Homecoming!

Elder Olsen will be giving his mission homecoming address on May 16th at 1:00pm

THIS IS IT!!!!!

I'm so excited to be home! I can't believe it is actually here! I never thought that this day would ever come. It didn't truly dawn on me until today that I'm going home. Today, a bunch of members from my Branch took my companion and me out to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant for a farewell lunch. While we were there and everyone was talking about me being home and what I was going to do with my life, it hit me that this is really it! This could be the last time that I see these people. It made me way sad! I'm going to miss everything about this place, the food, the people, the sweet mode of transportation, speaking Thai, and just being a missionary! Its been an amazing 2 years and I wouldn't trade these 2 years for the world. I love you all and I'll see you on Friday!

Elder Stephen Olsen

Hey everyone!
Songran, we had a blast! We went out and threw water on each other all day! Here are some pictures from all the chaos.

Tomorrow is day one of สงกรานต์ (Songran) or the Water Festival. It's the biggest holiday here in Thailand and is also the Thailand New Year. It's a 3 day holiday starting on April 13-15 and all it is is a big water fight! Because of how hot it is at this time of year, the Thai people decided the best way to celebrate their New Year is to cool each other down by getting everyone wet! People will fill up huge 30 gallon buckets with water and put them on the streets and use them to throw water on cars, people and missionaries on bikes. They also throw these huge 30 gallon buckets on their trucks and drive around soaking people walking on the streets. When you walk out of your house in the morning, you have to expect to get wet and be getting wet all day. There is no way to avoid it because there are people everywhere and they all have the same goal, get you wet! It is impossible to get any work done during these 3 days because everyone is playing สงกรานต์ (Songran) or visiting family so it's not very convenient for them to meet with us. Luckily we have a very loving and caring Mission President that is going to let us play สงกรานต์ (Songran) so we get to have a part in it all. We are playing tomorrow and I will take a bunch of pictures to send home next week. It's a way fun holiday and I think America needs to adopt it into our culture.
We watched the re-broadcast of Conference yesterday and Saturday and it was really awesome! I noticed there was a common focus in a lot of the talks about families and parenting. When Elder Anderson gave his talk and started out by talking about how each speaker chooses his own topic and nothing is assigned, it helped me realize that God is truly revealing through his representatives and apostles. There was a lot of good talks given and a lot of great quotes as well. Being on a mission has really helped me realize the greatness of General Conference. Before, I was never really attentive on watching it. But now, I really look forward to it!
Well I love you all and I'm looking forward to seeing all your faces in a couple of weeks!

