October 13, 2013

Sorry to get this out so late!  Happy late Thanksgiving! We have so many blessings to be grateful for.  Mika

Dear Mom,

yeah yesterday we weren't able to email so we just cleaned up the appartment, and wrote letters it was a pretty great Pday, Our bishop invited us over for thanksgiving dinner last night so we had a great dinner : )

yes poor Cassidy... Everyone thinks it's so great that I used to teach my little brother... hahahahaha... whattapunk ; P (Cuauhti used to teach Kenji swimming lessons at the YMCA. )

mhmm... I loved president Ucthdorf's talk and about why people fall away..   (Our church has a worldwide conference twice a year.  President Uchtdorf is a member of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormons.  To view the talk search "Dieter F Uchtdorf Come Join With Us"). Sometimes we ask why God allows so much pain and suffering to happen... when we take a look at the blind man in John chapter 9 we see that sometimes it's so God can show forth his power at some later point,  in Alma 14:11 we see a different reason that God allows suffering " But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory, and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day." and when it comes to the sacrament and people who take it unworthily we read "See that ye are not baptized unworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily; but see that ye do all things in worthiness, and do it in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out" Mormon 9:29

what are some other reasons for suffering??  well the agency of man.  God has given us all the ability to choose right or wrong.

I always think of Job whose suffering and loss was pretty severe yet his words are echoed throughout every single Christian church "I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH AND THAT HE SHALL STAND AT THE LATTER DAY UPON THE EARTH"

ALlan will be baptized on November 5th,  he is progressing wonderfully : ) the muslim man is very set in his beliefs, he invited us to come to mosque with him so that's exciting, I've never been to a mosque : )

it's so true, we have so many blessings, my favorite thanksgiving scripture is about captain moroni, it's Alma chapter 48:12  "Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many  privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people".  he's a great example to me, especially as I am striving to express my love and gratitude for the Lord through my service out here in the mission field.  

I have so much to be grateful for.

Btw I started my Book of Mormon thanksgiving challenge yesterday!  I have a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon between Canadian thanksgiving to American thanksgiving, I love it, I'm reading through and marking scriptures about gratitude or reasons to be grateful and I love how much more aware I've become of what I have to be grateful for.   I love you. 

Love Elder Olguin

October 6, 2013

Conference sure was wonderful.  I loved the Sunday morning as well.  Every single time Henry B. Eyring speaks I am amazed.  Last conference he gave the talk come unto him and it was such a powerful and emotional talk that let the spirit speak directly to my heart.  Yesterday he spoke with such fervent emotion that I was brought to tears.   I remember him talking about the grandmother who asked God why she had to watch her grandson throw his life away, and God responded;"because I knew that you would love him no matter what."  

The family home evening was incredible,  the family loved it!!  I had a bunch of different kinds of mail.  I had a letter that had stickers in it for the youngest, I had advertisements from A and W's which I gave to the oldest boy, I had a letter from manitoba public insurance which I told the kids was a speeding ticket for their dad, I had an email that was the calgary flames roster which I gave to the daughter, and I gave an ensign to the mother.   I explained each one, what each one was for,  and then i pulled out my scriptures explaining that the scriptures are really just mail from God and his prophets.  Then Elder Lott and I read out letters that we had written to our favorite prophets found in the scriptures in gratitude for the scriptures, mine was to the famous missionary, ammon, I explained that i haven't had any chances to cut peoples arms off on my mission yet but I'll let him know when I do, and that I was grateful for the example of a missionary he is to me,  then we invited the parents and the 3 children to write letters to their favorite prophets then we read them out,  then we gave the family an actual postcard from the 2 of us.  It was fantastic, the kids loved it, and the spirit was strong, and we taught simply what the scriptures are and the blessing that they are : ) Then they took us mini golfing and it was the best.

