Come Listen to Living Prophets

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

September 3, 2013

Here is the email for this week!  I can't believe he has been gone for four months already!  Again, if you would like to be removed from this list, please let me know.  And if you know of anyone who would like to be added, also let me know! Elder Olguin can be reached by email or snail mail and Auntie Elisa keeps his blog up to date also.


Elder Cuauhtemoc Olguin Jr.
Canada Winnipeg Mission
845 Shaftesbury Blvd
Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5


And he is also on the Canada Winnipeg Mission 2012-2015 Facebook.  There are photos and videos of him singing.  Thanks to all of you who continue to keep in touch with him! I'm copying my good friend Tina and adding some comments in red.  All the rest of the text and typos are original!!


dear Mom,

You may have noticed that I emailed a pic at about 440ish.. and I now am sending my actual email... welll the place we were emailing at closed down so we were cut short on email time and had to rush to the library, and here we are : P

i CAN'T believe the girls are all back in school!   I got your letters yestterday but I wasn't able to write any cause we had a really crazy sunday(disaster wise, not party wise)  and we ended up cleaning till 2 in the morning so we slept in a bit and then headed out to pday (P-day is Preparation day for missionaries.  It is a day when they take time to grocery shop, do laundry, email, etc rather than their usual teaching about Christ.  It is one day a week, For Elder Olguin it is currently on a Monday) activity and then we went to a ward (a ward is a congregation who lives in the same area and meets together) activity. All of this will be taken into further detail later on in this letter....   


  I love climbing mountains, I have a life goal to climb up a mountain at least once a year.   While I'm on My mission in winnipeg I'll count the "Manitoba mountain"  It's a sledding hill that takes about 30 seconds to walk to the top But nonetheless I've conquered my mountain for the year.    Next year if I'm not in the city or anything I might have to settle for a speed bump or something.   Oh well, look at me goal achieving and setting ; )  


Brother and Sister Baronins (We refer to each other as Brother and Sister because we believe we are all children of God) invited us over for dinner on sunday after church.   It was wonderful.  She made wonderful tortugas,   it was a good night and a good welcome to Elder Barton : )

this week elder Crake and I and Elder Barton now as well, have our first baptism. Elder Crake will be baptizing her on saturday and she's asked me to confirm (confirm means to bestow the Holy Ghost as a gift through a blessing) her on Sunday. She is such a remarkable girl, she is literally every single missionary in the world's dream investigator (an investigator is someone who is learning about the church). I can't believe elder Crake and I were entrusted in teaching her. It has been so incredibly humbling. Then on Saturday we have a date set for another man who is fantastic!! And we're trying to set a date for one more guy for the week after. This past week I met a woman...   She hasn't seen her family in 20 years and she is deaf. I don't know what it is about the language (American Sign Language) but I love it. I'm getting so much better at it. I was able to talk to this lady for almost an hour, then later on in the week, we ran into her again!! I started teaching her a bit the first time I saw her but she wasn't very interested, so this time, I signed with her for a while then brought up how she could find her family using facebook, and then skype them so she could see them! She was very intrigued by the idea and she asked if we could meet with her at the library today, so That's where I've just come from. I helped her set up a facebook account and I also taught her more about why I'm here and what I teach using mormon.org. I invited her to explore the website and she gave me her number so we can text her.

