Well Elder Olsen has been in the MTC for 3 weeks. Crazy how fast time goes!!

So here is what has been going on in his life starting with July 24

The Family before taking Perry to the MTC

Mom, Dad and Perry unloading the car.

There he goes for 2 years!

We got a letter that he wrote the first night on Friday, he told us his P-day  is on Mondays. So we waited anxiously for his e-mail. (Pictures will be posted at the end)

E-mail #1 July 29, 2013

OH!!!!!! and we watched a video called "character of Christ" by Elder Bednar, and it was SOOOO good, i wanted to tell you all so many things that i loved and that helped me sooo much, except there were too many, so for family night tonight or maybe on sunday watch it as a family and really look up the scriptures and talk about it!! I loved how he talked about the character of christ is turning outward and not inward, and i think that will really help me, because the last 5 days have really been about me and how uncomfortable this all has been, but if i focus on helping others i will feel better myself. I have really noticed that in helping elder neddo feel better, helps me to feel better.

love, ELDER OLSEN!

or

Pear

E-Mail #2 August 5, 2013

Okay! So we taught this teacher who was pretending to be an investigator like 5 times, and its so cool because if you didn't know that he wasn't he would TOTALLY seem like an investigator. Before we started teaching they told us that everything that is important is real. The spirit is real, the lessons and doctrines are real, and it's cool because they play the roles of investigators that they had on their missions, although Tomas, now hermano angel, told us that he played himself, and that it wasn't so much the spanish or the teaching that he cared about, but what he was looking for was if we truly cared about him, and wanted him to be happy and if our messages and lessons applied to him. Later when he was talking to elder neddo and i, he said that was why he committed to be baptized!! speaking of which!! he committed to being baptized by all four of our companionships!!!! so he will be baptized on the 10 of august 4 times....oh wait. haha but even though it wasn't technically real, it was so cool to feel the spirit so strongly and to feel that love for him. And the third lesson, we really wanted to focus on understanding him, and we could about 95% and ever since then i have been able to understand pretty much everything my teachers say, and if not i can usually piece it together, and Elder neddo said that my speaking has improved a ton too!!! :D not trying to brag, believe me i have a lot of humbling times every day, but it does feel good to know that i am trying and desiring to do this, not for the benefit of myself, but for the benefit of others, and the Lord has and will keep blessing me because of that! 

Love,

Pear

E-Mail #3 August 12, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Well, I am approaching 3 weeks of being in the MTC and of my Mission. It is so crazy. I feel like I have been here for at least 3 years, but at the same time it feels like maybe 3 days. I have had so many amazing experiences, and so many really difficult ones as well. Spanish is SOOO hard to learn, and yet it has been coming faster than I ever expected!! I know that i am recieving help and strength way beyond what i could do on my own. I am still adjusting to having little or no energy each day, and still doing at least 16 hours of mentally exhausting things! I defintely ejoy gym and food breaks! It is amazing how fast i became such good friends with my companion, he is awesome! We feel like we have known each other for so much longer than 3 weeks (which we have, of course. I know that we were best friends as spirits with heavenly father before we came to earth). That is the most amazing part of being here in the MTC and on my mission as well. The power and peace that i feel all the time. Even when the language is so hard, and i am annoyed with everyone, and i am so tired, I have NEVER once doubted if this is what i am suppose to be doing. i know that it is. I have learned sooooo much about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I came thinking that i had a pretty good knowledge of doctrines, and a strong testimony, but holy cow! I have learned and grown sooo much!!! If it is okay with all of you (and you cant really say no..so..;) Im just going to share some experiences and things that have strengthened my knowledge and conviction that God is our loving heavenly father, and we lived with him before this earth, and Jesucristo is in fact our brother, and friend. and also our savior. We have a missionary statement or our "objective" and i hope i can remember it in english (ha..never thought id say that) but it says that our objective is to "invite others to come unto christ, by helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

I have come to know and love my Father in heaven, who is the God of all creation and of us, so much. Even though he is the supreme creator of everything, he wants each and everyone of us to talk to him, daily, multiple times a day. He has given us the gift of prayer, and if we truly pray to him, he does hear us. I know that with all my heart. He will answer our prayers, not with thunder or lightening, but with peace and hope. He will confirm the truth to us, if we just ask him, truly wanting to know. He will help us. We can ask for anything, and if it be righteous and according to his will, he will give us it. And thats the thing...sometimes we don't get an answer, or we get a hard one, or one we don't want, but it is only because he loves us and knows what is best for us! He has been where we are, and he knows the way to become like him, if we obey his commandments with faith, he has promised that we can live with him AND our families forever, in absolute happiness. We just have to live our lives in the way that he has shown us. And that way is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his church.