Elder Lott just came out of training, so he is not a greeny, he's hilarious, love the kid,  he's a huge goofball, full of energy and ready to work, so we've been working : )

 It's been so great hearing from Jacob, and al, and all my other brothers from home.  I've seen so much great growth in each of them.  I love them so much,  it's great to hear that you're emailing them every week : )  I have loved receiving Joyce simpson's letters,  every single testimony that I have been able to read through letters has been such a strength to me.

The Pettys are so wonderful,  I've realized that I've changed... I used to be a bit selfish in learning ASL, thinking that it's so great that I'm gaining this great skill, but as I've come to better understand the Pettys and other deaf people I've met I've come to have a true desire to better understand them.  I really love them so much, and it's such a blessing as I've come to understand them better and help them with that understanding.   It's so obvious but I guess I have a better UNDERSTANDING of the importance of understanding people in order to help them now.  So much of the world is missing out simple becuse of misunderstanding...

Llewellyn is doing wonderfully, the ward she was baptized into has such a strong youth group, in fact a bunch of them drove together as friends and attended the sunday sessions of conference, it's so great to see. 

Our week has been so incredible.. full of hard work and miracles.   On friday we had an amazing experience.   We had our weekly planning session as usaual and in it we decided that we want to talk to more people, so we decided to set a goal in order to measure our progress.  we set a base of at least 10 people, and this is having an actual converstaion with, not just a "hey how are you?"  so on friday evening, we go around the church building and talk to people and invite them in to take a tour of the building, well it's finally getting a bit chilly in the peg so there weren't too many people out but we managed to have 9 really good conversations, then we went inside to warm up a bit before heading out with the hopes of giving someone a church tour, as we walked out of the building there was a man walking across the parking lot about 30 feet away and walking away, the spirit told me to do something to which I did without hesitation.  I yelled; "HEY DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE INSIDE OF OUR BUILDING!?"   Incredibly he came toward us and we began talking and he excitedly told us that he would love to see the inside of the building!  It was a miracle, he asked so many questions and we gave him a 45 minute church tour answering all of his questions.  His favorite parts were the chapel, and learning about how we pray as we prayed with him at the end.  He is muslim and he is the friendliest man I've ever met, he was so grateful and told us he would love to meet again.  It was so incredible.   It's not about numbers, but it sure gave me a testimony of facing goals with faith.

Love,

E;lder Olguin

Alma 17:1-2

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/17?lang=eng
Here is the link to Alma 17:1-2 from The Book of Mormon Elder Olguin referred to in his September 29, 2013 email.

September 29, 2013

Two emails this week!

Dear Mom,

We have had such an incredible week!!!!   It has been full of hard work and miracles!! 

But today has been and will continue to be full of service so we have permission to have our PDAY tomorrow as well as let you know that we won't be emailing until tomorrow!!!  Elder Lott is the best!! 1 quick thing though!!!  SOme of the members suggested that I send a request to President to have an additional 30 minutes of study to learn sign language so after he came to church last week and he commented on how impressed he was with me interpreting throughout church I asked him, and he gave me permission!!!  as well as the permission to use the websites that interpreters in the ward have referred me to!!

ANyways,   Love you all can't wait to email tomorrow!!!

Love,

ELder Olguin,

Ps.   Mom, president thomas encourages us to go to churches and to become friends with the people there, it's been a great service opportunity as well as a testimonry builder for myself.  We have prayed and fasted to know how to become more involved in the communities and builkd relationships and this is where we have been lead. I'll Email tomorrow

Dear Mom,

the comouter ièm using is making these weird és instead of letting me add punctuation.... besides periods i guess... and commas...,

Anyways Ièm happy that I was able to get 2 emails from you this week : ) 

Yeah ASL is going so well.  I canèt believe how quickly ièm learning... on Sunday we had a Fireside and it was titled come unto christ and be healed.  We invited Brother Petty and I had to interpret the whole fireside for him.   the incredible thing is that he is such a testimony of how the spirit doesnèt come with words.   He can feel the spirit just as powerfully as anyone else even with me missing half of what is being said.  It is incredible. 