Elder Olsen

Chest Interptretation

Hey everyone!
At this time we are teaching a new investigator that we found a couple weeks ago and he is the most interesting person I have ever taught. His name is ดม (Dom) and he is actually an old investigator of the Elders from a year ago. The way we found him was miraculous! We were at church one Sunday and he came walking in looking for one of the missionaries that was teaching him back in the day. He found us and asked, with a concerned look on his face, is Elder Everton here? We told him no and he had gone home a long time ago. ดม (Dom) said that Elder Everton had invited him to come to church but he was never able to go and now that he is more available, he wants to come and learn with him again. When he found out that he wasn't here, he dropped his head and started walking out. We told him to cheer up! He can still learn, but with us! He didn't sound to thrilled though. So we asked for his number and told him we would call him later on. After giving him some time to recover from the blow of finding out that Elder Everton wasn't here anymore, we called him a couple days later and asked if we could meet with me. The first thing that he asked was, is Elder Everton coming?! We said no...and sounded a little disappointed. He still said, OK sure, you can come. We met with him the first time and mostly sat and talked with him, trying to get him to open up to us. I feel like we had success because the next time we went and taught him, he told us every concern that he has and he has almost every concern in the book. We have gone to see him about 4 times now and we uncover a new concern or sin that he has each time that we go over to see him. I wont tell you all of them because there wouldn't be enough memory in this computer to hold them all but I will tell you one of them because it kind of made me laugh. Last Saturday we met with him and watched the Restoration DVD to try and help him see that there is only one true church in all the world and he can't follow Buddhism and Christianity at the same time. He has to choose. But before we were able to begin the lesson he went off on some crazy theory about whether there is more then one world. He said he could understand if there was about 3 or 4 but 5 worlds is just way to many. Its impossible to have that many! I just sat there with a blank look on my face and thought, what in the world is he talking about? We didn't entertain his thought for too long because we were way confused. So we went on with the lesson. At the end of the lesson, he realized what he had to do and he told us he had to pray. As we were about to close the lesson, he stopped us and said, "Elder, I have something to show you. But you have to promise you won't get startled if I show you OK?" A little skeptical and suspicious, we said OK. He then stood up and all intense, he took off his shirt! Elder Westwood and I were a little shocked and very confused. He then said, "Do you see it?!" We looked for a second and all I could see that was out of the ordinary was a mark on his chest so I asked, "Are you talking about the birthmark?" and a little frustrated, he said "No! The red dots on my chest! What are they?! Is it a sign of how many worlds there are?" We sat there staring at him for a good 10 seconds trying to think of what to say...It was a little awkward because he was standing there waiting for us to interpret his chest and we had no idea! I then asked, "Are they zits?" I don't know if he like that answer because he hurried and put on his shirt and said, "No! I think they are signs of how many worlds there are in the universe." We then said "OK, well...let us know when they go away. But we've got to go..." We didn't have time to discuss his acne problem so we said a closing pray and left. I have never met someone that was so superstitious before! I have also never been asked to interpret someone's chest before...It was a new experience and I sure hope the Gospel is going to be able to help this guy. He is the most interesting investigator that I have ever taught and I'm excited to see what happens next time we go see him!

Steve

Last week I took my companion down to Bangkok to get on an airplane to head home. He has finished his mission and has left me and my MTC group as the oldest missionaries in the mission! I am now in my last transfer of my mission. The next time I go down to Bangkok will be the last time I go down to Bangkok. These 2 years have flown by! But I got a new companion as well and his name is Elder Westwood. He is from Spanish Fork and he finishes his mission 6 weeks after I do. I'm way excited to be companions with him! We have been hoping to be companions together ever since we've known each other but it would be impossible because we are so close in age in the mission. The only possible way for us to have been able to be companions was to be Zone Leaders together and here we are! Zone Leaders together! Its going to be a great last transfer here.
So Ive been run out of stuff to write about lately but if you guys would write me and ask some questions, I could have stuff to write about.

Steve

Hey,
So this week marks the start of Hot Season here in Thailand. It starts in March and goes until around July. Once in July, the Rainy Season starts but the temperature stays the same, super super hot! The temperature is so hot here in Thailand at this time of year that our Mission President changed our working schedule. He is now having us wake up at 6 a.m., exersize, shower, eat breakfast, and then leave the house to go work at 7:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. At that time, we come home and have our personal study, companion study and language study until 4:00. We then go back out and work until 8:30 when we come home and plan for the day. 10:00 p.m. we are in bed. Our schedule before was we would wake up at 6:30 in the morning and have our studies in the morning as well. Leave the house at 10:30 a.m. and work until 9:00 p.m. Now it's just too hot to do that and we had to change our schedule because people just won't leave their house in the middle of the day when the sun is beating so hot! So today was our first day of the new schedule change and it was really different! I'm not use to being outside so early in the morning. Surprisingly, there was a lot of people outside! Apparently everyone wakes up at like 5 a.m. and they get moving out here! We were able to talk to a lot of people but the hard part is that it's not very convenient to sit down and teach someone in the wee hours of the morning. Usually people are busy going off to work. But I'm not complaining because once 10 o'clock hit this morning, it was hot!! It was probably over 100 degrees and it was just getting hotter and hotter. Going home to to study was great except that our AC in our study room didn't go cold enough! We turned it up all the way but the world is just too hot! Nothing can truly stop the heat here in Thailand. We just have to hide from it the best we can.
Well, I love you guys and I hope you're all enjoying your nice spring weather there in Utah. Talk to you next week.