Its been so cool. The first day of getting here was SOOOO hard. We taught a lesson, completely in spanish, knowing nothing, and it was really difficult...afterwards Elder Neddo (my companion) and I, had a really long talk about why we are here, and why it has to be so hard. We knew that it was going to be hard, but didn't think that it would be this hard...I said a prayer after our whining session...and it was the most powerful experience...Even in the midst of feeling completely alone, i felt like i wasn't. I felt, and I know, that God and his angels were and are helping me, and strengthening me. I felt wrapped up and secure in his eternal love. Sometimes it is hard to believe that if we pray, someone will hear. I have had a lot of times in my life where i feel like i am simply talking to the air...but I have gained a greater knowledge and testimony that all the goodness, hope, happiness, contentment and absolute Joy we feel in this life, is from God. He want's us to be happy. He wants us to live our lives in the way so that we can return to him again.

When i pray, i have started to picture a man, standing directly in front of me, but he is hidden behind a white sheet, i can see his outline, but i can't make out who it is or anything distinct. Except i know he is listening, he is absolutely attentive to every word that i say, and every thought that i have. He doesn't interrupt me, or question me, he just lets me talk. And so i do. I tell him how i'm feeling. How i am struggling, how i don't understand spanish, my frustrations with people here, my frustrations especially with myself, how i miss my family, how i am so tired all the time...and then i thank him, i thank him for this opportunity to learn how to preach his gospel, to those people in mexico, who i am beginning to love, even though i have no idea who they are. I tell him of the joy i feel when i begin to understand something, or feel of his love and his AMAZING gospel and hope that i have for a better life, not only in this life, but also the hope that i have of an eternal life with my family and ALL who i love. I thank him for my family, for the love which they give me, and the wonderful home of peace and love, and LIGHT that i have. When i start to realize that all of these things are from him, thats when i realize how much i need him. I need help. I need guidance, on what to say, on what to do, on what to become...and so i ask for it. I ask for his help, believing with all my heart that he will help me...because he has...so many times...i don't know when his answer or his strength will come to me, but i know that it will, in his time and his way, and i know that he is behind that sheet or that veil...with his arms extended towards me...he is so glad that i want to talk to him, that i realize that he is there, and that i love him. And i know that he loves me too.

Being here on my mission, i pray dozens and dozens of times every day, and i have began to truly and sincerely pray. Realizing that i need My Heavenly Father and my God, SOOO MUCH! and realizing that he helps me, SOOO much!!! That is the greatest testimony and knowledge that i have gained from being in the MTC and on my mission. That no matter what we are going through, and no matter how great or hard life is, we have a living Father in Heaven, who sent us here so that we can become like him, and he didn't leave us alone, he is with us, helping us, giving us peace and strength and hope, and if we follow him we can have eternal happiness. I know that he lives, and that JesusChrist lives, and that he lived and died for us, so that we can make it back to him!

I am SOOO excited to help others to feel of this overwhelming love and joy which i feel EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! it is so amazing the spirit that is here in the Missionary Training Center. I know that it is dedicated by God for his servants (one of which i am!! :D) to really learn, and love the gospel and to feel of his love all the time. I can't wait to go to Mexico and help others to truly KNOW and truly FEEL the way i do.

I guess as a missionary i should leave with an invitation. You know that I know these things, but don't take my word for it. Whether you know with all your heart that you have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, or if you aren't for certain, I know that if you sincerely ask him, wanting to know, he will answer you!! He has answered me. I know why i am here, and i will never give up. Because with the Lord, My God, I can do all things.

I love you all, and am so thankful for the light and truth you have given me throughout my life, i wouldn't be where i am without you. You are all the best family that i have ever had.

Love, with all my heart,

Elder Olsen

or PEAR!!!! :D