This past week has been incredible.  We have tracted for hours and hours and hours... and weève walked miles and miles and miles... and we have not found anyone to teach.. but we have been diligent, we have worked hard and we have seen miracles... the first miracle has been my asl and How iève been able to actually interpret for the most part.... but besides that we have seen so many other miracles...  One thing that happened last week was that we went to the Family history center on wednesday and we were able to do some indexing and we were able to do some family history work.. I donèt really know where to begin so I mostly just indexed, then afterwards we went and tracted and talked with everyone we saw for hours and hours all the way till dinner.. then we went and talked to people in the park, made some friends who taught us how to slackline walk : P then we went to our lesson,  we started talking to him about the gift of the Holy ghost and how it can help,  and then he stopped us.   He told us:Èhey guys... You havenèt brought it up today,.. but usually you always talk to me about baptism and such... well you didnèt talk about it today but I want to be baptised.  I had an answer to my prayers this week and I triple checked... but the answer remained the same.  the spirit told me that this is the right thing to do.  I have been asking so many questions but now I need to trust in the lord because I know Ièll find the answers as I take the steps towards him.È   It was such a surpris to Elder Lott and I...   We are so happy for Allan,  heès incredible, he came to church on sunday and heès just been such an example to me.

Anyways,  other than that we just spent tons of time tracting and street contacting : P  we went and saw Brother and Sister Petty Twice last week and it was wonderful : )  I really could spend the rest of my mission in this area..

I have to head out soon, but I want you to know that i love you.  This past week while I was reading Alma i came across Alma 17:1-2 and I thought of all of the friends I have in the mission field with me right now. I wrote them all down on the page.  (All the friends that I prepared to serve a mission with)  ELDER. J. Evans, Elder M.Johnson, Elder C. Winkler, Elder Z. Belanger, Elder B. Mcmullen, Elder S. Velazquez, Elder. D. Raju, Elder K. Reed, Elder A. Jules, Elder S. Lethaby.  So many of the young men I grew up with are out here right now, the lisit goes on, itès incredible...

Love,

Elder Olguin

Doctrine and Covenants Section 31

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/31?lang=eng

Here is a link to Doctrine and Coventants Section 31.  If anyone is interested in reading the first 5 verses Elder Olguin referred to in his September 22, 2013 email.

September 22, 2013

Here is the email from this week!  Elder Olguin can be reached by email or snail mail.  The day which he usually sends emails is Monday, and you can read his profile or past emails and see photos on his blogspot.

Email:             colguin@myldsmail.net

Snail Mail: Elder Cuauhtemoc Olguin Jr.

                  Canada Winnipeg Mission

                  845 Shaftesbury Blvd

                  Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5

                  CANADA

Profile:          http://mormon.org/me/C5H3/CuauhtiOlguin

Blog:       http://elderolguin.blogspot.ca

Dear Mom,

Elder Evans and I were talking about how it's crazy that we've already been out for 5 months...

I Definitely took seminary for granted till highschool.  I loved it my last year : P  but I definitely wish I'd really paid attention now.. 

I wish I could show you how good I'm getting at ASL...  Mom, it truly is a blessing... there's no way that I could be learning it this quickly if the Lord wasn't helping me. I'll talk more about it when I get into my weekly letter : P Elder B. Lyons was the greatest example to me back home and now he continues to be.  I'm able to talk with him often.. I cna't believe he's Going home at the end of October..  This is his last transfer... I'll have just hit 6 months..

I'm glad, I'm so happy that I was able to teach Llewellyn, we've been able to keep touch with her, and we're going to continue meeting with her.  I'm very excited for who or what the Lord has prepared for me next as I work hard and serve with all my heart might mind and strength.