Steve

So Lately we have been working with this less active member here in Udon and he is one tough cookie. His name is กล้า (Glaa) and he has a lot of concerns and reasons that he isn't coming to church. He has lost his testimony of Joseph Smith and doesn't feel like he himself truly is a son of God. With these 2 main concerns, he has a lot of other little ones inside of them. My companion and I have been working with him ever since I moved in and he is definitely the hardest less active member that I have worked with. The reason that we do it is because for some reason we still have hope and faith that he will come back. He has been a member his whole life, he's an RM, has a family that are all members but his wife and kids are less active as well, and he is a former CES Seminary teacher. He knows his stuff and had to have had an amazing testimony and Elder Brown and I see that and are trying to bring it back. The hard part is, is that he is very hard headed and he isn't afraid to say what's on his mind. His concerns are so in-depth that he is afraid to tell them to people because he is afraid that they will make other people's faith weaker. He told us when we went to visit him last Saturday that he has told me and my companion more of his concern that he has told anyone else before. He said he is willing to tell us because he thinks that even if he tells us his concerns, it won't shake our faith. He hasn't let too many missionaries meet with him in fear that they will fall away. He has put a lot of trust in us to be the ones that will be able to bring him back and so with that trust we have been going over to see him once a week to try and talk over his concerns and bring his testimony back. It has definitely been a hard journey but we finally saw results from our continuous efforts. Saturday we committed him to come to church with us on Sunday and he committed to come. We weren't to sure how strong he was on his word but we believed him and yesterday we saw a miracle. As we were standing outside of the church greeting people, we there saw Brother กล้า (Glaa) ride in on his motorcycle with his sin, wearing a tie and a white shirt. Elder Brown and I just looked at each other in awe as we saw him walking up to the doors of the church. He actually came! It bore witness to me that caring enough to stick with him and teach him even though he has hard concerns is exactly what he needed. Maybe it wasn't so much of his doctrinal questions that he had but more of having someone to care enough to come and try and help him. I honestly don't think we have helped him too much on answering his questions on why things are the way they are but more of showing him that we care for him and we want him to come back. Seeing him come to church yesterday was a miracle and a huge answer to our prayers.
Well I'm out of time for the week but I just want you all to know that I love you and pray for you all daily! Talk to you next week!
Hey,
I have a question for you all. Here in Thailand, they have shops that make sports jerseys for way cheap and my companion gave me the idea to get matching family jerseys. What do you think if I got some of those for us? Would that be something cool? They would look like soccer jerseys and we could put whatever we want on them. If you decide you want to do it, let me know of colors and sizes. For measuring purposes, I wear a size large on the jerseys. Well just let me know what you think. I think it could be a cool souvenir to bring back but it all depends on if you would all wear them.

Steve

We recieved Steve's arrival time: 1:23pm on Delta.

Hey Thanks everyone for the emails that you sent for my birthday! Getting emails and hearing from you all is better then getting presents! Last Wednesday for my birthday, everyone in our District went out to Sizzler for lunch and yes, they do have Sizzlers here, and they payed for me! I was way surprised that they did that! Then after English Class that night, they all surprised me with a cake! It was really cool because I had no idea about it. I was just cleaning up from the class when a member asked me to go take a picture for him outside. As I walked out, there were the Sisters walking up with a cake! When they saw me come out, everyone just started singing happy birthday! I was way surprised! Its was kind of fun because as a missionary, you don't really expect much for your birthday out here. But it was definitely a fun birthday.
Well right now I don't really have too much time to write a bunch because my companion and I have to head down to Bangkok tonight for a Zone Leader Council that we have tomorrow morning. We have to do a lot of traveling as Zone Leaders. Its pretty fun but sometimes we just want to have some time to work in our area. Well, I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!

