The Fire Within to Share The Gospel of Jesus Christ

This week was great.
We had a great lesson with Tammy on Monday and taught her
and her mom the Word of Wisdom.
They both really enjoyed it and Tammy is going to work the best
she can to quit smoking.
She already attended the ARP (the LDS Addiction Recovery Program)
meeting on Saturday and loved it.
She said the people there are so nice and loving.
This week we also went over to her house and washed and waxed her car.
It was pretty fun  :-D
It was some good service we could offer her
that made things a little easier on her back.
And the car didn't look too bad when we were done!!  :-D

We had a sweet Spanish lesson with Alberto and his wife Guadalupe. 

They are super nice and have been taught by missionaries in the past. I hope that as we continue teaching them that they will be able to come to church.

We met this really nice girl this week named Alejandra!

She just graduated from school in Mexico and is here for a year learning English. So we began teaching her about the gospel and also helping her with English. She is super receptive to the gospel and has actually talked to missionaries back in Mexico! She is very sincere and it's kind of cool because she helps us with our Spanish and we help her with her English!

We were able to finish teaching the Plan of Salvation with Paul this week and he really enjoyed it!  

He is such a nice guy and has a great desire to do good. He has had a lot of crazy things happen in his life and he is constantly working to move past it all.

I have faith that in time he will be able to accomplish his goals!

On Saturday we had a lot of good service opportunities! 

We helped a family move in the morning, then we taught Tammy and a few other people. 

Then we had to change our clothes again and then we helped one of the 

sisters' investigators put away her garage sale! 

It was a HUGE garage sale....a  lot of stuff. 

This week we also had MLC (Mission Leadership Council), which was awesome!!

And then we had Zone Training  :)  It went really great! 

 At Zone Training we invited President Boyack to train on obedience and I don't know if I have mentioned President Boyack yet but he is literally the smartest guy I have ever met. 

And when ever he teaches it literally blows my mind!! 

He taught the Zone some awesome stuff about the responsibilities that we have as priesthood holders 

and how we must magnify our calling. 

He also showed us some awesome scriptures that I have never really thought about before. 

Simply said, all of our minds were blown! It was so awesome :D

He taught us a lot about the importance of Eternal Marriage, 

and it just made me so pumped to get married and now it means so much more to me. 

You learn new things every day! :D

I also went on an exchange in Paola, which is like the middle of nowhere, well sort of :D

 It's a small town like Ellsworth!

We had no set appointments so we just went looking for people to teach and ended up meeting some really cool people and gave out 9 Books of Mormon! :D  which was awesome.  

We had a great time and the elder I was with has only been out for 2 months

and he is loving his mission :)

It is so great to see new missionaries work and see the fire that they have within them to share the gospel!

So we are continuing to have fun out here in Olathe and getting some good work done!

I hope I am able to stay here long enough to see Tammy continue to progress, 

she is definitely an awesome person and a great friend now.

Sunday, after church, we had a sweet dinner with Brother Broyles! 

That evening we visited the Ramirez and Vasquez family, who live together, and they had made Menudo, which is pretty much...sheep gut soup hahha 

It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen!! I don't even know what I was looking at :D but they wanted us to try some so we did. And I'll tell you that my will power over my gag reflex has gotten a lot stronger since I've been on my mission because, holy cow that stuff was the weirdest texture! 

And then....

they offered us fried intestines!!

They are still all connected so it is like this big hose!

I wasn't about to eat that, given that my stomach was already freaking out and 

I don't think I could have held it all down haha! 

So I dodged the intestines but ate some guts!!!

HaHaHa... the things that happen on your mission!!

Menudo

And I believe I'm having rabbit at a members house tomorrow for my birthday!

WHooo-raaaaah!! Hahaha  :p I'll let you know how it is!

I am doing great though! And I'm loving my mission.

The time seems to keep picking up, its crazy! This Friday I only have 9 months left.

And next thing we know it will be Christmas again!

