May 27, 2009 Quanta chuva..?!!‏ (How much Rain?)

It was good to hear from you. I came to use the internet a little before noon today, and had to leave early. -forgetting that the city practically shuts down here from 12:00-2:30. So now I will finish my internet time. vesh!!!
It has been raining so hard here the past few days. Yesterday, all the streets filled up with water and in some of the poorer parts of town, people´s mud-stick houses were washed away in the rain, destroying everything. Its kind of sad, but it seems like it is a regular occurance in all of the north east of Brasil during this time of year. A few weeks ago I heard that Estancia got a bunch of rain which flooded tons of houses and broke 2 large bridges that connects two part of the city. I have always liked the rain, but please!.. in a managable portion! It seems like it is always raining here. The weather turned from a dry, hot jungle climate to a sauna! (actually it is alot cooler now). Because of the humidity, everything just stays wet constantly, inside or outside (which is practically the same thing here).-and mold grows really easy. Despite all of this, i am doing very well. I am a little sad that we were not able to visit any of the local waterfalls again because of the intense rain, but I´ll live.
The work is going good still. It seems that it has begun to slow down a bit with the transfer coming to an end, but we are still pounding away! On sunday I was able to give a recent convert the priesthood, his name is Ivanildo. He is a really cool kid, and very excited about the church. This branch is really in need of priesthood holders.
On monday, we did a division and I went to Maceió to stayed with Elder Arantes. Ha, he is a way funny missionary. I like him alot. He was one of the first missionaries that I met when I arrived here in the airport of Maceió. I was able to learn alot from him during the division. He actually speaks english very well too, he has a brother that lives in Salt Lake and another in Idaho. He told me that he has plans to study in the U.S. after the mission.
Working in Maceió is very different than here in Viçosa. Monday was the 3rd-4th time that I have worked there. Maceió is full of these giant holes called "Grotas", it really is quite an incredible site. When I say hole, I honestly mean hole, only it is full of little shanty houses. Just imagine a stairway (or better-yet a complex maze of stairways) that leads through an unorganized maze of little "houses". Also, your lucky if the stairway is made of any man-made material.. usually it seems to be just carved out of earth (which is all just clay here). I think that they are pretty sweet. Yet it must be really hard to work in the larger ones. A few weeks ago I passed by one really big one with Elder Moreira called "Grota de São Rafael"--..yapois..! it was pretty nuts! With Elder Arantes, we worked in a smaller grota at the far part of their area, -it was cool. Everyone knows everyone, and the people are very humble there. It is full of some interesting houses and giant holes leading to a river in the bottom. I think the thing that I liked the most was the system of little bridges that they used to cross gaps in the earth, where the water has eroded it away; only they weren´t really bridges at all, just old doors spead over the gaps. Working in a grota, now that is an adventure that only the bigger cities can offer here. I will have to write more about the grotas here when I actually get an area that has one. Still I like the work out here in the country-side of Viçosa. It is such an awesome little town, with exceptionally cheap ice-cream.! (that just tops it all off)
Well, what else..hmmm... well thats all I´ve got for now, hope that you are satisfied with the adventures of this week. Grandma´s package of pistachios and such finally arrived. Haha, I can´t tell you how much these brasilians loved to try pistachios for the first time(or anything foreign for that matter).
Just know that I am doing good. I am always happy to hear from you all and I sure miss you a bunch. I loved hearing about grandpa, mom... thanks.
But gotta go for now. Take care- meus queridos...-seu gorotinho, feliz e vivo...--Elder Olson
--can you believe it! 4 in the afternoon and its already dark!

