August 25, 2014 "Change of Heart."

All

Jon is doing great and continues to love his mission.  Many have asked about the Ebola virus and if he is in danger.  The Ebola virus is still contained in West Africa and the church is watching it closely.  Jon's mission received missionaries from the two missions that were closed.  Suzi and Jon exchanged emails last night and he is really happy and growing a lot.  I have also attached some new photos.  Thanks for your love and support.  ?

So life here in the 083 is pretty awesome! We are killing it we had a baptism this Sunday! it was for Naivo and I was the one that did it! We also had 7 investigators at church which has never happened before.  I cannot even write all the blessings that are happening right now.  Definitely tender mercies of the Lord.  It is amazing to be apart of this!! The ward is still struggling but we are making a huge impact on the members and they actually want to be around the missionaries which hopefully gets them to trust us more so we can teach people they know. I love this area and could honestly stay here for 6 months.  Elder Smith-Holley.... I have never seen such a change of heart in my life.  He was really struggling even crying a little here and there and then we had exchanges with the DL.  When he came back from the exchange he said I never realized how much you help me and I have just been complaining the whole time.  He is even tracting now and talking to people on the streets! He is doing so well.  I am so lucky to be his companion.  I hope and pray he feels the same way.  The only downside of the work is my back.  It has been really bothering me and a couple nights we had to go home early cause of it.  Just keep me in your prayers and I'll be fine! I don't want the work to slow down because of me.  Also don't worry about my back i'll be fine. No stress no worries!

August 18, 2014 "My missionary day"

Dear family, 

So today I thought that I would talk about all the aspects of mission and what my daily day is like.  So four times a week I wake up at 5:40 to workout.  The other days I wake up at 6:30.  Yes me waking up that early is hard to believe.  Then I get ready for my day.  Breakfast is always oatmeal and yougurt haha just like Jimmy.  Then I am sitting down and studying by 8.  In that study I always spend at least 30 minutes reading from the Book of Mormon and the Book of Mormon study manual.  The next 30 minutes I do whatever I feel like whether it be D&C, the bible, or preach my gospel.  9 o'clock it is companion study where we talk about what we have learned and then what we will do for the day in detail.  10 O'clock since elder Smith-Holley is being trained, I spend an hour on lessons or how to be a better missionary.  Finally at a 11 studies are over then we eat and hurry to our area.  Our area is 20 ks away which is annoying because after 11 we can't eat for the rest of the day unless we get fed and we don't get fed that much.  So in the area I try to have at least 5 or 6 planned lessons cause 1 or 2 will for sure not happen haha people always forget.  So we do that and when we aren't busy we are either tracting or visiting members and just stopping by to say hi.  We usually work until 8 to 9 cause we have to be back to the flat by 9:30.  When we get home we hurry and close the day by writing our stats and doing a brief overview for the next day.  I am always in bed before 10 hahaha.  I feel like dad and how when he gets home he just passes out! haha.  I just thought I would share that!

So things are going very well with investigators.  We will be having a baptism this saturday for Naivo.  He has asked me to baptize him so that will be a cool experience and he has also asked me to confirm him the next sunday.  We also have 3 other baptisms for the next month and I am almost for sure that at least 2 will happen.  We also had this guy walk into church and he said I just felt like I should come it has been too long since I have been close to God.  We will be teaching him on thursday.  One of the members said to me you must be doing something right if people are just showing up to church... I hope he is right I always think that I know I am not perfect and I know that I make many mistakes daily but if I just try the Lord will take care of the rest.

Things are going well with elder Smith-Holley.  He has come such a long way since the beginning.  He just doubts himself.  We had this guy that I have grown to be amazing friends with who has had a very hard life.  He was even excommunicated from the church.  Since then he has been in the bishopric and is now the stake young mens president. His trials have taken him to hell and back and because of the atonement he is where he is.  I think it is so funny when people say that Jesus Christ isn't real and that what we feel is all in our heads.  There is no way this man or even me could feel forgiven for the things we have done if Jesus Christ wasn't real.  But anyways, he gets to know you and then he lists all of your strengths and weaknesses from what he can see.  So I had him do me and it was amazing what he could pick up from just being around me and talking with me.  However for elder Smith-Holley it was even more amazing and it turned it to a spiritual experience and elder Smith-Holley even broke down and knows that he needs to overcome some things.  It was amazing.

