We had zone conference this week in Colatina. All the missionaries from 2 zones met up, and we received training on one of the missionary-favorite topics: Obedience. I learned a lot, and came away with a renewed determination to do what is right. I loved what one of the assistants taught us about the scripture that tells us of Jesus cleansing the temple. Sometimes we have to let others know that what they are doing is not in harmony with the will of our Father in Heaven - if we don't tell them, they might never improve! But seriously, the whole test of our earth life is whether or not we will be obedient. We need to let our faith show by way of what we say and do.

There was a Missionary Work Fireside in our branch yesterday, and there was a good number of people there. I have been a little discouraged this week because of the lack of interest that we have seen from investigators, but I was happy to see that the recently baptized people here are really excited about the church! I have never seen so much excitement and participation from new members of the church as I see here. AND I made snickerdoodles, and it was a hit!

I know that Christ lives, and that his Great and Eternal Atonement has the power to clean and transform lives. As we follow Him, we will find more happiness than in any other source. 

Elder Olsen

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I must admit, I admire Eric's ability to still find time, in the middle of missionary work, planning, and following up with other missionaries, to bake stuff. Unfortunately I don''t have quite the same zeal and have passed more or less 8 months without brownies and a year and 7 months without snicker doodles! haha.

This week was really great. We ended up teaching 30 lessons in total, not including less actives, which even for Brasil is a lot! Reading what you sent me, dad, about making these last months count and giving myself to the Lord, fortunately I can say that these past few days I have no regrets whatsoever. We are doing everything to find, teach, and help these children of God get back to their heavenly home. Everything!!

One awesome experience I had. We have been teaching this guy, Christian, who is recovering from a crack addiction. And so we have been teaching him and he's progressing really well, he went to church last week, he's doing the things we teach him. And then on Saturday night, out of nowhere, he just decided that he didn't want anything to do with it anymore. We talked and prayed, I felt that we were guided by the Spirit, but still a feeling of sadness came over me as we left emptyhanded. But we decided to go by an old investigator who wasn't going to church, he decided that night that he would go (and went!), and last night we taught him about fasting and he is fasting to have a response about what he should do!

I learned a lot of things from that experience, but one really important is that the Lord is always preparing someone. We just have to find who it is!

Thank you for your prayers and support, I love yall!

Much love,

Elder Nick Olsen