May 20, 2009

-Hey, everyone!
Well it has been a great day for me and in fact a great semana. We have been working well, helping many of our investigators progress. I was very happy to hear from you all and know that things are going well back home. P-day is always great for that ya know. Well, we have got some great people that we are helping. I am really excited because most of these people have family or close friends that are active members. (I can't tell you how much that always helps out)
We have also seen some great blessing come because of the work that we are doing. For example: on Sunday we had some investigators to get that live in the part of town that is farthest away from everything (called "frei daminão")as we went early to get our investigators, a family passed by on the other side of the street and yelled across asking if the chapel was already open. Haha, to be honest I thought that they were joking. C´mon that just doesn´t happen here. We responded yes, and they continued down the road. After spending the morning trying to find all of the people that told us that they would go to church, we ended up arriving late with only 1 person, Alexandra. It is always a little disappointing, walking all over the village trying to get people to go to church and everyone but one gives you a pretty illegitimate excuse except the couple that actually end up going. But hey, I´m pretty used to it by now. Anyways, we arrived at church a little late and as we entered in the classroom we saw that entire family of 5 listening intently. Also some members had brought friends, and one of our recent converts had brought his sister that we had begun teaching. Needless to say we were very happy, and after church we were able to pass by and mark the baptisms of the entire family, as well as many of the other visitors. I can truly testify that the Lord is in this work. He is out there with us everyday, helping us find the elect or at times helping the elect find us.
Today was great. Elder Hill and Elder Moreira, who are our zone leaders, came and spent the day with us. It has been a while since I have been in the company of so many galegos.(like gringos) They both already passed by this area, so we did some visiting of old friends and converts. During the afternoon, one of our recent converts, named Maria (she is way awesome) took us to the sítio (or little farm) of her family. We had to walk for about an hour off in the hills to get there. Wow, what an awesome experience. I put of few pictures of today on this e-mail. All of that area is covered with gauchos (or cowboys), it is a pretty awesome site to see. If we had gotten there earlier we could have visited the nearby waterfall and gone fishing someplace on their land, however we´ll have to do that some other day. We were able to walk through the pig farm that they had there, which was pretty cool and very stinky. (the wild pigs that they have here are honestly terrifying!)
Well, this week we will spend alot of time in Maceió. We had to go there for district meeting on Monday and we will return tomorrow for zone conference with Elder Didier (Area authority of Brasil) that should be great. However we won't be able to make it home until Friday. tá osso ñ é..?
Well I´ve gotta go. Just want to let you all know that I am doing great. Viçosa is taking good care of me. This week was really good, and I hope that all is going well for everyone back home.
love you guys a bunch,valeu galera...!
-elder olson -love ya.

Wed. May 13, 2009

Well, it was so good to talk to you all on Sunday. I really enjoyed it alot,though now I don't really have much more that I can say because I think that I told you all almost everything.
Well, today we had our zone activity with all of the other zones here in Maceió,it was alot of fun. There is this big chácara (which is like a cottage house with an area to eat and a big field to play soccer) it was great. I think that I may be a little sunburned, but it was all worth it. I was able to see Elder Frank and Elder Gonçalves today. It had been a while since I had seen them. Actually I am still with Elder Gonçalves in his area, it was good to see him again.
Also today was the first time since we arrived on the mission that I had seen Elder Clark. He was in my group at the MTC, he is such an awesome guy. (he is a red head from Salt Lake City.) He made me play some football (american style) with some of the other Americans (and some brazilians). It was alot of fun. It is always alot of fun to see old friends and companions.
But I will be happy to get back to Viçosa. It really is a cool place.
Well, I better go.
love you all a bunch,take care, -elder olson

may 6, 2009...eí cabra!‏

Hey everyone,well things are going well here.
I was very happy to get your e-mails, and hear about all of the cool trips that everyone had. Those are some great pictures of dad and grandpa's trip to Hawaii. You´ll have to mail me some pictures so I can show some of the members here (Viçosa doesn´t have a place to develop photos as well as many other places).
Well I am really enjoying it here. All the people are great, and we have a large group that we are teaching. It is such an awesome little city. I will try to send you some photos. Today we had planned to hike to a nearby waterfall with a few of the members but I have been pretty sick with Brasilian Gripe. However I am starting to get over it already. It hasn´t been too great.
Well, I figure that I will be talking with you all in about 4 days so lets just save the rest until then. I just hope that you all know how greatful I am to have your support. Most of the companions that I have had are the only members in their family. I cant imagine how much more difficult it would be.
I am so happy to be here, to have all of these new cultural experiences, to share this message with these great people, and to learn and grow each day in spirit. I wouldn´t trade this for the world!
I love you all and I will talk to you soon.
seu garoto,-Elder Olson
p.s. Just to give you an idea, the best time for me to talk to you on Mothers day will be during the later afternoon... probably sometime between 4:00-->7:00 (time here in Viçosa) I still need to find out how we will call (since most of the members don't have phones), I think that maybe I will give you a quick call on the phone at the church and have you guys call back -bubba
p.s.s- Mom, let miss "B" know that I got her letter, thanks..