September 28, 2015 JoBURG

So some of the greatest news that has happened since I have been on my mission.  About 16 months ago when I was in my first area, Johannesburg Central was closed to missionaries because of crime related issues.  This was a massive hit to our mission.  It was the highest baptizing area by far.  It is interesting to see how satan targeted it and tried to stop the work from progressing there.  As Jospeh Smith said "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!"  That couldn't have been more true, even without missionaries the ward was still baptizing and getting many to the temple!  Well then about 4 months ago the APs received permission to teach in Joburg on Saturdays and Sundays for 3 hours only at the chapel.  Which was a great blessing but it still required us to have investigators come to church to get taught and made us as missionaries rely on the members to bring people for us to teach.  As you can probably imagine it isn't very effective.  Well Elder Cook the Area President saw all of this and prayed about it and felt it was time for it to be opened up again.  He had to have a guy come all the way from Salt Lake who was the head of security and do a whole sweep of Johannesburg!  He gave the approval and so now all there was left to do was to put missionaries there.

Ok now for the best part of this whole ordeal! President was given the rules and restrictions given and one of them was that at least one of the missionaries needed to be native and speak Zulu (Which Elder Masoka does).  Another is the missionaries had to leave by 4:00 PM for safety issues.  The problem is if he sent normal missionaries there they would just be sitting in their flat for hours after being in the area for a short time.  He realized that it works perfectly for us as we can come and do office work for the rest of the night! So we are now officially reopening JOBURG! I am both nervous and excited.  There are a lot of rules but I have realized on mission that as I have been obedient the Lord protects you and so I know I will be fine.  Yesterday after church we had the opportunity to teach in the middle of Joburg.  Leading up to it I was nervous, you just hear stories and stuff of what it is like and I had this preconceived idea.  As we drove into the city I just had a heavenly feeling of peace.  It was strange but I knew that the Lord had spoken to the leaders and that this was the time for missionary work to be moved forward in Joburg.  As we got out of the car we walked up to this ginormous flat complex. As we were walking up to the 15th floor I had another impression that we were in a very real sense modern day pioneers.  As missionaries we were opening new doorways so that others could receive the gospel.  We are now able to give light to a city that is in need of heaven’s help.  A light shined on Joburg yesterday and I am glad that I had the opportunity to be apart of it.

Other than that this week has been great! I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Dlamini and Elder Moloi in a township called Kwa-Thema.  I gained a lot of respect for Elder Dlamini.  Before he knew the church he was in a gang and did all sorts of horrible crimes.  He said that he was far from God.  That all changed when the missionaries knocked on his door.  He said that not knowing at the time what it was but that the spirit constrained him to agree to meet with them.  He loved it and he changed his lifestyle.  Through his conversion 13 other guys were baptized and brought to the gospel.  He said "I don't know how they all followed me I never taught them I was just an example."  I reassured him that is the way the Savior taught and that his humility will only bring more to the gospel when he gets home. He is living proof the Atonement is real!

Well this is my letter for today... Oh also the Dunns spoiled us last night with Steak and Salmon...  They are too good to us.

Much love, Elder Olson

 PS here is a pic of my new area 

September 14, 2015 "Baptizing Eden & Let Love Be Our Motive"

So this week has been quite hectic! The week before transfers is always crazy with loads of office work and little details that make a big difference.  I am becoming more and detail oriented which is good... I never really have been in my life but now it is quite vital so I am figuring it out.  I wish I was more like dad in that sense.  

Well I learned a big life lesson yesterday that really made me both sad and grateful...  We had two baptisms in Joburg and one of them was for a girl named Eden and her dad is a member and even a return missionary.  He is a great guy and has made it possible for his daughter to come to church and get baptized.  Well last week he came up to me and just said I want you to baptize Eden.  I was kind of confused at first and then I realized it was because he didn't feel worthy to baptize her.  So I said of course I will.  Well the baptism came and was great and then after I could see that it killed him that he couldn't baptize her.  After he came up to me almost in tears thanking me for helping with his daughter's baptism.  As grateful as I was to be apart of it I would have preferred that I didn't do it.  After as I was sitting in the car I just thought to myself that I will always make sure that I am worthy of the priesthood I hold.  It was a bitter sweet day for sure.  I just can't even imagine when I have a family what it would be like if I had a kid that needed a blessing and I wasn't able to give one because of my unworthiness.  I also want to mention even though this father is far from perfect he is trying.  He is a single parent and has made some mistakes in his life but he isn't a loss cause.  No one is a lost cause.  I have seen a change in him as he has brought his daughter to church and in bringing her closer to Christ he has come closer to him as well.

