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!