Have Hope. Have Faith. And live a Loving life.

So on Sunday we had dinner with some really nice members and we gave a dinner message about 

Hope.

Hope is something that is so important in our lives. 

When we have hope we look forward and work towards better things. 

If we lose hope or in the beginning don't have hope, life can be very dreary. 

The gospel brings so much hope into our lives: having the hope that we will receive blessings that have been promised to us, having hope that we can become better people through Christ, and having hope that after this life everything that we have done will grant us eternal life with our families.

We that have hope in our lives should share the joy that we have with others.

I love this quote by Elder Neal A. Maxwell,

“Being blessed with hope, lets us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have moved away from the hope of the gospel’ (Col. 1:23).

Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down.”

Share that hope we have with others that are encompassed with doubt. 

Through the hope of the gospel we can all get through the trails that our lives' bring. 

Have hope. 

Have faith. 

And live a loving life.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will do the same.  :)

¡Hasta próxima semana!
¡Tenga un buen semana!


With Love, 
Elder Odland

Had to get out my Big coat and gloves!!

Another amazing week in the Kaw River Area

In the Hollow of HIS hand May HE Keep You

This week was another great week in the Great Kaw River Area!

Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Jeffery. He is a super tall Elder and he is am awesome missionary! We did a lot of tracting and we found 3 potential investigators! We found this guy named Edwin. He met with missionaries about 20 years ago and I think we re-sparked that desire within him. He loved the message we shared with him and we will be returning to visit with him this week! I am super excited to see how he progresses and I have high hopes for him!

I really think he is ready to make this change in his life  :).

On Sunday Elder Bagley and I went into priesthood correlation meeting before church to discuss the Ward Mission Plan. But to our surprise our Bishop asked if we could both give talks in sacrament! They had forgotten to assign talks for the whole month so he asked elder Bagley, our mission president, and me to give talks in church!

I was actually pretty excited!

He asked me to speak on the Atonement and he asked Elder Bagley to speak on missionary work.

After ten minutes of pondering what I would say, I decided to share the account of the atonement in Matthew. It is in Matthew Chapter 26.

This chapter tells what happened on the night when Christ atoned for each and every one of us.

Jesus Christ, knowing God's plan for us, knew that he must complete the Atonement. Even though he experienced such anguish that he pleaded with our father if he could take this cup from him. After checking on his apostles and finding them asleep.....

    (Ch 42) "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."

He knew that it was the will of God, and therefore he did as his father had asked him to do. He then goes back to his disciples once more and sees them fast asleep.

He then says lovingly.... 

    (CH 45) "Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, "Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."

Showing his pure love for his fellow brothers, he says "sleep on now."

That night there would be no sleep for the savior only pain and anguish awaited him, but he let his disciples sleep.

Christ was the most selfless man to ever walk the face of this earth. And his life will always be an example for us to follow.

Giving that talk really helped me spiritually. On Friday and Saturday I was feeling a bit down and was struggling a little bit. So Sunday morning I prayed for a good spiritual Sunday. And I was blessed when asked to give a talk about our Savior's atonement, a subject very spiritual and touching. I really felt the spirit strongly as I was talking. It definitely recharged me and set me up for the week. 

I love Sundays! 

And people said they really liked it! This one member said, "I love it when you two get up in church to talk because you look like apostles up there!" I thought that was super funny  :-D  and very kind.

After Church we had a lesson with Logan, he is progressing well! He told us that he knows what we are teaching is true:). And still the only thing holding him back from being baptized is his fear of water. So we are diligently praying that he will be able to overcome that fear.

Here is a letter from Logan's sister....

Dear Sister Odland,
Hi my name is Kelli Miguel, your son, Elder Odland is teaching my little brother Logan about the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've been a member of the church since 2003, and my brother hasn't been baptized yet. Your son, Elder Odland and his companion, Elder Bagley are so patient and so kind to our family and especially to Logan. 

You have raised a wonderful son that has Godlike qualities.
Thank you so much.
Kelli Miguel

We also had zone training again this week and it was awesome. I was able to learn so much and found new ways to become a better missionary.

They also told us that we have a Christmas program coming up where we will have 5-7 minutes, as a zone (our group of missionaries), to do a musical presentation. We decided that we were going to sing a mashup of 3 different Christmas songs! It's going to be sweet! I'm not the best singer but I enjoy doing it.  haha.

So I'm excited for that program.

Well this week has been a good week.  :).

Serving people and teaching people, 24/7.

I am really enjoying it!

I will keep working hard and sharing experiences with you each week!

¡Hasta próxima semana!
¡Adiós!
- Elder Odland

Enjoy this video of a skill I didn't even know I had!

My Frodo CTR ring skill!

Halloween Fun in Kaw River

Hola Mi amigos! 

¿Como están? 

Aquí en Kaw River la obra fue muy bien. Aprendo más cada día y este es nuevo experiencias cada día también. La mejor parte de la semana fue cuando vamos a la visitor Center con nuestro investigador Logan. El fue muy feliz estar ahí. El es progresando bien, pero él es todavía asustado. Pero, trabajaremos en eso:).

Hey there everyone!

So Kaw River is going great! We had transfers last Thursday and..... I'm staying in Kaw River with this awesome companion! 

(Elder Bagley is a great companion, and look at this awesome tile wall we found!)

I am super happy that I will serve at least one more transfer(6 weeks) in Kaw River! 

The people here are great and so many interesting things happen here haha. 

I love it! 

A cool thing that we did this week was take our investigator Logan to the Visitor Center in Independence! We went on Sunday after church and it was a great day to go since our mission president was having a devotional there. Logan's family came with us as well, and they all enjoyed the devotional. I thought it was awesome! There were many recent converts that bore their sweet testimonies. It was so neat to hear their stories about how the church has helped them in their lives. 

I am so thankful for the gospel and how much it has blessed me and my family. I hope Logan was able to see how much the church makes a different in someone's life. After the devotional, Logan and I went and watched a few videos about Moroni and the gold plates and about the stripling warriors. He loves everything he learns but he is still afraid of water and is therefore hesitant about baptism. If you could keep him in your prayers so that he can overcome his fear that would be great. He is a super nice kid and it is awesome to see him progress! 

We have been teaching our recent convert, Araceli, the new member lessons and she is doing great! It's so awesome to see her keep making progress!

So as we all know this week was Halloween! We weren't able to tract after dark so we did weekly planning on Saturday instead of the normal Thursday. It began as a normal day but after we got home for the night.....We put on our Halloween glasses and colored these storm trooper helmets that helped get us in the spirit of Halloween... and Star Wars! :-D     It was a fun night.

Thank you to everyone who sent us Halloween Fun.

They didn't quite fit!!

 We work hard each day and let the Lord guide us and pray he will take us to people who are prepared to hear His word. 

This Sunday we had a stake wide fast for missionary opportunities. We handed out a Book of Mormon to every family at church and challenged them to give it to someone and share the gospel with them. I thought this was such a great idea!

I know that when we act in faith and tell someone about the gospel it can truly effect their life! There is this sweet "Mormon Message" on LDS.org called "Sharing Your Beliefs".

I challenge all of you to watch it and find someway you can share the gospel this week!

I know it will bless you and the person you talk with. And... Missionary work is fun!

Don't be afraid to jump out of your comfort zone, because that is where all the good stuff is. :D

I hope you all have a great week!

¡Tenga un muy bien semana y no olvidan compartir el evangelio con su amigos!

Have a great week and don't forget to share the gospel with your friends.

Until next week!
            - Elder Odland