Steve

Hey,
Well sadly to say, this past week has been a very miserable week. We had our Moves Meeting down in Bangkok on Thursday and the way to get down there is to travel over night by train. all around its a 12 hour ride but you don't feel it because for the most part, your sleeping. Well...your trying to sleep but sleeping on a train isn't the easiest thing. You get about 5 hours of sleep total. For some reason, this time going down to Bangkok, I caught a cold on the train. I'm not exactly sure if it was from the train but that's what I'm blaming it on. Luckily while I was down in Bangkok, the effects of the cold hadn't come at full force yet so I didn't have to suffer through the day there. But when I got back to Udon, I sure felt it. I was completely drained from the lack of sleep and all the traveling we had done but I couldn't rest because right as we got back to Udon, we had to go to Sakonakhon to interview a couple of Elder's investigators for baptism. So we jumped right back on a bus for another 3 hour ride to Sakonakhon. I tried sleeping on the bus but I couldn't do it. Once in Sakonakhon, I was even more tired then before and my cold had fully taken over me. There was 2 investigators that needed to be interviewed for baptism and I made my companion do them both because I was just a mess. I couldn't speak very clearly and I was coughing all the time. There was no way we were going to make it back that night either so we slept at the Elders house that night. I woke up a lot in the middle of the night coughing and not being able to breath. It was rough and I hated not being in my own bed. In the morning, we woke up and headed out the door right away to come back to Udon. Once we were back in Udon, I tried to keep working but it just wasn't happening. I completely zonked out on my desk as Elder Brown and I were trying to plan for the day. My companion then told me to just stop trying to push it and just go get some rest. I then went to bed and didn't wake up until about 7 o'clock that night. I woke up still feeling terrible but it was good because I was able to get some rest. Right now I'm still not 100% but I'm doing a lot better. P-Day today was definitely needed. Hopefully I will start feeling better because tomorrow we have to go on switch-offs in Kumpawapi and I don't want to be miserable for that as well.
Well I hope everything is going good at home! I love you all and I will talk to you next week.

Steve

Hey!
Last week, the Bishop of our Ward came up to me and asked me if I could give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on any topic that I wanted. With this invitation to be a speaker, as many of you may have guessed, I was not too thrilled about it but as a missionary, there is no way I could have rejected. So I smiled and graciously accepted his request. It wasn't anything new having to be up at the pulpit. Every time a missionary moves to an area, they have to stand up in sacrament meeting and bear their testimony, which is easy. But this was different because I had to prepare a 15 minute talk and be the main speaker. I wasn't to excited about it needless to say. But I wanted to make sure everyone enjoyed it and it was about something that everyone could use that also wasn't about missionary work (they get tired of that). So I chose to talk about patience because that is something that everyone can work on. Preparing it was no big deal but thinking about it was. I'm not the biggest fan of giving talks in Sacrament Meeting. Teaching at Zone Conference the week before was not to big of a deal because I was able to include everyone and ask questions. Talks are just you standing up in front of everyone and speaking by yourself for 15 minutes straight. Well Sunday came and they announce that I'm going to be the last speaker which is never any good because being the last speaker, you have to adjust your talk to make sure the meeting ends on time without going over or under time. For me the problem was not going under time because the last speaker before me ended her talk really quick and there was 30 minutes left in Sacrament Meeting! I now had to make my 15 minute talk take double the time! Luckily for me I took this into account while preparing my talk so I made sure I had enough stuff to talk about to last the whole time if I needed to. I'm very glad I did as well because it would have made me look bad if it all gone under time. Surprising myself, I was very calm and not nervous at all as I was up giving the talk. I was even able to take up that extra 15 minutes left on the clock! It was actually kind of fun giving the talk. Now for all you Ward Leaders that may be reading this, don't take any of this into account for when I get home, because I still don't really like doing it!
Well another Moves has come and gone and my companion and I are both staying here in Udon. I'll be his last companion of his mission because at the end of this Moves period, he goes home and then I follow. Its coming close! It's kind of scary but not that scary because I still feel like I have forever. Well I love you all and hope all is going well at home in that cold climate. Talk to you next week!