This week has been wonderful.    We had transfers on Thursday and I met Elder Lott, who I am so excited to be serving with, he came out a transfer after me,  he is the biggest goofball I've ever met, he is hilarious.   He's definitely the most supportive, loving, and innocent person I've met : )  I could serve the rest of my mission with him.    After he got unpacked at the appartment and such I took him straight to go teach a Lesson with the pettys : P I was planning on surprising him and not telling him that they were deaf, but I was nice and let him know on the way over : P it was a wonderful lesson.  Pam is only hard of hearing, so she's able to interpret if I need, but I've been relying less and less on her interpreting.  We had a wonderful lesson and Elder Lott was kind of overwhelmed but afterwards he expressed his excitement and asked if I would start teaching him,  so we will be learning together now : ) Sunday was wonderful, They came to church and I spent a huge part of it interpreting for the pettys, It was the first time that most of the members saw me signing proficiently, and after church we were invited over for dinner with one of the interpreters in the ward (we have 2) I love it, the 2 interpreters in the ward suggested that I submit a request to president to have an extra half an hour of study for ASL each day, who knows if he'll approve of it but after elder's quorum where I played piano(yeah somehow I'm able to sight read most of the hymns now...) and I interpreted for Brother Petty, I was told by many that they hoped I don't transferred anytime soon : )  I love this ward so much, I am definitely hoping to be here for a long time, at least a year... : )

Elder Lott is fantastic, we have had so much fun already and we've still been out working hard. I feel so good everyday,  I feel like I'm exactly where I should be.    Elder Lott and I have a really good week ahead of us, tonight we've been asked to come over for dinner at a member's home and then have FHE with them, they asked us to give the lesson and they have 3 kids so they told us to be creative... so we thought up of something preeett wild... I'll report back to it next week... if it goes well... ; P

I feel like this is a very short email... Not much to talk about... I just feel really content, happy, and at peace.   Elder Lott and I are going to be doing our best to find people to teach and hopefully we find even more opportunities to use ASL,  we will be seeing the pettys on tuesday and thursday agian this week and meeting with one of our investigators on Wednesday and Friday.  I've really come to love being out here on a mission and I feel it a pleasure to serve and love the people here.  

Oh yeah that's what else I forget... Last week we were able to go and visit the Church of The rock which was a wonderful experience.  We went and talked with the volunteer coordinator asking about volunteer opportunities within the community and within their church.  At first she was a bit apprehensive, but as she talked with us more she became a lot more comfortable and we were able to explain how we strive to represent Jesus Christ and that we look for service anywhere.  It was a wonderful conversation and she told us that she will be calling us to help her out.  and she gave us many other places to volunteer so it was great : )

The atonement is real.   I've felt my pain, guilt, and sorrows melt away as I've turned to my savior.   I know that it is for all.   I've seen it change the lives of those around me.  I will never forget how it changed mine.  It is not possible for me to live without the atonement.

I showed brother petty pictures of my family yesterday and his eyes filled with tears,  maybe because he knows they mean the world to me, yet I'm out here for him..  You are why I'm here.  I know that all will be well. 

Take the time to read D and C section 31 the first 5 verses mean a lot to me as the Lord promises Thomas B. Marsh that his family will be blessed as he's on a misison.

Love,

Elder Olguin

September 15, 2013

Dear Mom, 

 Hahaha I haven't changed?? Hmmm, that's good... I love myself... ; P (Responding to a comment from his sister)

WE GOT TRANSFER CALLS ON FRIDAY!!!   I WILL BE MOVING TO KINDERSLEY ALBERTA!!!!!!

Just kidding, I'm staying in the PEG.   I love it here, I love the ward, I love the people I've come to know, I love that our appartment has free laundry, I love that I will be able to continue working with the Pettys and continue improving and refining my ASL (Mom, I Love the language so much.  I interpreted for Brother Petty all through church yesterday, it was so hard... but I managed : P president Thomas (President of the mission) was in our ward yesterday and he said he was very impressed and to keep it up.), I love that I won't have to wait for 6 weeks for letters(when/if I ever get transferred out of the city it would be nice if you put the dates on the outside of letters too so I can open them in order : P) and I love that we won't be crowded anymore : P    Elder Crake has been called to serve in Yorkton Saskatchewan and Elder Barton is going to Regina,  I will miss them, I love them dearly and we have had some unbelievably good times, but I'm excited to be taking on Elder Lott who is just coming out of training.  I've never Met him but I look forward to Loving and serving with him!

