June 24, 2013

Dear Mom,

Out in the Missionfield we measure time by Transfers.  Transfers happen every 6 weeks as new missionaries arrive and old missionaries complete their missions and go home.  We get transfer calls the friday before transfers so we got transfers last Friday, which usually doesn't mean much to someone in training because usually the first two transfers are spent in training... so we got a call from The assistants to the president on Friday, and they asked: WHo wants their call first,  and elder moore said give elder olguin his first, so the Assistant said:"Elder Olguin, You're Taking over Our area" and I replied with: "Haha yeah okay whatevery"  and he replied with:I'm being Dead serious" and I said "Yeah Sure; P" and He said"  You and Elder Kenney will be finishing each others training and WE(the Assistants) are becoming travelling assistants and we'll be going all over the mission training everyone".     Elder Kenney is one of the GOod friends I made in the MTC!!!!!! Words can't describe how excited I am!!  President told me that He and the Zone leaders are confident in me as a missionary and that even though I haven't been out for too long he trusts me enough to train another missionary.

I don't think I would've grown as much as I have with a (different) companion so I'm very grateful for the way the Lord has prepared me for the next part of this Journey.

Last week was incredible,  we have started teaching a lot more, and WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!!

It won't be my area anymore but I'm just being transferred to the more southern part of winnipeg, to an area called Waverly.  And I have recieved permission to attend Wayne's Baptism!!  I'm so excited for him, he has a true desire to be baptized and his life has changed so miraculously as we've taught him and invited him to keep the commandments.  He has such an amazing testimony and he said a 15 minute prayer at the end of one of our lessons and the feelings of peace and Love that entered the room were undeniable. 

another one of our investigators, Buba CAMe to church yesterday!!!  WE call her Buba cause that means grandma, she's from Yugo slaavia and she has a ridiculously long and hard name, like my name times 5 in difficulty and length... but she is incredible, she is one of the most religious people I have ever met.  She believes that the book of mormon is true, but she didn't want to be baptized because she believes that all baptism is the same.  We have been teaching her more on the significance of the book of mormon being true, as it means that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is true, which means that God has restored his true power to this church, which means that we have the authority to baptize.  Last week she asked more about being baptized and how she didn't want to spit on everything her parents believed in, we told her that she wasn't turning her back on anything, merely adding on to what she already believes.  We invited her to pray about coming to church and later in the week she agreed and it was an amazing experience as she went to church and felt peace that she hadn't felt for a long time.

Besides that we did quite a bit of tracting, (knocking on doors), we were able to set up appointments with a few them and we'll be checking up on them throughout the week.  We tracted one young family, that we were able to teach the restoration to and they turned out to be christian, they asked about some of the things that we believe in and we explained how many of their concerns are answered not only through the Book of Mormon but the Bible as well.

We've been spending a lot of time in our service clothes as well, we helped weed the largest garden I've seen in my life one day and I was sweating buckets!! It's been above 30 degrees for the last week!!  Helped a bunch of people move, it's been amazing as we try to leave everyone that we do service for with a spiritual thought. 

This week we willl be teaching a ton of people, until thursday at least... then begins the next part of the adventure!!! 

I'm so very excited.  I have truly grown to love the ward I've been serving in, but I'm excited to meet even more people and learn and grow as I serve with Elder Kenney, who is the tall red head in some of the MTC pictures, he is from Lethbridge Alberta, and we are gonna tear it up!!

I have grown to learn how important my family is to me.  One of the things I learned last week was:  You have to know where you want to go before you choose your path.  Sometimes it seems like all we can do is just survive till the end of the Day... but there's a better way.   Focus on giving it your all until a point where you think you can't go further.  Then move on to the Next point in the near distance.   As you try to live the gospel and live in a way that you aren't looking for the blessings but acknowledging and utilizing them instead, you will learn that living is better than surviving. 

I  love you.  I miss you.  Everyday I see the things you taught me, and I see your love for me as I work my heart out and strive to honour the savior and you through all that I do.

Love,

ELder Olguin