Steve

Hey Everyone!
Sorry about last week and not sending anything. I didn't have to much time to write anything. Life has been crazy lately. Especially in this last passing week. We were in our area here in Udon for only 1 day! Other then that, we have been having to deal with a lot of stuff. Last Tuesday we went back to one of my old areas, Khonkaen, for Zone Conference. Going to Zone Conference as a Zone Leader isn't as easy as it used to be. Our Mission President now has the Zone Leaders teach a lot of Zone Conference where in the past, he had the Assistants do most of the teaching and the Zone Leaders had no part in anything. Elder Brown and I didn't have a moment of rest the entire time. When we weren't teaching, we were having to translate for all the Thai missionaries. Translating was fun though. Elder Brown and I sat in the back of the room with a microphone that sent everything that we said into headphones that all the Thai missionaries were wearing. At first I was a little nervous to be translating because it was my first time doing it for real when it really matters but as I started doing it, I saw that it wasn't that hard! I was able to translate everything pretty naturally. Then closer to the end of the Conference, President Smith called me to give a special lesson about the Book of Mormon that he had asked all the Zone Leaders to prepare. He didn't tell us who was going to give it until the minute of. Luckily I was prepared and I think it went pretty well! I was surprised that I wasn't nervous because I usually get way nervous when I have to give talks and stand in front of big crowds. The Lord definitely helped me on that one!
Once Zone Conference was over, for the next couple of days, Elder Brown and I went of switch-offs with a bunch of companionships in our Zone. One of which was an emergency switch-offs that we had to go on because of problems between a companionship. It put a big damper on getting work done in our own area but it was something we had to take care of so there was nothing we could do. Out of the 7 days, we slept in our own beds only once. Our week was all over the place! I enjoyed it though. It makes the work exciting and more fun! I'm loving being a Zone Leader.
About this picture that I sent, your probably wondering why it's so special. Other then the fact that we are all wearing BYU shirts, the meat that we are eating is not your average meat. For dinner last night we ate dog! When we were in Sakonakhon on switch-offs, we went to a restaurant that sells dog meat and decided that we had to buy some and eat it! I have to say, it wasn't the best meat but it was cool to be saying I was eating dog!
So that was about how our week went. It was really fun and way busy! We have been dead tired lately and this P-Day today has been much needed. Well I love you all! Thanks for all your support and prayers! Talk to you next week.

Steve

Hey everyone,
This past week hasn't been the easiest week of getting work done with New Years in the middle of it. New Years is the big holiday here in Thailand. Thailand's New Years is like America's Christmas. Everyone goes home for New Years and celebrates together. We weren't able to really teach anyone last week. Everyone was gone or just not free! We did a lot of inviting with not much success. But on New Years Eve, the Branch threw a New Years Eve Count Down party that we went to. We only stayed until about 9 because we had to be home but it was really fun! The big thing that every Thai party has to have is Karaoke. Thai people love it! They love to sing, even if they aren't good. They aren't shy about their voices, they just think it's fun. So throughout the night, there was always somebody on the stage singing. In the end, they even got my companion and I to go up there and sing a song! We were kind of forced to do it and taken by surprise. The member that was the emcee (MC) of the party was an RM that had just barely returned home. We knew him pretty well and he wasn't afraid to make us do anything embarrassing. About 10 minutes before we were about to leave, the member got on the stage and said, "Before the Elders go home tonight, they have agreed to sing a special song for all of us and we would like to invite them to come up here and sing that song for us now!" We were completely thrown off guard and we weren't really in the place to back down because everyone started clapping and cheering. I thought, "Shoot!" I looked at Elder Brown and we decided that we had no choice...we had to do it. So we ran over to the DJ and asked to look at his songs. We had to think of a song that we both new pretty well and the only thing that was coming to my mind was Backstreet Boys! I didn't want to have to sing a Backstreet Boys song but it was the only band that we both new well enough to sing. I quickly picked a song and we jumped on stage and started singing "I Want It That Way". I was truly surprised at how well I remember the song! I had to carry us because Elder Brown kind of forgot the tune of it so he was just kind of following my lead. I don't blame him for having forgotten. I can't say that I'm proud that I didn't...but everyone loved it so it was good. Once we finished with the song, we hurried and said goodbye to everyone and headed home. It was truly a memorable New Year's Eve!
Well I've got to go but hey, Happy New Year! I love you all and hope to hear from you guys soon!

