Letter # 11 (Jan. 5, 2009)

I always love the New Year. It gives me a reason to improve. We found out early on New Year's eve that the Mission President wanted us home by 6:30 that night. We celebrated by eating New York style pizza for dinner. We decided to ride our bikes to place far away (40 mins north of us) to tract and stop by some less-active members. It was so windy. The wind was pushing us to the side of the roads some times. We'd be going downhill and we were slowed down by the hill. There were like 80 uphills and like 3 downhills. The bike ride felt like forever. When we got to our destination, we were able to teach 8 or 9 people. We even packed a lunch. Hmmm! That was the best Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich I had in my life. Or I was super starving because of the long bike ride. We were able to tract into a man named Solomon. He seemed receptive. I saw him and taught him again on Friday. When we talked about having a Prophet, he paused, thought about it and said "that's neat". He had a lot of good questions. He told us that he once heard that Joseph Smith saw a white salamander and that's how the church got started. But Solomon said that this makes a lot more sense.

We've encountered a lot of different religions in our travels. A lot of people are firm in their religion. But I've been able to bear my testimony to them. I've shared that God let me know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. There's many who have told me that there's no need for another book or a prophet, that the words of God are in the bible, and that as long as people stick close to the bible they will know what to do. I tell them that there are many people who do stick to the Bible. Sally Jane reads the bible and loves God just as Bobby Joe, you and I. Yet they don't believe the same thing. There's a lot of churches which speak of Christ and use his holy words, yet they differ in interpretation. That's why there's a need for a prophet. We need order in this world. The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ that has not been corrupted.

I woke up this morning feeling good. It's P-Day and I'm ready for the week ahead. Elder Long told me that our zone leader told him last night that we should call the theme of our companionship "perserverance". He said that if the same things happen to him that he won't react the same way. Elder Long told me that this transfer(the 3 weeks, we've been together) he has never seen so much opposition on his mission. I'm flattered to know that the adversary is working hard on me. That must mean I'm doing something right or something great is about to happen. We've had our top 2 progressing investigators randomly dropped us. But I haven't been heart-broken. The Lord has comforted me and given me much hope. I've seen miracles and I've seen the Lord guiding me. I was one morning praying for inspiration for where to go that morning to tract. As I looked at our big map on our wall of our area I felt prompted to tract in area I never been in. When I went there, we saw a couple of trailers. The first one had nobody home. We were about to leave but I told my companion that I believed that I saw a trailer behind the one we knocked in. We went and knocked. A man with a beer-belly comes out in his boxers. We introduced ourselves. He said he knows who we are because he's an ex-communicated member. We were able to teach him and bear testimony to him. He's hesitant in getting back to church. We'll stop by this week.

I know that God lives. This is His work.

Love, Elder Olaya