Oh we also played golf with President and Sister Dunn this week! It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and I did better than I thought I would as well... I really hook the ball when I swing... I guess it's a baseball thing.  We played a scramble and it was me and Elder Worton against the Dunns.  We were down 2 holes with three holes left and we had to at least tie them on this hole.  We were about 40 feet away and I sunk the putt to tie it up and then we took the last two holes to tie it up! President Dunn and Elder Worton are support good and so Elder Worton carried me through the 18 holes...  Also I have met someone that is as competitive as me! President Dunn!  After the 18 holes he couldn't stand that it ended like that so we had a putt off which he won...  But it is all good!  It was super fun and I got super burnt... 

Well that night we were at the Dunns and we could all smell something that was off... We couldn't find what it was and we were looking everywhere.  Then Elder Worton saw a pumpkin on top of the cabinets...  It has been there for almost a year and has finally rotted! It was so funny and everyone was dry heaving as we cleaned it up.  It is a memory we will never forget and laugh about for years.  If you use live decorations don't forget about them!!

Sorry that this isn't too missionary. This week we were locked up in the office for most of the week... But it was still a good week.  Just different.

I almost forgot.  Elder Worton is leaving but he still has one more transfer.  I am getting a new comp and I am super nervous... It is hard leading but I am sure I'll be fine.  I do know who my new comp is but I can't say since no one else knows... I don't really know him very well but he is a great guy and he will be the first South African that I have served with! Crazy thought he maybe my last companion

Here is an attachment of my article that we put in our news letter for the transfer I hope you enjoy it! 

LET LOVE BE OUR MOTIVE

                  When I was 11 years old I saw an act of love that changed my life forever.  My Dad, a healthy adult laid sunken deep in a hospital bed cringing in pain and pale as a ghost from what had just taken place.  He had just given one of his kidneys to his little brother who was suffering from kidney failure.  As a child when I first walked into his hospital room and seeing him in the state that he was in, I could not understand why he would voluntarily submit himself to so much pain.  It was beyond my comprehension until I walked into my Uncle’s hospital room.  In his room there was a renewed light that had been missing in the months before, and I could see the smiles of his wife and kids as they saw their Husband and Dad on the way to recovery.  As I walked out of the hospital that day God spoke to me in a profound manner that even a child could understand. I heard within myself “Your dad did it out of love.”  

This experience has changed my life forever, but especially my mission.  I have learned that love should be the motivating cause in everything we do.  My Dad understood this concept and that is why he gave so much of himself to help his brother that was in need. Albert Einstein once said “Love is light... Love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.”  As members of the church we are that light to the rest of the world.  We are a church that can give others all that they have been missing in their lives because we can give others the pure love of Christ.  Our love in all sense of the word has no limits!

Back at home my Mom bought sculpted hands and set them in our living room.  When I first saw this I thought it was quite bizarre, but before jumping to any conclusion I asked my Mom the meaning of it.  She sat me down and explained to me that to her it was a reminder that we are Christ’s hands and that we are the conduits in showing others the love that Christ has for them.  I realized that I can be that channel in which others can receive so much happiness.  I can be an instrument in the hands of God!  That day I felt the love of the Savior through my Mom and the desire to share that love.  Dieter F. Uchtdorf said “True love requites action. We can speak of love all day long—we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it—but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.“

Some of us may say that it is not natural for them to love others or that it is hard for them to show it.  I know how you feel.  I am the same way, but in reaching this desire I have focused on my love for the Savior.  I have studied His life through the scriptures and have come to know him as I have used his atonement to give me the love I lack.  I have found that the atonement is the greatest act of love in history.  Think for a second about someone who was so pure that John the Baptist felt “Whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.”(Mark 1: 7) Yet, that same man went lower than any who have or ever will walk the earth so that we could return to our Heavenly Father.  Would any other motive besides love bring forth such an act with such a great consequence attached to it?  No! No hatred, jealousy, fear, pride, anger, or any other un-Christlike motive could bring forth an act that can even compare.

To this day I still cannot comprehend the fear, pain, and sorrow the Savior felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but I can comprehend that he did it out of love.  I love my Savior and I know he loves me.  I know that “He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Mosiah 14:5).  I have felt the cleansing and enabling power too many times in my life to deny His love.  I know for those that are struggling on mission you can find His love and I know that you will find it while you are striving to love those you serve.  I know all of us would not be serving with such diligence and zeal if we did not already know these simple but vital truths.  I also know that as humans we tend to forget and thus the need to partake of the sacrament every week as a remind of his love and sacrifice for us.  I hope and pray that you will accept this simple reminder.  I exhort us as followers of Christ to really be the Saviors’ hands and to partake of His love which He so freely gives. I know we can give to others what the Savior gives to us and that is love.

