th of August. its awesome how the lord really prepares people. Mission is the best. LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!!  




July 13, 2015

Hey sorry I have been really busy doing this thing called missionary work. haha no sometimes i just have no motivation to type out everything that happened for the week so I just give summary's plus I don't have a whole lot of time to email so if you send me a letter I can write more and put more detail so ya sorry I am a slacker but I feel like I have answered most of your questions. Anyways this week I have truly experienced summer in Hawaii its been so hot like 95 everyday plus the humidity. its been ridicules I am always sticky and sweaty. pulse just found out they are going to make the area i am in a bike area sometime in the next few weeks. haha I am in for some long days but this work is worth it. my companion and i are great we have alot of fun and we work hard all though we are very different. DANG you guys have been married forever! haha happy 24th thanks for the great example of love i hope who ever it is that i end up marring that we can be like you and dad love you guys so much write me a letter with all of your questions and i will answer them I promise.

oh and this week i helped one of our less active members change his alternator :( so thanks dad i cant believe that stuff actually came in handy all of those angry night working on the flipping van. just when I thought I could get away from fixing cars. haha 

Love your favorite son Elder Jason Olson           

This is Ikika(11) and Michelle(9) they are our most recent success their family is a little crazy they were also less active for a while but we brought them back well, most of them we are still working on the mom. the Saltiban family is great! but very stubborn

June/July 2015

 

 

July 5th, 2015

 

hey so here are some pictures of the 4th fire works over pearl harbor!!! we got to hang out a zone so we had a BBQ at the Haleawa chapel which gave us an awesome view. I ​am sending you a memory card full of videos there pretty great please remove them and send it back to me thanks.

 

here are some more pictures from the Pre school its starting to look awesome! we did this on the 4th as well

 

 

 

 

 

June 29, 2015

 

YES! we got them it was hard work but we did it! it was great! I got to confirm one of them so that was cool. I am not sure what is going to happen on the 4th it might be a no proselyting day and we will just get to hang out, which would be awesome! transfers are this week. My companion and I are staying together! which is great i really like him so much more then all of my others. it must be because we are from Utah. oh i forgot to tell you but last week Elder Salazar ran over a cat haha. it was super funny and sad at the same time. it was just siting in the middle of the road licking its self and elder Salazar was just joking and said "I'M GOING TO HIT THE CAT"  and he sped up but then before he realized that the cat wasn't going to move it was too late and we ran it over but we never saw it again we went back to see if we killed it but it wasn't there but then as we drove around over there this week we found this poster. (see picture) haha its too great. anyways its the same old thing here we just have funny stories every once in awhile. also yes i just sent a letter back to them this morning so they should get it this week.the ward has got way better who knew all  you had to do is call the mission pres and it all worked out now we get fed almost every night.    

 

 

 

 

 

June 23, 2015

 

Hey sorry we went to the temple today so our p-day is today instead of yesterday. last week was slow. but this week we have 2 BAPTISMS!!!! so that is awesome. its the last week of the transfer already so that's crazy! but my companion and I are pretty sure we are staying in Kalihi. So every Saturday we volunteer at a Pre-school and help clean or for me I like to paint so I have been painting hop scotches which is way fun here are some pictures of them its way fun! also no I didn't need to get a new drivers licence. and no letters yet but i will let you know when they come they can ask me anything especially Tyler you should tell him to e-mail me or I will if you give me his email.