I'm just enjoying each and every day and making the most of it :)

I love and miss you guys a bunch!! And I hope you have a wonderful Monday and Week !!:D

Love, Your
- Elder Odland

Menudo

Like in many cultures, Menudo's origins are rooted in the fact that offal (the entrails and internal organs of an animal considered uneatable!!) was considered a garbage cut and was thus very cheap. This made it a good source of protein for the masses. Today, there are many regional variations, but most include tripe, which are the stomachs (yes they have more than one) of ruminant animals. Honeycomb tripe (the second stomach of a cow) along with pig trotters, for a rich collagen laden broth. By soaking, boiling, then braising the tripe for hours in an aromatic broth, all but the faintest traces of the stomach's former contents are eliminated. The slow braise converts the connective tissues into gelatin and the naturally spongy structure of the tripe help absorb all the good flavors in the cooking liquid. While they may not look it, the trotters are quite tame in comparison to tripe and have started showing up on menu's all over the country. In New York City, there's even a Japanese restaurant that specializes in pig trotters. When cooked for a long time they create a wonderful stock, and the connective tissue and cartilage soften to a jelly like consistency that's creamy, rich and fulfilling. After the bones are removed and the meat is cut up,  you really wouldn't know what it was unless you were looking for it.

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ZONE TRAINING

We ALWAYS have FUN!

There is some cool stuff happening in Olathe and I AM LOVING IT! :-D

  

This week we had some sweet stuff happen! Soooo we had transfers this week... and I'm staying in Olathe for my 4th transfer!! :D.  I am SO happy that I am staying! We have got some awesome things in the works right now and I LOVE it here :).

So by the end of this transfer I will have been in Olathe for 6 months! The time feels like its flying by. I'm super happy Elder Blake and I are staying together for another though, we get along really well and have a fun time together!

And I will be able to have my birthday with him! :-)

This last transfer, one of the areas near us had both missionaries replaced and two sign language missionaries came in and one of them is deaf. It is super cool to see them sign to each other and I'll probably be able to learn some sign language this transfer because of them. :D. Also the one that isn't deaf is our district leader so we will go on exchanges with him. That means one of us will be with the deaf elder... 

I'm not exactly sure how we will

do that but we will make it work. It will be a fun experience.

Friday we felt like we should go visit Tammy!

When we went there she started telling us about how her doctor, who is a member, was talking with her and telling her a lot about the church. Especially about baptism and then he said, "I'm going to send you something later today that I think you will really enjoy." And he sent her a talk from the Women's Broadcast called "Forth Floor Last Door". Tammy didn't know what it meant so she looked it up on the internet and it took her to LDS.Org and she said at that very moment she received an answer to her prayers that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that this is the church she needs to be with. She was so happy about it and glad that she received that answer. And she told us, "I want to be a member of the church, and I'm going to become one." So I asked her if she would like to get baptized after her surgery, which will be sometime this month, and she said yes. Then I asked if she would like to be baptized on the 12th of Nov. and she replied, "Yes! Yes! 5 times yes!!" :D

She was super happy and so was I!

She also said that when we gave her a blessing a few weeks ago, just on a random stop by, that she had prayed that day to receive strength. And now she has piecing all of these events together and she knows that Heavenly Father wants her here. Now it is only a matter of time and hoping that her back surgery goes well, and then she will be able to take the next step:). 

#FavPartOfMissionaryWork

Later that day we had a few lessons in Spanish that went pretty well!

I hope my Spanish is getting better. haha It's hard to tell just judging myself, but I am able to communicate so I'm happy with that.  :-)

While at transfers this week, we got stranded up in Independence for a few hours so we decided to take a tour of the Community of Christ "temple". It kind of felt like a museum. But Elder Blake and I had just a weird feeling the whole time we were in there. We both felt as though we couldn’t breathe. After we were done with the tour we felt really awful, so we went to our visitor's center and enjoyed the Spirit that is there.

What an amazing difference. I love the feeling of the Spirit of God.

The Spirit again witnessed to us that we are truly doing the Lord’s work and that 

this IS the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is some cool stuff happening here in Olathe and I am loving it!! :D

Love,

Your Elder Odland