so... onto sunday'/monday's adventure... Yesterday was one of the worst and best days of my mission.... it started at 1 in the morning on monday when disaster struck in our appartment. By the way elder Crake and I are in another Tri pan (missionaries teach in groups of two called a companionship.  When there is a third missionary, it is referred to as the slang term "Tri pan" as in tri-panionship), Elder Barton is now with us, he is such a great guy and he told us that he was supposed to go home on sunday but that we changed his mind instantly, He told us that he was amazed that we are "real" people. He said that since sunday has been the happiest time of his mission!! : )  Anyways, on sunday night... We had a bathroom disaster... It was horrid... I will not go into details but know that you are very lucky that it will be 2 years till any of you shake my hand again...
Anyways, we were up till 2 in the morning cleaning up and we had to drive and meet our district leader (a district is a group of missionaries in an area, and the district leader is the missionary overlooking those missionaries) because we don't have a plunger... anyways... elder barton was just having the time of his life, he thought it was hilarious, and it was : P he just was so happy. I'm so happy that the companionship that elder crake and I have was able to keep a missionary on his mission. Hopefully, he has really bad knees as welll and he was moved in with us so that he could be in the city to go to physio and be close to the mission office. so We're praying very fervently that his knees get better. He had surgery on both of them 2 weeks before he entered the MTC... : P
So after the wonderful welcome party for ELder barton we finally got to sleep, then we had a great Pday. Everything was closed for Labor day so we just had pday activity with all the missionaries in the city then our ward Had their annual corn roast so we went to that and one of the best moments of my life happened. Robert and Pam showed up. Robert came up to me and just gave me a huge hug. then he just started crying. He pointed all around the park we were in and told me that he hasn't been to the annual corn roast in over 10 years. He's been inactive (not attending church) for 18 years and Elder Kenney and I were the ones who brought him back. He cried and told me how happy he was. Then later, Sister woodford (She knows asl and has even lent me some asl materials to study) came and she's been friends with them for years, so she came and started talking with him and he told us his conversion (how he came to join the church) story and then he signed to sister woodford, with tears in his eyes and starting to stream down his face, that I was learning ASL for him. I spent the whole evening with sister woodford and them. I can't believe how good I'm getting at it. Sister woodford says that I have what she calls the "gift of hands" Rather than tongues ; P. It's true, it's literally a gift that has been handed to me. I myself am amazed by how much I've fallen in love with the language and how I'm learning it.
I got some letters that I sent returned to me, so I was able to send those off yesterday..  Even though they are only  a couple of weeks old, I cringed as I reread them... I feel like I've come Miles and miles from where I was then..  
I miss you all so very much.    Right now, I'm on exchanges with Elder Poulsen right now.  He's been out for approximately 1 month but he's fantastic,  We are just about to go and visit Robert and Pam : ) they invited us over : )   I love them so much.  

Sister Baronins talked to me on sunday and was going on about how pretty you are and how proud of me you are... And all I thought was: " Mom's proud of me... and she doesn't even know that I can hem my own pants, fix ties, and do minor stitching!!!"   ANyways, just thought I'd let you know some of the skills I've aqquired : P
we were asked a question in sunday school about how temple work shows God's mercy, and what came to mind was the scripture in Peter,
 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."  
I always grew up believing that the people at the time of Noah were so wicked that they had no chance or something,  But jesus christ himself went and taught all those that perished in the flood.  God truly is merciful.  HE loves you. 
 

ELder Olguin

August 27, 2013 - From Mika

Just a side note, an "investigator" is someone who is learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ and is being taught by the missionaries.

There are some videos of Elder Olguin singing on Facebook under the Canada Winnipeg Mission 2012-2015 group.  


Anyone leaving on a mission if you would like me to change your email address please let me know.  If you would like to be removed from this list please let me know.  If you know of anyone who wants to be added also let me know.  You can read his profile at  http://mormon.org/me/C5H3/CuauhtiOlguin and the blog that Auntie Elisa keeps updated at http://elderolguin.blogspot.ca.  The blog also contains all the emails which have been sent since Elder Olguin first left.

Elder Cuauhtemoc Olguin Jr.
Canada Winnipeg Mission
845 Shaftesbury Blvd
Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5

Canada

August 27, 2013

Dear Mom,

hahaha, I don't feel too skinny : P  I think I've gained about 12 pounds now.. my arms are starting to get a bit bigger which is nice : P  hahaha..

Transfers happen on September 19th,  yeah training is 2 transfers : P  

I'm so happy.  On saturday i was able to go to a baptism as well.  It was incredible,  I Love going...  It's so incredible thinking that the happiness that people feel at there baptisms is only the beginning.   it only gets better from there.