Steve

Merry Christmas!
Christmas is coming up really quick! A lot quicker then I had anticipated. I can't believe its already that time to be able to call you guys again. This will be the last time I get to talk to you all before I'm home! How crazy is that?! I'm really excited to talk to you guys again. The number you have to call is 6681-557-5719. I think that should be all you have to dial after putting in the calling card number. Also that time you gave me to call is good. Whenever works so I will be planning to talk to you then! I have yet to open all the presents you guys sent. I wanted to wait until Christmas to have something to open on Christmas Day. So I have not yet opened anything. I'm sure I will love everything you guys sent though! Again thank you for the packages you sent!
So being a Zone Leader has been really fun so far! My companion and I are both Zone Leaders, his name is Elder Brown and he is from Michigan. He goes home 6 weeks before I do. The Zone I have to look over is called the Udon Zone. Its in the north east part of Thailand. We have 4 areas that we look over with about 14 missionaries in it. We go on switch offs a lot and yesterday was our first one this Moves and we went to an area called Sakonakhon. It was fun to be able to work with the missionaries there and help out in finding new investigators and teaching. The Sakonakhon area is pretty far out in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to get there. As Zone Leaders, we don't get our own cars, we just take buses everywhere. Transportation is readily available everywhere you go so there is no need for us to buy our own car. It makes things a lot easier too. We don't have to worry about getting lost on the way. We just jump on a bus that says "Sakonakhon" or wherever we are going and it gets us there! More responsibilities that I have to take on are just going on Switch off often and helping the Mission President teach at Zone Conference. At night we have to call all the District Leaders in our Zone and check up on them and try and help them with any concerns that they might have. We Also have to give an accountability with the Mission President on what's going on in our Zone and what our goals are to make it better.
Well I'm not going to write to much this week because I want to have stuff to talk about when you call in 2 days so I'm just going to end now. I'm really looking forward to being able to hear all your voices again and talk to you! I love you guys and hope your having a Merry Christmas! Talk to you soon!

Steve

P.S. My Preparation Day is being changed to Monday so from now on, you need to send your emails to me before Monday or else I will get them late. Thanks everyone!

Hey!
So Tomorrow we have another Moves Meeting and I'm finally moving out of Bangna after being here for 6 months. I feel like I've been here for a long time and I'm ready to move. Its been a real growing experience here so I'm glad I was able to serve here. Along with moving this week, I got a special calling from the Mission President. Yesterday, President Smith called me and asked if he could change my assignment, he asked if I would be a Zone Leader! I was kind of surprised by this but I said yeah I would be happy too! I think it will be fun to be a Zone Leader. I will get to go around to all the areas in my Zone and go on switch-offs with the missionaries and help in their areas. There is other stuff that I will have to do but that's what I'm most excited about. It will be fun to be able to see the different areas in the mission and serve with a bunch of different missionaries.
Last Saturday we had our Stake Christmas Party at the Stake Center and it really made me miss Christmas! I love the Christmas Season. At our house, Elder Mitchell and I went out and bought Christmas decorations and put them up everywhere. I have a couple Christmas CDs on my ipod that we have been listening to. Unfortunately I don't have to much stuff and we are getting kind of sick of what I got...but we have to keep listening to it because its Christmas! It's the only way we can get our Christmas Season fix because they don't really celebrate it here. At the major malls they do so sometimes we will go eat dinner there just so we can hear Christmas music and see all the decorations. We are very deprived...but its OK. I'll be home next year!
Well this week I don't have to much to write. I'll let you know where I'm moving next week. I love you all and hope you're all loving the Christmas Season. Don't take it for granted because its truly the best time of the year! Talk to you all next week!

Elder Olsen