Meet My New Companion

My new companion ... Elder Fallon 

Elder Fallon is from California. He's a triplet and his brothers are also on missions.

He loves to ride bikes which is GREAT. 

This is going to be an AWESOME transfer.

Elder Odland and Elder Fallon

23 April 2016

The Sacred Opportunity of giving Baptismal Interviews

I am currently the only Spanish Speaking District Leader in the

Independence/Kansas City area so I have the awesome privilege of giving baptismal interviews to all of the Spanish people in this area.

I am truly thankful for this amazing experience.

This past week I had the sacred opportunity of giving baptismal interviews to

a family of 5!

I love the Spanish people. They are so very nice!

It was so awesome to see this whole family ready for baptism!

I'm so very excited for them. :D

Our teaching this week went well as we enjoyed meeting with Terri, along with a member named Logan. It had been three weeks since she has been able to meet up with us again but she said she has been enjoying listening to the Book of Mormon on her phone. Together we read 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 and introduced the part when Jesus Christ appeared to the people in the Americas. She thrilled in hearing of this experience for those people and loves learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I look forward to meeting with her again next week!

We also had another great lesson with Mac this week! He is progressing really well and he feeds us awesome food after our lessons.  :-D

Next week after our lesson they are going to make us some Samoan food!

It is going to be soooo good!   :-d

I also had two exchanges this week, one with Elder Leishman and one with Elder Christensen. With Elder Leishman we went with our ward mission leader, Brother Robertson, visiting several families. Then we had dinner at his house. Our ward mission leader has 12 children! They had the biggest dining table I've ever seen!  :-D  It was amazing how well behaved all the children were and we had a very nice time there. I'm so thankful for all the sweet people who offer to feed us. It is humbling to experience their kindness and generosity.

It fills my heart and my stomach!!  HaHa

I also enjoyed the exchange with Elder Christensen where I went up to his area and we had some great lessons! We taught a new member lesson to an older woman who had recently been baptized and is super excited to go to the temple after her year mark.

I am happy that she understands the importance of the temple

and is making it a priority to go! :)

So for P-day we went up to the Independence Stake Center and one
of the bishops makes what he calls...."Escape Rooms".

They are rooms where you are locked in and there are a bunch of
clues and puzzles you have to solve in order to open the door. The bishop made a

bunch of these rooms all over the building and filled them with various church themed

clues and puzzles. It was such fun solving these clues and puzzles

in order to break out of the rooms.  :-D

With Love, Elder Odland

I Love Serving the Lord - I Love This Work

A few weeks ago we had an All Mission Conference with

Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Elder Anderson and Elder Deshler.

It was SUPER amazing!! And they let us ALL shake their hands!

So I got to shake the hands of two Seventies and of an Apostle!

It was a sweet and humbling experience and they

gave some awesome talks that I enjoyed very much!

It was funny, Elder Stevenson talked about how he is being taught by the other Apostles. He also told a story about how Elder Nelson took him skiing.....and Elder Nelson is like 90 years old! Isn't that crazy! 

They definitely have the power of God in them :D 

All kidding aside...the Spirit of God is strong with the Apostles.

It was just an awesome conference and something I will never forget! :)

Then on Sunday we had the opportunity to teach a primary class about missionary work and we gave them all pass along cards.  :)   They were all excited about giving them to their friends! One kid said excitedly, "I'm going to give this to my friend when I go to the bus stop!!" It was cool to see these 7+ 8 year old kids excited about sharing the gospel!

It's awesome!

  

So the District Leader work is going well!

I had my first district meeting last month. Before the meeting started the missionaries were a little rowdy and just kinda goofing off a bit. Next time I'm going to ask them to start reading their scriptures 15 min before the meeting starts and hopefully find an elder that can play the piano well enough to add a little music to help set the correct mood.   haha.

Then just about 5 min before I was about to start the meeting the door to the room opens and the APs (Assistants to the President) walk in. I thought to myself, Oh no, more pressure!!  :-p

 But it wasn't bad at all. The APs are pretty cool and participated well, 

making my job easier.

I had one other missionary train about finding new people to teach, and then I trained on Improving our Proselyting skills through studying and 

Always having a Purpose.

I focused most on "Always having a Purpose" and tried to help them understand what their purpose should be when going to someone's house. We had good participation and it was a great meeting:) Afterwards the APs said that they really liked it and that I'm doing a good job,

so hopefully I can keep that up :D

I don't really get nervous for these types of things anymore, which I am super happy about  :)

After district meeting I conducted an exchange with the elders in Harrisonville.

We swapped companions for a day and I went up to their area. I really enjoy exchanges now! I love the opportunity to get to know the elders in my district and to see how their area is doing. 

I enjoy all the things I learn from them as well, so it's super good:)

I love this work. I love serving the Lord.

Love, Elder Odland