Thanks, yeah i need to start telling more stories... I have so many that I just can't express over email and letters, you'll have to wait till Skype on Christmas : P

YEAH I HEARD THAT!!!! WHEN"S QUADE GONNA GET HIS MISSION CALL?????   tell ben to email me!!  It's been so incredible getting weekly emails from SAm, Jacob, Al, and brenten,  I can never shake off the feeling of them labouring beside me out here in the mission field.

This past week has been absolutely incredible.   It started with last Monday.   After Pday we met a 15 year old girl who lives in our area, that was invited to church by her friends and has been attending since the end of June in her friend's ward.  She is a remarkable girl, she's the most sincere, receptive, and smart 15 year old I've ever met.. We taught her and the questions she asked were so sincere and the spirit was so present that Elder Crake and I were so humbled.. We met with her again on Thursday, and she asked questions about the temple and she told us how excited she was for the temple to be built in Winnipeg,  at the end of the Lesson I invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on september 14th.     Yesterday she attended her friend's ward, and we found out that she takes 2 buses every sunday just to get to church.   then later last night she turned up at the Monthly mission fireside(which elder crake and I were asked to sing in again : ) ) and afterwards she came up to me and told me that her ward's youth temple trip was on the 14th.. so she asked if she could move it up to the 7th... I can't express the happiness I feel right now, knowing how sincere she is in making this step closer to jesus Christ.  It's absolutely awe-inspiring.  
The next incredible thing that happened last week was that Elder Crake and I went over to our favorite Family's home for the Last time... They are absolutely incredible, and the 2 kids that live with them still  told us that we were there favorite missionaries, we went over to their home for dinner at least 5 times in the last 2 months : P    Anyways,  he is an incredible man. We helped him pack up his house on Tuesday before he left and joined his family in Utah.   Before we left he told us that even if we didn't see anymore visible success on our missions that our missions were a success because we helped his family.   That really touched my heart. 
Later on in the week we met with another one of our investigators, from brazil,  He's currently working on his PHD, he's one of the most spiritually sensitive people I've ever met, and he has such an incredible desire and drive to learn more.  He's been meeting with missionaries for nearly a year now, but we only met him a couple weeks ago cause he was in florida for 2 months.   On saturday we retaught him the Restoration and the Plan of salvation.  The spirit in the room was so strong.  he told us how comfortable he felt as we shared personal experiences, that related to him perfectly.  At the end of the Lesson, Elder Crake committed him to working towards September the 14th as his baptismal date.   And he committed to working towards being baptized on that day. 
Then yesterday we had 5 of our investigators turn up to church.   It was incredible, we couldn't believe it... it was such a powerful meeting.. and on top of that, one of my favorite people in the world showed up to church!  He is a deaf man who hadn't been to church in 18 years before Elder Kenney and I met him during our first week in this area,  when we met him, he cried and he asked for a blessing.    He's had a hard life and not being able to communicate was such a huge trial for him.   Yesterday I did my best to interpret for him with my very limited sign language.  I scraped by and I felt so exhausted trying to keep up but afterwards he expressed gratitude greater than i've seen expressed with words.. He wrote a note to me and told me that he was here because of me.  He is such an incredible man and he's so patient, especially with me and my very broken ASL...  I feel so inadequate trying to explain things to him... but I pray that he recognized the love that was behind me feebly interpreting for him.  
It's people like this, and weeks like this, and experiences like this that make all the sad, hard and painful moments in my life melt away.   I know with all my heart that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.   I know that the things I teach people are true.   I love them so much that I wouldn't teach them otherwise.   I know that All our investigators will continue to see their lives change for the better as they continue taking these steps closer to CHrist.  

I miss you all so much.  I love you. 

Love,
 Elder Olguin

Pictures from Winnipeg!

My friend's parents live in Winnipeg and coincidentally Elder Olguin's ward met in the same building as her parents.  She was able to see him a couple times in August. :)