Elder Jon D. Olson

September 7, 2015 "Taking the special needs missionaries out"

This week has been lekker!! It was one of those weeks where it just was over in the blink of an eye!  This week we ran a lot of errands...  Not my favorite thing to do but someone has to do it!   I had a really cool experience with taking the special needs missionaries out.  It reminded me of my peer tutor days with Afton, Ashley and of course Jack!!  One of the missionaries has Aspergers and the other is blind.  As we spent time with them I realized how "special" they really are in a spiritual sense.  They are just so loving and pure.  I talked with the one that is blind and he said that mission has helped him to come and accept his disability since it only started 4 years ago.  He said that he was angry and that he like all of us was wondering why he was faced with this trial.  Then he said as he has come closer to God his spiritual eyes were opened and he now is grateful for his trial.  I look at him and I think how can you be happy when you can't even see all of the beauty that God has made for us? Yet he is and I think it is because he has an eternal perspective on life and a testimony of the resurrection!  Then I thought of the other missionary who struggles with Aspergers and how his mind will be restored through the Resurrection as well.  I don't think us as members really understand how amazing the resurrection will be!  If the resurrection of Christ never happened the Atonement wouldn't be whole but it did happen and it is whole.  I was super grateful to be with them and for what the spirit was able to teach me.

Well, the rest of the week consisted of going to the airport and taking care of missionaries that were going home!  One was Elder Segil who I serious love! That guy is just amazing and his mom gave me the biggest hug... Oops but I couldn't stop that she was coming in hot! haha  Then again on Friday we went to take another missionary to the airport and we realized that we were close to Hospital View so we stopped by and got kota and taught a lesson with the missionaries there.  Definitely missed my kota there...  Also we were able to stop by Mpho's sister Refilwe, who is less active and that was cool.  She says she really wants to come back to church but it is hard cause she doesn't feel worthy.  I see that a lot in the LDS church.  Most of the time in other churches they think that grace will save them no matter what they do and they will be "saved".  In our church it is the polar opposite we think we have to do everything on our own and that if we mess up we are lost.  Yes, we made a mistake and we have to repent but there is grace and there is hope.  Amulek explains this pefectly when he says " And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircle them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great eternal plan of redemption."  There is hope and there is mercy but we have to ask for it and believe that it will come.  This is like my last email but I think we think we are a lost cause a lot more than Heavenly Father thinks we are! 

Well, sorry for my super long email but one more highlight.  You know that guy Greg I have mentioned.  Well he is taking huge steps right now.  He even said he wants to live "the Mormon way" for the rest of his life.  He said he sees the happiness we have and wants that for himself.  He is the most humble guy and wants to do what God wants him to do.  He has taught me a lot!  

Well hope all is well back at home!!!

JDO 

September 1, 2015 "42 Day Fast"

Well this week has been great! We started off with having zone conference on Tuesday and Wednesday which was so fun! We did one of the workshops and ours was on that purification challenge that I mentioned 6 weeks ago! I can also see now in hindsight that I was not only lead to that paper during studies for my benefit but for the whole mission!  We came up with this cool idea since a transfer is 42 days that we as a mission will do a 42 day fast! The logistics of it is that we will have at least one companionship fasting for one of the days of the transfer we will be fasting for 42 days! How epic is that! We will be starting it on the 15th of September.  It was amazing to see how the missionaries responed to it! We used the example of purifying water (I will attach the photos that we used. Then we related it to us and how we need to go through the same process to get rid of our imperfections. 

 I guess this week I gained even a stronger testimony of the Atonement.  However, usually when this happens it is because I have fallen or have messed up.  It was different this week.  I just saw others applying the atonement as they saw the need to purify their lives.  Many may think that missionaries are perfect and that we don't make mistakes but that is far from the truth... This week I have seen some missionaries that really need to make changes start making those changes. I can also see how proud Heavenly Father is of them for their effort.  I think when we see one repenting we have a tendency to look down on them and think how could they ever do that...  What we really need to see is that they are now changing and how hard it must be for them especially if all they see is criticism from others.  

When Alma was explaining the repentance process that he went through to his son Helaman, he said in Alma 36:21 "Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."  This week I have seen missionaries that are going through the first part of repentance and I know that if they work through it with patience, diligence, hope, and the Atonement they will eventually feel that joy. 

When we realize we are all sinners and that we all need the atonement we will start to see those that are imperfect are actually on the same road as us.  We are all trying to make it back to our Heavenly Father and we may be taking different routes but I believe that we will all make it back there as long as we don't give up and lean to the atonement.  This is a spiritually famine world full of sin and darkness but that doesn't mean that we have to be full of sin and darkness.  

I guess this email is just for the sinner and the saint and to remind the saint that they were once a sinner.  Hopefully I didn't step on any toes from this email. 

Elder Olson