Hahahaha Who DOESN'T KNOW AL : P   hahaha my jaw dropped when I realized how beautiful Calgary is too, definitely took Calgary's Beauty or granted : P  I'm glad Elder Chronis is excited to be there : )    Brother and Sister Baronins had us over or supper last night and she is EXACTLY like you : P   She was talking about how she would send cookies and such to her son in africa until she found out that they took  months to get there....  Anyways, sister baronin's son just got married and headed off to universtiy and she was telling us about how she sent him a bunch of texts the first day, each becoming a bit more frantic than the last as she failed to get a reply.... And I just thought of my first day goin to highschool.... I got a text 5 minutes after leaving the house... and then more as the day went on.... we've had pretty hectic Pdays lately with the 3 of us needing to get things done so I haven't have a chance to sit down and write letters to you it sounds like it's exciting to be back in school : P   Tell kamila that I'm jealous that she's able to enjoy the cross country season with hills....  I miss hills... seriouslyy...  I feel like I'm top of the world when we're goin over a speed bump... tell her that she needs to stop slacking off and start running to seminary ; P  

It was so good to hear about the ward and the goals and focus that have been set.  Bishop sent me a letter last week, and I've studied it and I've been trying my best to apply the counsel.

This past week has been hard.  I'm not a perfect missionary, or person and I make mistakes.   But the mistakes I make help me as a missionary I've found.  Because as I encounter pain, guilt, shame, and sorrow I apply the atonement of Jesus Christ. And as I have that pain, guilt, shame, and sorrow taken away, I am reminded of why I'm here.   As much as this mission is a blessing to me, I'm here for others.  I'm here because I want others to be able to have their own pain, guilt, shame, and sorrow be taken away from them.   Anyone who truly experiences the atonement of Jesus Christ comes to know that it is not a painless experience.  We were able to talk to one sister this past week an see how she has been.    Her baptism was not an easy choice,  she experienced so much pain that day as her mother threatened to kick her out and accused her of choosing the church over her family.  Yet she experienced the sweetness  that was as exquisite as her pain that day.   She is doin wonderfully, she said that school is going really well, she said that she's been goin to early morning seminary and she loves it(starts at 6:15am...) and she said that she has been able to spend lots of time with her family this week.   She knew she was making he right choice, and now after the trial of her faith she is able to see and experience the blessings and miracles.    I'm so proud of her.    Yesterday was absolutely wonderful, Brother Petty came to church and I interpreted all through church.    It was soo hard but it was so worth it.  He didn't even need to sign for me to feel and know of his testimony.   But when he did it was so touching.     I interpreted a question for him, it was;"who are some great leaders and examples you've seen in your life?'  he didn't sign anything for a while then he told me that I was one.   I cried in Elder's Quorum.  He invited us over for Tuesday and thursday,  I feel like my learning of ASL has accelerated greatly because of my love for this man and his family. 

We have been teaching quite a bit lately it's been good, I feel a lot more confident just talking to people.   I love talking to people, no matter who you talk to, you can ALWAYS learn something new.  I promise.

I need a hair cut so badly...  

Anyways,  I have one of the best tie collections in the mission now.. just made another really good trade this past weekend.. 81 ties... something's wrong with me...  have 20 really really nice ties, 20 really nice ties, 20 nice ties, and then 21 ties that I'll probably start giving as ELDER O complimentary ties that i'lll give to people who trade with me...

DOn't really need to trade anymore though...

anyways,  I'm forgetting myself in the work, and I'm lovin it.

Love,


Elder Olguin