This has definitely been the longest email that I have ever sent soooo sorry for that lol.  But South Africa is treating me well. No lion attacks yet and I still kunu on when I get the chance.  Have a lekker week and I uploaded some cheesy photos of sunsets.  I was even driving while taking them.  Sorry I didn't upload more this computer is complete rubbish.

JON

August 11, 2014 "Molding like peanut butter & jelly"

This week has been pretty awesome! We didn't teach too much but we had a very successful week! My son (I guess that's what he calls his companion) Elder Smith-Holley is really coming along and we are molding like peanut butter and jelly! haha We had a cool experience with one of our new investigators.  Her name is Basadi and she just came to church one day because every time they pass it her husband says that is our church.  The reason for her husband saying that is because about 15 years ago he was given a Book of Mormon and he read it.  He didn't just read it but he also used it to preach to people.  He also helped convert someone in our ward to the gospel.  His only problem is he has a smoking problem. So after church we set up an appointment to visit with her and her husband.  We had an amazing lesson and they are both committed to being baptized at the end of september.  It was so cool to see how they are truly seeking for a church and how this is a real desire of theirs!

We did a lot of tracting and that is going great! We are finding some awesome people by tracting! it works! hahaha but that is pretty much my week! It is so crazy how fast time is going and how much I love it here!  I have embraced the culture and really have tried to develop the attitude come what may and love it.

​So for the package you are going to send please send more tapito hot sauce, mac and cheese, maple syrup, sunflower seeds, and spagettios haha! 

August 4, 2014 "Giving the pregnant lady the blessing."

Suzi and I just got home today from Norway.  We had a wonderful time.  Here is Jon's latest email.  We didn't received an email three weeks ago because he was made a trainer and didn't have time that day.  Last week he only wrote a few sentences and said he didn't realize how hard it was being a trainer.  He seems to be settling in this week.

So this week was awesome!! I decided to work hard and just forget about myself! Training is actually fun now! I make it fun! haha I think that my companion is settling in and even though we are extremely different we are having such a great time together!!! We have worked so hard this week and we actually keep picking up investigators.  He hates tracting so I make deals with him saying if we tract I'll go buy you a kota and it works!  I am starting to realize I just need to talk to him be his friend and everything else will fall into place!
This week I was reading in preach my gospel and I realized while reading about prayer and how for the first 6 months of my mission I have been just going through the motions of prayer and not using it to its full potential.  This week I have decided to us it better and to actually realize that it is form of communication on high.  This week has just gone by so much smoother than I thought it would and it is all because of prayer I now for sure have a testimony of prayer!!

Also a cool experience that I keep forgetting to tell you is that time I gave that lady a blessing when she was pregnant when we were talking before and she said she didn't know if it was a boy or a girl.   So I made sure before that I shouldn't say boy or girl... However during the blessing the spirit directed otherwise.  I said that HE would grow up in the gospel and talked about HE.... Everytime I tried to say he or she it was as if my tongue was bound... It was a really cool experience.  It also turns out that she had a boy... haha yes it could have been a coincidence but I don't think so! 

LOVE>>>> Elder Olson  

​This is from Jon's mission president.

Jim and Suzi:

It’s another stunningly beautiful morning here in South Africa. I’m stuck in a traffic jam in Nelspruit, a town about 400K east of Johannesburg. So while I have a moment I wanted to write to tell that I just hung up the phone with Elder Olson where I was able to wish him happy birthday.  And I can report that he is thrilled to be celebrating his birthday in the mission field. We had a great chat and it was wonderful to hear his genuine enthusiasm for the work and his area. He said his only worry was that his mom would be sad today because it was his birthday and not with him. So I just wanted you to know that I was able to be a “proxy parent” and reaffirm your love for him as his mom and dad (which he knows), and let you know that he is truly very happy. He is just a great kid and I feel so blessed to have him here. I know it’s still sad to not be with him today, but hope you have a wonderful day knowing what great things he is doing here.

Michael A Dunn